Throughout the Fall 2017 and Winter 2018 semesters, the McGill Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship hosted a series of over 15 workshops and events designed to help McGill startup teams prepare for the McGill Dobson Cup.
In the lead up to announcing the winners, for this year’s startup competition, we had 84 teams compete in the SemiFinals with the top 40 teams competing in the Finals on March 28, 2018.
Over $100 000 in total was awarded to the most promising McGill startups across the four tracks: Social Enterprise, Health Sciences, Small & Medium Enterprise, and Innovation Driven Enterprise in this year’s McGill Dobson Cup powered by National Bank.
We would like to thank all the Semi-Finals and Finals Judges and Mentors who contributed towards making this year’s McGill Dobson Cup 2018 a resounding success. Our goal at the McGill Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship is to continue building world-class entrepreneurs at McGill.
We’d also like to thank the Dean of the Desautels Faculty of Management, Isabelle Bajeux for her opening remarks on our shared journey and how far we’ve come together.
Congratulations to all the winning teams listed below and a sincere thank you to all teams who participated in this year’s McGill Dobson Cup. For all of you, this is only the beginning. Seed funding is only part of the equation for success, and even then, success is not guaranteed. The rest is made up of having excellent product-market fit, driven by a great team with entrepreneurial hustle and drive, and connected to a growing network of mentors and partners, to help your company move forward.
Now the hard work of building your respective companies begin. We wish all of you the best with your entrepreneurial journeys!
Social Enterprise Track 2018 Award Winners
1st Place – Abil Design: Faculty of Arts – $10,000
Abil Design builds inclusive digital experiences.
2nd Place – Canadian Students’ Nightline Association: Faculty of Arts – $7,000
The Canadian Students' Nightline Association focuses on helping make Canadian universities a better, happier place through mental health support services.
3rd Place – Simple Manic Phase Monitoring: Faculty of Science – $3,000
Simple Manic Phase Monitoring works to tackle the logistical, financial and systematic barriers preventing low-income patients with Bipolar Disorder from receiving medical intervention by providing low-cost automated symptom monitoring.
Health Sciences 2018 Track Winners
1st Place – CURA Therapeutics: Faculties of Medicine & Engineering – $10,000
CURA Therapeutics is searching for a cure for pancreatic cancer.
2nd Place – InVivo AI: Faculty of Science – $7,000
InVivo AI is using artificial intelligence to streamline the development of new drugs.
3rd Place – Foodoc: Faculties of Agricultural & Environmental Science & Engineering – $3,000
Foodoc is a platform that connects Canadian dietitians with clients around the world.
Small & Medium Enterprise Track 2018 Winners
1st Place – ENTR: Desautels Faculty of Management – $10,000
ENTR enables you to rent unique venues for your upcoming events & book everything you need in one place.
2nd Place – Nimbus Tutoring: Faculties of Science & Arts – $7,000
Nimbus Tutoring is a mobile peer-to-peer tutoring platform.
3rd Place – JpondE: Faculty of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences – $3,000
JpondE is a food company that produces, processes and delivers African Catfish products mainly for African Cuisine in Canada.
Innovation Driven Enterprise Track 2018 Winners
1st Place – UltraSense: Faculty of Engineering – $10,000
UltraSense aims to improve water quality monitoring systems with low-cost, high-precision sensors realized with integrated graphene technology.
2nd Place – MinuteBox: Faculties of Arts, Law & Desautels – $7,000
MinuteBox is an end-to-end cloud-based corporate minute book management service for law firms and their clients.
3rd Place – SWTCH: Faculties of Medicine & Arts – $3,000
SWTCH provides electric vehicle charging management solutions.
Additional Prizes
Opportutoring: Faculties of Arts and Desautels
Opportutoring provides refugees with free one-to-one online English tutoring to open up their opportunities in their country of relocation.
AvMor Prize for Social Responsibility $1,900
This award was established by Avi Morrow (chairman of Avmor Ltd), as an award for the best business plan submitted in the McGill Dobson Cup by an undergraduate student on behalf of a nonprofit organization.
Murdoch Family Initiative 2018 Award $6,000
This award was generously established by Neil Murdoch (BCom 1981) and his wife Giselle Murdoch to support students who take the initiative to gain practical experience by way of creative or entrepreneurial endeavors.
UltraSense | McGill EngInE Prize $5,000
UltraSense aims to improve water quality monitoring systems with low-cost, high-precision sensors realized with integrated graphene technology.
McGill EngInE Prize
The McGill EngInE, the Faculty of Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship hub, focuses on stimulating technologically-based innovation and entrepreneurship at McGill in collaboration with the McGill Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship and the Office of Innovation and Partnerships.
ReMIXed | Faculty of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences | The Food and Agribusiness Convergent Innovation Prize $5,000
ReMIXed transforms the concept of traditional trail mixes by introducing dehydrated beans and re-purposed fruit.
The Food and Agribusiness Convergent Innovation Prize
Established in 2016 under a partnership between the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (FAES) and the McGill Centre for the Convergence of Health and Economics (MCCHE), the Food and Agribusiness Convergent Innovation Prize is offered to support a venture, in the areas of agriculture, food and agribusiness, that clearly intertwines technological innovation, social innovation, and institutional innovation to simultaneously derive measurable economic and social benefit(s). In 2018, Trussbridge Investments joined FAES and MCCHE in awarding the prize.
Haven Hub: Faculties of Arts & Desautels | Grit Prize $5,000
Haven Hub aims to radically improve health outcomes by widely distributing integrative medicine and personalized health services
Grit Prize
The Grit Prize is awarded to a team that has demonstrated outstanding dedication towards establishing their business venture.
Many thanks to all the Semi-Finals and Finals judges who played an important role in screening all 84 startup teams in the Semi-Finals, picking our top 40 Finalists, and choosing the winners in this year’s McGill Dobson Cup 2018 powered by National Bank.
This blog post was originally published on The Dobson Chronicles on April 6, 2018.
