New Ventures BC
Founded 2000 Β· 49 employees on LinkedIn Β· 1 known investors
New Ventures BC is a British Columbia organization that supports tech startups through mentorship, funding, an annual startup competition, and accelerator programs including an AI business accelerator. It serves early-stage founders across sectors in BC, Canada.
Also known as New Ventures BC Competition Β· NVBC
Investors Β· 1
Company profile
researched Aug 2026New Ventures BC (NVBC) is a British Columbia non-profit that supports early-stage technology and tech-enabled startups through education, mentorship, funding and recognition. Its flagship activity is the annual New Ventures BC Competition, presented by Innovate BC, a six-month program with multiple elimination rounds in which founders refine business models and pitches while competing for more than $250,000 in cash and in-kind prizes. The 2026 edition marked the competition's 26th year.
Alongside the competition, NVBC operates a portfolio of programs spanning intellectual property, capital access and sector- or demographic-specific acceleration: AccelerateIP, IP Pathways, The Discovery Foundation AI Business Accelerator, BC's Capital Raising Index, a Lead Generation and Sales Mentorship Program, and the Mosaic Accelerator for BIPOC women-led businesses. Past programs listed by the organization include the Venture Acceleration Program, the Discovery Foundation Indigenous Tech Founders Program, the Discovery Foundation BitSavers Program, the Startup Readiness Engine (a Road to Web Summit Vancouver series), Financing Foundations for Founders with Angel Forum, and the Summit Strategy Masterclass for women tech founders. An earlier profile of the organization also describes it as a not-for-profit promoting entrepreneurship through innovation, then running the BCIC-New Ventures Competition and a Distance Venture Acceleration program.
The organization is based at Suite #810, 1055 Dunsmuir Street in Vancouver, BC, and is led by Executive Director Angie Schick.
Founding story
New Ventures BC was initiated in 2000 by Wal van Lierop, starting as a competition for BC startups.
Business model
NVBC operates as a non-profit program provider rather than a commercial vendor, delivering competitions, accelerators and educational programming to BC startups. Its competition is presented by Innovate BC, a provincial Crown agency, and supported by title and gold sponsors, with additional programming tied to funders such as The Discovery Foundation and partners including Angel Forum and SFU VentureLabs.
Traction
NVBC reports that since 2000 more than 4,000 startups have been supported or have participated in its competition, collectively creating about 15,000 jobs and raising more than $3.4 billion in financing. In 2025, 216 companies participated in the competition, with Binta Financial named overall winner; TIMEZYX won the top prize in 2024. The 2026 competition narrowed from 25 third-round ventures to 10 finalists, more than half of which NVBC said were generating revenue or running pilots with major partners. Cited alumni include AbCellera, Aspect Biosystems, Certn, Jane Software, Moment Energy and VoxCell BioInnovation.
Latest developments
Applications for the 2026 New Ventures BC Competition opened in February 2026 and closed March 12, 2026, with the Top 40 to be announced ahead of Web Summit Vancouver (May 11-14, 2026). Ten finalists were named in August 2026 β Circl Brain Health Metrics, Dream Photonics, Eagle Eyes Search, Enya Learning, NanoTech Innovation, Ontoly, Radiant Fluidics, TruthSayer AI, VEGAIN Nutrition and VitaPulse Technologies β with winners to be revealed at an awards ceremony on September 21. NVBC also launched The Discovery Foundation AI Business Accelerator, aimed at helping BC tech and tech-enabled companies move from AI experimentation to a practical implementation plan.
βΈFull profile β market position, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Described in regional press as British Columbia's longest-running startup competition and a fixture of the province's startup ecosystem, working alongside provincial agency Innovate BC and other ecosystem organizations.
NVBC combines a long-running province-wide competition with a multi-year prize pool, structured elimination rounds, and a set of adjacent programs covering IP strategy, capital-raising visibility, sales mentorship and AI adoption, positioning it as an ecosystem-level support system rather than a single-program accelerator.
Go-to-market
NVBC reaches founders through open application cycles for its competition and accelerator programs, info sessions and kickoff networking events, newsletters, and alignment with ecosystem events such as Web Summit Vancouver and Innovate BC's Road to Web Summit programming. Program participants also receive partner perks and discounts disclosed at onboarding.
Early-stage technology and tech-enabled startups based in British Columbia, from ideation through growth stage, across sectors including health sciences, artificial intelligence, food and beverage, advanced hardware and cleantech, plus targeted cohorts such as BIPOC women-led businesses, Indigenous founders and women tech founders.
Geography
Serves all of British Columbia from an office in Vancouver. The 2026 competition finalists were based in Vancouver (six), Squamish (two), Victoria and Richmond.
History
The organization was initiated in 2000 by Wal van Lierop and began as a startup competition before broadening into a wider support system with accelerators, mentorship and educational programming. An earlier description of the organization referenced the BCIC-New Ventures Competition with more than $300,000 in prizes and a Distance Venture Acceleration program, and reported that over its first 17 years competition winners created 2,700 jobs and raised more than $300 million in financing.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources β announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed β not independently audited.
Timeline Β· 6
launches, deals, and filingsTen startups advanced from a group of 25 third-round ventures to the finale, spanning health sciences, AI, food and beverage, advanced hardware and cleantech; winners to be announced September 21, 2026.
NVBC opened applications for its 26th annual competition, presented by Innovate BC, offering more than $250,000 in cash and prizes and six months of mentorship and education; applications closed March 12, 2026.
The 2026 competition served as a launchpad for Web Summit Vancouver (May 11-14, 2026), with the Top 40 startups announced ahead of the event and ties to Innovate BC's Startup Readiness Engine.
NVBC introduced an accelerator to help BC tech and tech-enabled companies move from AI experimentation to measurable implementation through workshops, mentorship and an AI implementation plan.
Binta Financial was the overall winner of the 2025 New Ventures BC Competition, in which 216 companies participated.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
βΈResearch sources Β· 8
primary sources listed
- New Ventures BCnewventuresbc.com Β· web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does New Ventures BC do?
- Non-profit British Columbia organization running a startup competition and accelerator programs for early-stage tech companies.
- Who are New Ventures BC's investors?
- New Ventures BC's investors include WUTIF Capital.