Unwrapping a new future with gifts for entrepreneurship

Mar 8, 2022

Your gifts for entrepreneurship at the University of Toronto change lives. Thanks to thousands of generous contributions to U of T entrepreneurship initiatives, students can pursue their dreams during their most daring and creative years. And all of us benefit from their ingenuity.

Take alumni startup Kepler Communications, whose nanosatellites are transforming telecommunications. Already, they’ve sparked the growth of six tech companies and attracted a $3.8-million investment from the federal government. Kepler’s network is a whole new infrastructure for the space age. It will have a powerful impact: from enabling climate alert monitors to improving supply chain flow.

Kepler got off the ground because of U of T alumnus Francis Shen (BASc 1981, MASc 1983). His gift to launch the Start@UTIAS accelerator let this bright idea soar. As Kepler co-founder Jeffrey Osborne told U of T Entrepreneurship, “Francis Shen recognized that students and young entrepreneurs had great ideas and a ton of talent, but no mechanisms to bring their ideas to market. Start@UTIAS was instrumental in helping us launch Kepler.”

Similar support has powered innovations from lab-free virus testing to a reimagined solar electricity program. As we celebrate U of T Entrepreneurship Week events from March 7 to 10, read on to explore ideas that donors like you helped bring to life.

LSK Technologies: lab tests without a lab

In many areas of the world, medical labs are few, and hard to get to. That’s why U of T alumni Seray Çiçek (BASc 2017, MSc 2020) and Yuxiu (Livia) Guo (BSc 2017 NEW, MSc 2020) joined with Professor Keith Pardee (PhD 2010) to invent a portable diagnostic device. Their invention runs off a battery, and can be easily operated by non-specialized users. It can also diagnose COVID-19 or Zika from a blood sample, returning a result within an hour.

LSK Technologies received support from across the U of T Entrepreneurship ecosystem, including a grant from the Lo Family Social Venture Fund. Kenneth and Yvonne Lo and family donated $500,000 to support student-driven social enterprises associated with campus accelerators.

Yuxiu (Livia) Guo and Seray Çiçek stand together, smiling.

Fyyne: growing Black hair care

When Jeffrey Fasegha (BCom 2020) moved to Alberta to play hockey at age 15, he couldn’t get a haircut. It’s hard to find stylists offering services for Black hair in many rural parts of Canada. Now a Rotman Commerce grad and a former Rhodes Scholar, Fasegha launched Fyyne to solve the issue with flair. The app not only helps customers find services, it also helps stylists get the word out about their skills, growing the industry and encouraging more professionals to train in Black hair techniques.

Fynne won support from several avenues, including the Dongjun Wang Family True Blue Prize. Part of the University’s True Blue Fund for entrepreneurs, the award was made possible through a generous gift from the Dongjun Wang family, matched by U of T.

A Black barber shaves the temple of a Black man in a barber shop

Blip Delivery: deliveries that don’t tangle traffic

As home delivery services continued to grow during the 2010s, computer science students at U of T Mississauga saw an opportunity. Srikanth Srinivas (BSc 2020 UTM) and friends built machine learning software to show delivery drivers better routes. Then, they followed up with a robotic rover that could carry 30 kilograms of packages at 7 km/hr. Blip was successfully acquired by a Toronto-based e-commerce company.

Blip got rolling with help from ICUBE, the U of T Mississauga innovation hub that lets donors support startups focused on equity, society, or sustainability. Their grant not only helped them hire three students, but it covered their server costs for two crucial years.

The Blip delivery robot is a wheeled, robotic-looking platform, half the width of a sidewalk.

1 – U of T’s rank among Canadian universities for research-based startups

200 – Entrepreneurship-related courses offered at U of T

600 – Startups created by U of T entrepreneurs over the past decade

9,000 – Jobs created by U of T startups

$2 billion – In investments raised by U of T startups over the past decade

Statistics courtesy U of T News

CastConnex: buildings that stand up to earthquakes

Around the world, earthquakes are rightly feared, with collapsing buildings killing hundreds of thousands in the worst disasters. Enter student researchers Carlos de Oliveira (MASc 2006) and Michael Gray (PhD 2011), who, working with professors Jeffrey Packer and Constantin Christopoulos, developed steel connectors that absorb seismic shocks, allowing structures to remain standing. Their company, Cast Connex, has now constructed buildings across the continent, including the new One World Trade Center in New York City. They also donated a set of connectors for an earthquake-resistant school in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

De Oliveira’s research received funding through the Heffernan Innovation Post-Graduate Fellowships, founded through a gift from alumni Gerald Heffernan (BASc 1943, Hon DSc 1993), and his wife, Geraldine (DPT 1943, BA 1973 WDW).

Steel girders coming in from several directions meet at a junction.

Reeddi: affordable electricity for energy-poor regions

“Energy shortages affect a lot of people I know, love and care about,” says Olugbenga Olubanjo (MASc 2019). Determined to solve chronic lack of power in his home country, Nigeria, he developed Reeddi capsules: compact power sources that can be rented affordably, then returned to solar-powered charging stations for a refill. The company is now scaling up to reach thousands of customers, was named one of the best 100 inventions of 2021 by Time, and was shortlisted for Prince William’s Earthshot Prize.

U of T Engineering’s Hatchery accelerator helped Reeddi shine. Founded in 2012 and greatly expanded with a generous gift from the Heffernans, the Hatchery has helped launch nearly 100 startups.

Children holding rectangular Reeddi capsules pose for a picture with entrepreneurs wearing Reeddi T-shirts.

The ultimate impact of your gifts for entrepreneurship

Olubanjo summed up the most powerful aspect of donor support for passionate young entrepreneurs. “Anyone can make money, but it’s about the happiness that you give people,” he told U of T News. “Just knowing that my innovation could have a positive impact on people’s lives—oh my God, there’s no feeling like that in life.”

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