In honour of celebrating entrepreneurship across British Columbia this September, we spoke with five innovative and emerging startups. Whether a part of the beauty business, literary world, or combating environmental issues—each company offers fresh and energizing ideas to reshape the business landscape in our province and fill the gaps most needed in our communities.
Through a combination of grit, perseverance, big-world dreams and plenty of ups and downs, we’re proud of the hard work these businesses do every single day to innovate and exceed expectations.
BLANKA
Kaylee Lieffers tried to launch her own sunscreen line in her Vancouver apartment and quickly realized just how difficult that process proved to be. While she had a passion for beauty and personal care products, she discovered there wasn’t a platform to make this process easy for entrepreneurs because they didn’t have the infrastructure to support their dream.
So she decided to co-found Blanka along with Adam Chuntz and Douglas Long and in March of 2021, they launched their app.
Blanka is an all in one platform that lets anyone start a branded beauty line in minutes. From private label and formulation development to custom packaging, brand development, regulatory compliance and more—Blanka helps launch dreams. “We’re enabling entrepreneurship,” explains Leiffers. Whether users are an existing beauty professional or a stay-at-home mom, Blanka helps bring beauty products to the market.
Originally from Saskatoon, Leiffers grew up in Mexico before landing in Vancouver to attend UBC. She understands that success in a startup isn’t linear—there are plenty of ups and downs—and her biggest piece of advice is to focus on quick decision-making and iteration. “Make sure you have the right support system, too,” Leiffers says.
BOARDSSEY
Not many individuals equate board games with tech, but when the founders of Boardssey got together, that’s exactly what they did to create a platform that supports board game developers throughout the whole process from concept to tabletop sensation through their web application.
Originally from Romania, co-founder Anca Bujor spent 15 years working in tech across the world before she moved to Canada. In fact, all three co-founders have international roots: Luis Francisco Baroni Coutinho is Brazilian-Canadian with more than 15 years of experience in board game publishing; and Rey David Cuevas hails from Mexico with a background in software engineering.
According to Bujor, the lengthy process of board game development can impact the creativity and output of most projects. Consumers commonly only know the end product: that beautiful box with rules and a ready-to-play setup. But the reality of that process? Creation, development, play testing, sell sheets and crowdfunding campaigns, until finally creators get to distribution. Boardssey offers one central place for developers to create their game in a simplified way because they can store all the information on one platform, making it easier to get to that final product.
Boardssey itself is still a fairly new startup, having just completed their closed Beta version. The public launch of their web application will take place next month, so be sure to stay tuned for their next exciting development!
EEPIC EVENTS
Back in 2021, when the world was opening back up after the pandemic, Juliana Morais and Raphael Andrade met and fell in love in Vancouver’s music scene. Both originally from Brazil, and also both software developers, they deeply understood the struggles—on both sides—for musicians and vendors to coordinate events within the music community.
These difficulties led both of them to found eEpic Events, a go-to platform to find the right services for events, be they a birthday party, corporate meetings, weddings, or more. eEpic is a one-stop-shop where users can book photographers, caterers, bands, venues—you name it! For example, if you want to plan an early autumn neighbourhood barbecue, eEpic can book you a live band and a food truck.
Thanks to Vancouver’s diverse and multicultural communities, eEpic also works to bring together different nationalities to the platform. Whether you’re an immigrant wanting to book African cuisine, or just a connoisseur who appreciates diversity, you can find it all when working with eEpic.
The company itself is new, first launching in January of this year, and the full version of the app is scheduled to come out early in 2025. While currently welcoming vendors as their first step in building their online community, planners can expect to have access to the app in early 2025 as well.
LEGIBLE
With a long list of accolades like electrical technician, professor of Ecology, backcountry educator, Eastern Orthodox priest, and proud single father of three, what’s adding CEO of a publicly traded company to his resume? Kaleeg Hainsworth is the founder of Legible, an affordable digital platform that provides access to ebooks and audiobooks as a browser based reading system.
Founded back in 2019, Legible went public in 2021 and just launched their own app and Unbound Membership last October, now providing users with access to millions of titles at just $9.99/month—the lowest price on the market.
Originally from Calgary, Hainsworth first discovered poetry when he lived on the streets as a teenage runaway. Later, while working in outreach with unhoused individuals in Victoria, he realized how hard it was for the homeless to have access to books. “There’s a dignity to reading and exploring,” Hainsworth says. So he decided to develop a reading system that got digital books into people’s hands with a heavy emphasis on accessibility.
One interesting offering Legible delivers is AI integration with their books and content to enhance the human reading experience. The AI offers a doorway to “talk” to characters in the book as a way to better understand the story. For example, their next AI release is Frankenstein— allowing users to “chat” with both Victor Frankenstein and his creature outside of the regular storyline. While they’re the only company currently in the world of publishing to include AI in their books, Hainsworth is a staunch defender of human-centric content and won’t publish AI-generated content.
ORCA WATER
Around two and a half years ago, Kerry Chin realized that water needed to be measured properly in a non-intrusive way to help individuals predict and mitigate water leaks. Although many British Columbia residents don’t feel the impact of water scarcity on a regular basis, 50% of the global population does—by 2050, that’s predicted to rise to 75%.
So after many years in consulting and aiding other entrepreneurs, Chin decided to found his own tech startup explicitly to develop technology that could measure water. From this dream came Orca Water, a company that produces modern technology that doesn’t involve cutting pipes, hiring plumbers, or purchasing heavy-duty tools to help detect leaks and collect data.
While water is currently cheap in Canada, that might not continue to be the case due to climate changes and a rising global population. Insurance affects normal, everyday people and an unnoticed water leak can cost folks anywhere between $10,000 to $120,000 in damage. With Orca Water, you can use the tool to understand your own water usage and mitigate early damage thanks to ultrasonic sensors.
While the company itself is still pre-revenue, they’re just gearing up to kick off the commercialization of their products. In 2023, they were awarded the Top 50 Most Investible Cleantech companies in Canada by Foresight Canada, and awarded Top 10 in New Ventures BC by Innovate BC. The company is sure to achieve big things and definitely one to keep an eye on as they take orders in the future.
