The cofounders of Click Payments processing platform aim to simplify and lower transaction fees while growing the digital economy.

Zavosh Zaboliyan is excited to be one of the Canadian delegates attending the G20 YEA (Young Entrepreneurs Alliance) summit this May in Fukuoka, Japan, where he’ll represent Canada on the world stage with hundreds of other like-minded innovators from around the world.  Futurpreneur  Canada selected Zaboliyan as one of the 35 young Canadian entrepreneurs who will share their ideas on entrepreneurship, innovation and entrepreneurial education.

Zaboliyan has a lot to share: “I established my first company at age 16, and thirteen years later I’m still at it, continuing to learn from my successes and challenges in the world of innovation and entrepreneurship.” Zaboliyan is especially eager to share what he’s learned from his latest venture, Toronto-based Click Payments. 

SAN FRANCISCO — The startup incubator Y Combinator plans to fund more early-stage drug makers, with a partnership designed to bring academic spinouts developing small-molecule drugs into its famed accelerator program. And in a Silicon Valley twist, the compounds it’s backing will often be recommended by an algorithm.

The push will start slowly, with only a handful of such startups expected to be accepted into Y Combinator’s winter 2020 batch of companies. But down the line? “If we get 50 great companies from [this partnership] applying to YC, we’ll fund all 50, no problem,” Jared Friedman, a partner at the incubator, told STAT.

‘Grab this opportunity’: U of T alumna’s startup to empower women through connection-focused app

One oft-noted irony of the “social” media age is how much time we spend in physical isolation, staring at our mobile devices.

It’s a trend Sandra Pellegrini is hoping to ameliorate – for women at least – via a real-time mobile app to connect users who want to share a meal, go to the theatre or take in a sports event.

After Boundless, U of T Is Setting Its Sights Even Higher | University of Toronto Magazine

Last fall, I hosted a celebration to mark the 10th anniversary of the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics. Several scholars from the institute spoke at the event, and each remarked that the opportunity and freedom to pursue curiosity-driven research is what drew them to U of T.

In a single decade, the Dunlap Institute has cemented its position as one of the world’s great centres for research in astronomy and astrophysics. Yet it would not exist were it not for a visionary gift from the Dunlap family. The institute is a great example of how inspired giving can have a profound impact in a field in a short period of time.

Over the next decade, these four projects will transform the downtown campus.

Since the beginning of the Boundless campaign seven years ago, spectacular new spaces for teaching, learning, research and innovation have opened across U of T’s three campuses. The pace of change shows no signs of slowing, with several high-profile construction projects expected to begin by 2021. 

A U of T startup’s robotic device is helping kids overcome their mobility challenges.

Taking Steps with Trexo | University of Toronto Magazine

Manmeet Maggu and Rahul Udasi were studying engineering at the University of Waterloo when Maggu received troubling news from family in India: His young nephew Praneit had cerebral palsy, a condition that can severely limit movement and balance. 

Before long, Maggu had an idea: What if he and Udasi could develop wearable robotics to help Praneit walk independently? As they began postgraduate degrees at U of T – Maggu an MBA, and Udasi a master’s in engineering – they decided to launch a startup. Their company, Trexo Robotics, would create a robotic device (in concept, a bit like the suit in Iron Man) that helps children with physical challenges walk.

Kepler Communications plans to build a global communications network using devices so small they fit in a gym bag

A U of T Startup Is Launching Tiny Satellites | University of Toronto Magazine

Kepler’s satellites require a fraction of the power of conventional devices and can be launched for $250,000, compared to as much as $500 million for a typical satellite.

So far, the company has sent two into orbit, but aims to launch 140, to allow clients to send and receive data from fixed locations or moving vessels anywhere in the world. Kepler sees an opportunity to help companies track assets such as railcars and shipping containers.

Global investments in legal tech increased by over 700% to $1.66 billion in 2018. This flurry of investment activity comes as the legal industry struggles to keep up with an exponential increase in data and amid calls from clients to leverage technology to deliver more effective and efficient solutions. As a consequence, after decades of sluggish adoption rates, law firms are finally warming up to legal tech, which, thanks to advances in artificial intelligence, now holds the power to eliminate time consuming, repetitive tasks, allowing lawyers to focus on high value work involved in shaping strategies and solving complex legal problems.

Toronto and Silicon Valley-based ROSS Intelligence is one such legal tech company, which uses cutting edge Natural Language Understanding (NLU) to accurately answer legal research questions in mere seconds, instead of hours, reading through all case law and responding with a precise collection of cases needed to develop authoritative legal positions. Their platform even understands the time period and jurisdiction of interest and automatically applies filters in order to seamlessly focus the query accordingly.

U of T Scarborough and Centennial College are teaming up to establish the EaRTH District – an initiative aimed at advancing the clean tech sector through research, academic programming and commercialization.

EaRTH, which stands for Environmental and Related Technologies Hub, will be located at U of T Scarborough and will be a knowledge and training hub in the Eastern GTA around the development of clean technologies.

“We know the future belongs to sustainable, clean technology and this partnership complements the strengths of both Centennial College and U of T Scarborough,” says Andrew Arifuzzaman, U of T Scarborough’s CAO.

U of T Scarborough is renowned for its expertise in the environmental sciences, while Centennial College is a leader in providing training in new and emerging sectors of the economy, says Arifuzzaman.

“This commitment is also an exciting opportunity to bring economic activity and jobs to the Eastern GTA in a sector that is only going to become more important in the future.”

The Viscoelastic Coupling Damper (VCD) has won at the 2019 Tall+Urban Innovation Conference hosted by the CTBUH in Shenzhen, China. Kinetica’s Constantin Christopolous and Michael Montgomery were present to accept the award in the Innovation Awards category. Congratulations to the team and Kinetica for winning the award! See this and the other nominated projects here.