Six student and alumni startups have been awarded $15,000 each through the new McMaster Student Seed Fund to advance their innovations ranging from AI-enabled reforestation to 3D-printed prosthetics.<\/p>\n
Six student and alumni startups have been awarded $15,000 each through the new McMaster Student Seed Fund to advance their innovations ranging from AI-enabled reforestation to 3D-printed prosthetics.<\/p>\n
Their judges? Fellow students from McMaster\u2019s first cohort of Investor Analyst Fellows.<\/p>\n
Sponsored by the McMaster Entrepreneurship Academy and The Forge, the new seed funding is available to students and recent alumni who have completed entrepreneurship programming at McMaster.<\/p>\n
The Investor Analyst Fellowship is a 10-week part-time program in which 20 students learn venture capital (VC) fundamentals from experienced mentors. The first group of fellows applied their new skills by evaluating Student Seed Fund applications.<\/p>\n
The two programs are designed to work together, expanding experiential learning opportunities within the innovation ecosystem, says Leyla Soleymani, McMaster\u2019s associate vice-president, Research (Commercialization and Entrepreneurship).<\/p>\n
\u201cThese programs \u2013 the first in Canada \u2013 are integral to our entrepreneurship training,\u201d says Soleymani.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat makes them unique is their synergy and how they come full circle \u2014 investor trainees apply their knowledge to fund student startups, creating a mutually beneficial and exciting experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sean Van Koughnett, associate vice-president, Students, and special advisor to the president on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, emphasizes the value of this experience for students.<\/p>\n
\u201cEntrepreneurship is more than just starting a business \u2014 it\u2019s a mindset,\u201d says Van Koughnett.<\/p>\n
\u201cEngaging in the process builds critical skills in teamwork, collaboration, and risk-taking \u2014 skills that remain valuable regardless of career path.\u201d<\/p>\n
Program participants worked for eight months with experienced entrepreneurs, lawyers, and accountants. The six winning ventures, announced at the second annual Made at Mac celebration of entrepreneurship, are:<\/p>\n
\u201cI was really inspired by the diversity in the skill set and backgrounds of the fellows, and the encouragement to listen to our guts and share our convictions,\u201d said Fellow Ella Rice Hui, a third-year student in the Honours Health Sciences Program (HHSP).<\/p>\n
\u201cLearning to justify your opinion in a concise manner is a skill transferable beyond this program. I developed a lot of confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hui\u2019s prior experience is rooted in clinical research, and she was eager to explore new territory: The innovation and business applications of McMaster\u2019s research.<\/p>\n
PhD student Kyle Jackson, who has five years of experience in venture capital, trained the fellows on evaluating early-stage technology-based companies and guided them through their analysis of McMaster Student Seed Fund applicants.<\/p>\n
\u201cA standout moment in the program was witnessing how 20 individuals from diverse backgrounds coalesced into a team, rapidly absorbing the fundamentals of venture capital and applying that knowledge to assess real companies and deploy actual capital,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
The IAF training equips students with skills needed to thrive in a VC career, he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt sends a strong message to the McMaster startup community and the broader venture ecosystem: McMaster is a hub where startups can be built and scaled and where high-quality talent can be recruited to fill the diverse roles necessary for supporting innovative companies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cameron Macdonald, a PhD student in drug delivery and one of three mentors in the IAF program, sees the seed fund as a boost to the broader VC ecosystem.<\/p>\n
\u201cVC firms are excited by programs like this, where students gain experience and knowledge, making them more investable,\u201d Macdonald says.<\/p>\n
\u201cSupporting students in building companies and entrepreneurship is crucial for the Canadian technology ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Investor Analyst Fellowship is part of the McMaster Startup Internships (MSI) program, established by the McMaster Entrepreneurship Academy with support from the Office of the President and the Marnix E. Heersink School of Biomedical Innovation and Entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n
MSI operates in collaboration with The Forge Business Incubator and The Clinic Innovation Hub. IAF educational content development and program is supported by the MacPherson Student Partners Program (SPP) Winter 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Six student and alumni startups have been awarded $15,000 each through the new McMaster Student Seed Fund to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3094],"tags":[51,3134,1302,18163,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-30438","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entrepreneurship","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-entrepreneurship","10":"tag-innovation","11":"tag-made-at-mac","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114359462523455635","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}