RADIUS Ventures, a new social innovation lab and venture incubator in Vancouver Canada, has launched its first venture cohort.
Focused specifically on “Radical Ventures” with a strong mandate to create social and environmental wellbeing, RADIUS is based at Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business and has received seed funding from Vancity Credit Union.
The Radical Ventures in the first cohort focus on the local food distribution and sustainable transportation sectors, and include corporations, cooperatives, and a revenue-generating non-profit.
Some are pre-revenue and others are in a rapid growth stage. All offer a product or service that directly promotes ecological health, societal wellbeing, and economic value.
The five ventures include:
– Localize, a local product rating and signage system for grocery store shelves;
– go2gether, a carpooling system that makes it easy, safe, and convenient for commuters to share trips;
– City Farms Co-op, a collection of small farmers in the Lower Mainland using IT solutions and goods distribution to access mainstream markets;
– Shift Delivery, which is revolutionizing urban delivery with specialized human- and electric-powered tricycles;
– PEDAL, a growing non-profit providing low cost bicycle repair and education services.
RADIUS Ventures will work with the five ventures over the coming months to refine their offerings, optimize their operations, and get them ready for growth and investment.
“Entrepreneurship can have a hugely positive impact on human and environmental well-being,” says Donovan Woollard, Director of RADIUS Ventures.
“RADIUS Ventures demonstrates the leadership of the Beedie School and Vancity in cultivating a social venture ecosystem and actively supporting leading ventures within it.”
RADIUS Ventures provides a six-month accelerator program focused on getting impact ventures market ready, investor ready, and growth ready.
Through an immersion in design thinking, lean start-up methodology, and hands on mentorship and collaboration, RADIUS and its Radical Ventures will collaborate to achieve specific shared outcomes, including fundraising, new product launch, and positioning for rapid growth.
