U of T Startups Take the Spotlight at True Blue Expo

Glowing screens, experimental prototypes and clusters of young founders filled three floors of the Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus as dozens of ventures gathered for the largest True Blue Expo yet.

The annual showcase brought together 75 startups from U of T’s entrepreneurship network – a system of campus accelerators and programs designed to help founders move from ideas to viable companies. The ventures on display spanned AI, health care, cleantech, advanced manufacturing and more.

At one table, Abdel Ali, founder of Kiwi Charge, showed his company’s robotic EV charging platform, and outlined plans to bring it to Toronto condominiums.

Nearby, Sushant Singh of VRiT presented his company’s handheld bioprinter, which won this year’s $40,000 Desjardins Startup Prize, in the later-stage category. Singh is aiming to submit the device for regulatory approval next year – and is planning tests with Virgin Galactic. “There are no hospitals in space,” he says, noting that the bioprinter could heal injured astronauts on future lunar and Mars missions.

For many founders, the expo’s greatest value is the chance to connect – with fellow entrepreneurs, potential partners and the wider community. “It’s about celebrating innovation at U of T,” says Ali.