SFU Beedie-linked businesses honoured in tech recognition list

Nine companies with close ties to SFU’s Beedie School of Business have been named among the 2018 winners of Ready to Rocket, a recognition program for British Columbia’s tech sector that showcases the growing tech companies. The Ready to Rocket honourees are broken down by sector, and sub-divided between early stage ventures on ‘Emerging Rocket’ lists, and more established companies on ‘Ready to Rocket’ lists.

The companies span a range of technologies in sectors including cleantech, ICT, lifesciences and health, and are detailed in full below. Ryan Cross, SFU Beedie MBA alumnus and CEO of Distill Analytics, which was included in the ICT Emerging Rocket list, credits his experience in the MBA program with preparing him for his successful venture.

“My experience at the comprehensive SFU Beedie MBA program gave me a solid foundation for understanding business processes, the understanding of how my expertise could be the basis of a novel business idea for the alternative financial data field, and the network to help me get a new company started, and scaled,” says Cross. “Without my colleagues in the MBA program I can honestly say that I wouldn’t be where I am today.”

“Being selected for the Ready to Rocket List as an emerging technology company reflects the hard work and innovative thinking my team has. This recognition demonstrates the success we’ve had to date, as we’ve grown our product, team, and business. We look forward to our continued potential that the Ready to Rock List has identified as we shifty from being a small Vancouver technology start-up into a Canadian success, and global business.”

The full list of Ready to Rocket winners with SFU Beedie connections is as follows:

Cleantech Ready to Rocket list

• Saltworks Technologies Inc., which has developed a cutting technology for industrial desalination and brine treatment. The company was co-founded by Ben Sparrow and Josh Zoshi, both alumni of SFU Beedie’s Management of Technology (MOT) MBA

Cleantech Emerging Rocket list

• Hydra Energy, a clean energy company helping commercial fleet operators upgrade their vehicles to run on hydrogen. Laura Guzman, the company’s Director of Government Affairs and Partnerships, is an alumnus of SFU Beedie’s Invention to Innovation (i2I) program.
• Ionomr Innovations Inc., a high-performance membrane technology company, founded by CEO Ben Britton, an alumnus of the i2I program.
• VeloMetro Mobility Inc., which has developed an electric-assisted, enclosed pedal-powered vehicle, and plans to launch a fleet for public use. The company was started by Kody Baker, an alumnus of the Management of Technology MBA program.

ICT Ready to Rocket list

• PHEMI Systems Inc, a company offering big data solutions, which was co-founded by Dr. Paul Terry, an adjunct professor at SFU Beedie. The company is also included in the Digital Health Ready to Rocket category

ICT Emerging Rocket list

• ClickDishes Inc., an online meal ordering service currently based out of SFU’s Venture Labs and employing a number of SFU Beedie alumni, including Josh McKissock, Customer Success Team Lead, an alumnus of the BBA program
• Distill Analytics, an alternative financial data vendor which generates remote psychometric assessments of corporate leaders using earnings calls as input, providing unique data for use in quantitative trading strategies. The company was founded by Ryan Cross, an alumnus of SFU Beedie’s MBA program.

• HockeyData Inc., a leading provider of hockey specific analytics and information to teams, players, agents, and scouts, co-founded by current SFU Beedie student Cole Gawenda, with support from SFU’s Coast Capital Savings Venture Connection.

Life Science Emerging Rocket list

• Microbiome Insights Inc., a global leader in microbiome research, co-founded by SFU Beedie adjunct professor Malcolm Kendall.