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e@UBC strategic partnership with BCTIA successfully delivers comprehensive programming and services to emerging tech companies

entrepreneurship@UBC (e@UBC), a unique program that delivers a combination of education, venture creation, and seed funding to maximize the creation of commercial and social ventures, is pleased to announce the advancement of local tech startups through the seamless transition from e@UBC university based programming to the BCTIA Centre4Growth programs and services.

“e@UBC provides a tremendous opportunity to make a huge difference to BC’s economy,” said Andrew Talbot, executive director, e@UBC. “Our interdisciplinary program delivers a combination of education, venture creation, and seed funding to help ambitious UBC students, faculty and staff create successful commercial and social ventures. We’re pleased that once we have provided the foundations for venture creation, we can further support the growth of these ventures through our partnership with BCTIA.”

e@UBC’s fully integrated programs provide ventures with a solid framework that helps them understand their business model, market needs, and key drivers for their success. When teams are ready to expand to grow their customers and revenue, they graduate to the BCTIA Innovation Hub, a centrally located 26,000 square foot collaboration space designed to support the growth of early-stage tech companies. e@UBC venture teams located inside The Hub also participate in customized programs and services offered by the BCTIA.

“Some of the most successful tech companies in BC have come out of the University of British Columbia,” said Bill Tam, president and chief executive officer, BCTIA. “By working with UBC venture teams and welcoming them into The Hub, we’re able to provide support as they enter a new stage of growth, and encourage them towards becoming the next anchor tech companies in our province.”

New Venture Team Testimonials

“The e@UBC Accelerator program helped us make a fundamental shift from a business intelligence company, to a customer retention company. Now working in the BCTIA Innovation Hub, we can use that new direction to serve customers in Canada and scale our services into the US by the end of 2015.”
– Dale Dubberly, CEO, DRIVE

“After completing the e@UBC Accelerator program, we applied for and received funding from the e@UBC seed fund. We then utilized office space at the BCTIA Innovation Hub and were guided in HR practices that resulted in the hiring of key research engineers. We also attracted additional angel investment outside our circle of contacts through the connections we made with other startups at The Hub.”
– Manoj Singh, CEO, PURUS

“The strength of the e@UBC Accelerator program is if you’ve done it once, you can apply it to other situations like a company pivot or a completely different idea. It sets you up for all the iterations that you have to do in a startup. Through the guidance of the professors and industry mentors, SBS has revamped our business strategy and we are planning to raise our first round of angel funding and utilize the office space in the BCTIA Innovation Hub.”
– Stefan Storey, Co-founder, Sensible Building Science

“The e@UBC Accelerator instructors held us accountable for our business goals, which included an intensive customer discovery process, that helped us to narrow down our customer segment. We also really liked the interaction we had with other e@UBC venture teams and this continued when we took up residence at the BCTIA Innovation Hub. By interacting with other ventures and entrepreneurs who are in the “same boat”, we are able to learn from each other and move quicker towards our business goals. It’s like having our own entrepreneurial community.”
– Fraser Pogue, CEO, Fraser Instruments

“Popul8 is headquartered in Gibsons, BC, so having a central “home-base” in Vancouver at the BCTIA Innovation Hub is very helpful. We look forward to utilizing BCTIA’s Executives-in-Residence program over the next few months to help us expand on the business teachings of the e@UBC Accelerator program.”
– Don Bildfell, CEO, Popul8 Analytics

For additional information on how e@UBC venture teams are contributing and succeeding in the local and international economy, please see the e@UBC Venture Case Studies

To download the full press release, click here.