Ionomr takes the top prize at the Fifth Annual Coast Capital Savings Venture Prize

Ionomr Inc. received first place at the Fifth Annual Coast Capital Savings Venture Prize.

Ionomr locally manufactures Aemion—the most durable, high performance, anion-exchange membrane in the world. Anion-exchange membranes drive the performance of many clean technology innovations in the energy storage and water treatment sectors. Ionomr’s Aemion is more durable, more versatile, and allows greater device performance than existing materials.

“This prize will help us immensely to refine our business model, extend our intellectual property and deal with the issues of early-stage growth,” says Britton. “I am very grateful to SFU Venture Connection for the immense amount of work they put into this, to Coast Capital Savings and all the other sponsors.”  

The 2016 competition has been the biggest Venture Prize to date, with prizes totalling over $50, 000.

Ophthalight Digital Solutions Inc., led by Yaser Roshan, Ehsan Daneshi, Younes Rashidi and Farzad Hamidi, provides accurate, portable and automated device for eye tests—named O-Glass—for physicians who need to diagnose and monitor patients for optic neuropathy, glaucoma and diabetes.

The Venture Idea Prize, which is awarded to an early-stage company with a vision and a strong execution plan for its venture, went to Heilu.

Heilu, spearheaded by Jorge Hoyos and Chris Blachut, creates nutritious insect-based whole food powder. Along with $1,000 cash, also courtesy of Coast Capital Savings and SFU Innovates, Heilu will be receiving “Lunch with a Hero,” provided by the SFU Alumni Association.

The competition was featured in Financial Post, Burnaby NOW, SFU News, and SFU Beedie.