Creative Destruction Lab Opens Second Accelerator in Vancouver

A Toronto-based seed-stage program for scalable, science-based companies has announced an expansion of its program to Canada’s West Coast with the launch of the Creative Destruction Lab-Wes.

Launched in partnership with the UBC Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia, the new Vancouver accelerator will use the methodology established by the Creative Destruction Lab at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, which employs an objectives-based mentoring process led by ntrepreneurs and angel investors.

The goal of the program is to maximize the equity value creation of its ventures.

“We created a model for tech venture creation that keeps startups focused on their essential business challenges and dedicated to solving them with world-class support,” says Ajay Agrawal, Peter Munk Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Rotman School and the founder of the Creative Destruction Lab.

“By partnering with UBC Sauder, we will magnify the impact of CDL by drawing in ventures from one of the country’s other leading research universities and B.C.’s burgeoning startup scene to further build the country’s tech sector and the opportunities for job creation it provides,” says Rachel Harris, Director of the Creative Destruction Lab.

“CDL-West will provide a much-needed support system to ensure innovations formulated on British Columbia campuses can access the funding they need to scale up and grow in-province,” says Robert Helsley, Dean of the UBC Sauder School of Business. “The success our partners at Rotman have had in helping commercialize the scientific breakthroughs of Canadian talent is remarkable and is exactly what we plan to replicate at UBC Sauder with CDL-West.”

The inaugural program at CDL-West will call for applications in October and the start of the program will be January.