What a transformative year 2024 has been – both for me personally and for Volition as an organization. Returning from maternity leave in May, I was struck by how much had shifted in our ecosystem. These shifts led us to really listen – to founders, to partners, to our community.

Vivian Liu: Driving Success with Making Auto Easy

In Canada, there is growing recognition that building a more diverse and inclusive startup ecosystem is the right thing to do and essential for driving innovation and growth.

Today we are excited to be featuring Jessica McNaughton, CEO & Founder of memoryKPR, a digital solution to save, store, design and protect all the elements of your story: text, audio, voice, laughs, pictures and video.

Earlier this year, Jessica won the Valhalla Investment Summit Saskatchewan organized by our partners at Valhalla Angels! Prior to this, memoryKPR had been 100% bootstrapped, and the Summit awarded them their very first investment. In Jessica’s words, “We got investors thanks to the Summit. Our investors span across Western Canada and we’ve also got some incredible mentors, people who have built and exited multiple companies and are just a wealth of knowledge.”

Bringing Nature Back Indoors with Origen Air

The Village App is a platform that efficiently connects people to their personal support network, builds friendships and encourages community engagement. Their mission is to rebuild local communities so that people can get a little more support when they need it.

The idea came to Ashley in a moment of need: when a surprise third pregnancy turned out to be twins, she realized she needed help but she found it very difficult to connect with people and ask for help.

HOPE exists to instill passion within youth and community members to take action towards critical issues in society through solutions that are global in concept, local in execution, and limitless in their ability to create and inspire change.

With their program, HOPE for Community, the foundation enrolls youth in a 12-month curriculum teaching them leadership skills such as team management and public speaking.

We met Vivian last February through our partnership with S.U.C.C.E.S.S. BC. As part of this partnership, we co-hosted a S.U.C.C.E.S.S. & Volition Alumni Showcase Pitch & Connect, where Vivian earned Top Pitch!

This week we are excited to be featuring Akracha “Pia” Brink, Founder and Business Director of Plato Coaching, a company providing premier educational support to guide students toward their academic goals.

Pia founded the company in July 2020 with her husband, Jason, who has been an academic coach since 2010. They began consulting in Thailand, where they helped over 100 students in Asia who wanted to get accepted in top tier American universities.

With Plato Coaching, Pia and Jason want to bring their expertise to help students in the North America market to get into first-rate universities around the world.

This week we are excited to be featuring Anka Chan, Co-founder of Ruth, a women-led organization focused on creating sustainable, disposable menstrual pads by using biodegradable and compostable materials.

Previously as part of her first startup, Hempact (now rebranded Ruth), Anka was working on creating menstrual pads using hemp – an eco-friendly alternative to cotton.

Today, we are excited to be featuring Sami Majadla, Founder, CEO of CertiCraft, a software company that helps licensed craft cannabis growers stay on top of their compliance records and monthly reports, and keeps them audit ready.