Where are they now? 4 startups that won big at U of T Entrepreneurship Week

When you’re a startup founder, a little extra cash can be the difference between going big – or going out of business. 

“The first major expenses we needed for our company, I charged to my credit card. Starting a business when you’re 22 years old can be stressful,” explains Zain Zaidi, co-founder of TransCrypts, a document verification platform that got its start at the University of Toronto.

In an effort to ensure that more early-stage companies have the chance to grow, U of T Entrepreneurship (UTE) has held an annual pitch competition each year during Entrepreneurship Week – an event now known as the Desjardins Startup Prize.

The competition – which, in recent years, has been part of a broader partnership with Desjardins Group and includes an annual Speaker Series – offers more than $100,000 in prizes, ranging from $5,000 for third place in the early-stage category to $40,000 for first place in the late-stage category. There is also a people’s choice award.

“Entrepreneurs are incredible drivers for innovation when they get the resources they need,” says Guy Cormier, president and CEO of Desjardins Group. “Desjardins Group is empowering young, ambitious minds to turn big ideas into solutions that make a positive impact in their communities.

“The guidance they get from UTE to help them do that is invaluable.”

With the Desjardins Startup Prize accepting applications until Nov. 29, here are startups that have won previously won awards at the U of T-hosted pitch competition – and then went on to enjoy future success.

Genecis Bioindustries

Genecis Bioindustries founder Luna Yu competed for the top startup prize in 2018 in the early-stage category. At the time, Genecis was working on securing patents and developing its core technology of turning food waste into biodegradable plastics. The company didn’t have any commercial adopters or investors but was working to build partnerships and validate its technology with their stakeholders.

“Winning the prize was a turning point for us at Genecis,” says Yu. “It provided the resources and recognition we needed to move from an idea to a growing company and it validated the potential impact of our technology on a larger scale.”

Genecis invested the prize money in key areas such as research and development, team growth and infrastructure to scale production of its product.

Since its big win in 2018, Genecis has scaled its proprietary technology, secured high-profile investments from Amazon and Khosla Ventures, and earned several government grants, totalling $35 million. Genecis also recently launched the consumer-brand “Mad Tea” to commercialize biopolymers.

TransCrypts

TransCrypts co-founders Ali Zaheer and Zain Zaidi competed for the startup prize in 2022 as a late-stage company. Back then, they had raised just US$200,000 and were in the beta testing stage.

The company, which is helping to automate HR workflows, was co-founded in 2020 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic – a time when its founders questioned if the future they were building this company for would even exist.

“Winning this prize told me that maybe the idea I was working on wasn’t a bad one. It told me the thousands of hours and the years of work wasn’t for nothing,” says Zaidi. “This competition gave me the validation that this is what I should put my efforts towards.

“It told me to shoot for the stars and continue building this company.”

TransCrypts invested their prize money into rapidly prototyping and improving the product and hiring developers. Zaidi describes the competition as “great practice for pitching,” saying the experience was his introduction to the real world.

TransCrypts stands out for its commitment to giving back. Last year, Zaidi and Zaheer built a medical record database that helped hundreds of thousands of people in Ukraine and Turkey receive quality health care despite war and uncertainty.

Fast forward to 2024, TransCrypts is an alumnus of the globally recognized Techstars program, has raised US$4 million and is backed by investors including Mark Cuban.

HDAX Therapeutics

HDAX Therapeutics delivers meaningful medicine to unlock the full therapeutic potential of drugs and improve quality of life for patients suffering from neurological and cardiometabolic diseases.

Co-founder Nabanita Nawar competed for the prize in the late-stage category in 2022. Back then, HDAX Therapeutics had just incorporated, filed their first patent and raised some non-dilutive funding.

“This was one of the biggest recognitions for us,” says Nawar of the prize’s impact on herself and her co-founder Pimyupa Manaswiyoungkul. “The impact that this award had was huge. It really got people to recognize who we are in the U of T and Toronto ecosystems. It set the stage for our next big wins and the relationships that we were building… The startup prize was a great kick-start to help all the pieces of the puzzle come together,”

HDAX Therapeutics recently closed its seed funding round, which raised over $5 million, while both Nawar and Manaswiyoungkul –  immigrants and scientists-turned-entrepreneurs – are listed on Forbes magazine’s 30 under 30 list.

Xatoms

Xatoms is on a mission to bring clean water to underrepresented groups around the world using the power of AI and quantum chemistry.

Diana Virgovicova, the company’s co-founder, competed for the prize in the early-stage category earlier this year – at which point Xatoms was very focused on research and development.  

“The Desjardins Startup Prize showed me to believe in my business and the impact we are making. It encouraged me to think bigger,” says Virgovicova, who has received many awards and recognitions, including an award of excellence from the royal family in Sweden. “It opened so many doors for Xatoms – opportunities that helped grow our business tenfold.”

Within just a span of seven months, Xatoms reached the final round of the Hult Prize, becoming the first Canadian team in over a decade to do so. It also collected over $500,000 in awards at StartupFest in Montreal and recently received the Clean 50 Emerging Leader Award.

Virgovicova, along with co-founder Kerem Topal Ismail Oglou and Shirley Zhong, currently has three water purification pilot operations in Kenya, South Africa and the United States.