Company Founded by Schulich Students wins Top Startup Award
A startup company that is significantly lowering the cost of indoor air filtration took top prize in an annual York University competition for entrepreneurs.
Three finalist teams in the competition, whose members all graduated from York University’s LaunchYU Accelerator program, were judged on their ability to take their venture to market and scale. The winner of this year’s $25,000 Aird & Berlis StartupSource Market Entry Award, Blade Filters, will receive $12,500 in cash and an equal amount in Aird & Berlis StartupSource legal services.
Blade Filters co-founders, Giancarlo Sessa and Aedan Fida, are undergraduate Schulich students in their final year of studies. The other founder, Aedan’s brother Joseph, graduated with a degree in chemical engineering from Ryerson University.
Blade Filters has developed a patented replaceable cartridge design that generates savings of approximately 30 per cent for users by enabling them to replace an inner filter in an outer shell that has been fabricated to last.
The Aird & Berlis StartupSource Market Entry Award was created by the Toronto legal firm in 2017, along with Partner Randy Williamson, who is a York University alumnus and a member of York University’s Board of Governors.
“We worked with York to create the Award to celebrate a company like Blade Filters with a market-ready product or service, and help it get a legal leg up as it entered its market,” said Williamson. “More broadly, we hope the Award shows York University’s communities, the York Region and the entire venture sector the incredible services and support that are available at York to help entrepreneurs nurture and develop their ideas to get ready for the kinds of success we expect for Blade Filters.”
Adapted from a Y-File story.