Just Vertical gets thumbs up at entrepreneurial event

Over the weekend, Just Vertical—a startup at UTM’s ICUBE business accelerator—showcased and pitched their venture at the Ontario Science Centre, as part of an entrepreneurial event hosted by the Karafarin organization.

Just Vertical is a startup that produces modular “farm walls”—energy- and water-efficient devices that hydroponically grow plants on vertical towers or attached to walls. As part of their final capstone project, Master of Science in Sustainability Management (MScSM) students, Conner Tidd and Kevin Jakiela, have partnered with Modular Farms Co., a startup company that specializes in vertical farming systems, to create distribution channels and service packages for their product.

Out of 13 teams, Just Vertical earned the most audience votes for best venture idea. OonBox of U of T’s Engineering incubator, the Hatchery, placed second, and FetchIt, also from ICUBE, placed third.

Other teams included Dalriada Therapeutics (from UTM chemistry professor Patrick Gunning’s medicinal chemistry lab, which won $25,000 last week), Nvest, who has raised $60 million in five rounds of funding, and several other established teams from the U of T and Startup Toronto scene.

Last week at the U of T Entrepreneurship Showcase, Just Vertical placed in the Top 5 for the Audience Choice Award out of 60 teams.