Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Three takeaways from Waabi CEO Raquel Urtasun’s entrepreneurial journey

mattimar — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 16:00:54 +0000

Three takeaways from Waabi CEO Raquel Urtasun’s entrepreneurial journey

mattimar Wed, 03/15/2023 - 12:00

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Raquel Urtasun, a professor of computer science and founder and CEO of self-driving startup Waabi, delivers a talk during the Desjardins Speakers Series at 91�Թ�'s Entrepreneurship Week (photo by Polina Teif)

Mariam Matti

Topic

Our Community

Entrepreneurship Week

91�Թ� Entrepreneurship

Artificial Intelligence

Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Computer Science

Faculty of Arts & Science

Raquel Urtasun

Research & Innovation

Self-Driving Cars

Startups

Raquel Urtasun may be a world-leading expert in machine learning and computer vision – but that doesn’t mean she likes to talk about her abilities.

In fact, the CEO of self-driving vehicle company Waabi says she had to overcome her humble nature when trying to convince big-name investors she had the winning formula to transform the self-driving industry.

“You need to say [to venture capitalists] – why you, why this team and why this technology in a way that’s very convincing,” says Urtasun.

The approach worked. Urtasun, a professor in the department of computer science in the 91�Թ�’s Faculty of Arts & Science, secured $100 million in initial capital – one of the largest rounds of seed funding in Canadian history. She’s since worked on developing the next-generation of AI-powered technology for self-driving trucks.

She recently spoke about her entrepreneurial journey during a keynote speech at True Blue Impact Day, which marked the culmination of the seventh annual 91�Թ� Entrepreneurship Week.

Here are three takeaways from her talk:

Be bold and aim high

As someone who prefers to show others she can do something, Urtasun says she knew that asking for $100 million from a slew of big-name investors would not come naturally.

But she was confident in her detailed plan.

“In front of the venture capitalists, you cannot be humble,” she says. “They will never fund you.”

Urtasun says she made sure to draw a roadmap of how she intended to use the money.

“I didn’t want to worry about fundraising in six or nine months,” she adds. “I wanted the money so we could execute and build this transformational technology.”

Be strategic about your team

Urtasun is the sole founder of Waabi, but she says her team and the investors she’s worked with have been incredibly important in building the company. She adds that she knew from the beginning she wanted to work with investors from the technology and AI sector – including fellow 91�Թ� AI luminaries Geoffrey Hinton and Sanja Fidler – because they would better understand Waabi’s mission.

“I think it’s important to have people you can rely on and that have each other’s back,” she says.

The investments from Uber, Khosla Ventures, BDC Capital and others have allowed the company to develop Waabi World, an advanced simulator to test its autonomous vehicles, and Waabi Driver, its first generation of self-driving trucks.

Ignore the competition

“My philosophy is to write a strategy and focus on that,” Urtasun says, adding that it’s important to tune out naysayers.

Case in point: When she first founded the company two years ago, she says she heard people say that she was getting into the self-driving sector “too late.”

“What I heard a lot was ‘everybody’s in this path, what are you doing?’ What I hear today is ‘how did you perfectly time this?’” she says. “And nothing changed, right? I just focused on doing my thing.”

Desjardins Speaker Series: Driving Innovation with Raquel Urtasun, Founder of Waabi from 91�Թ� Entrepreneurship on Vimeo.

91�Թ� Entrepreneurship ranked among the best university-managed business incubators

noreen.rasbach — Fri, 23 Feb 2018 13:44:46 +0000

91�Թ� Entrepreneurship ranked among the best university-managed business incubators

noreen.rasbach Fri, 02/23/2018 - 08:44

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Members of 91�Թ� Entrepreneurship pose with Dr. Tom Corr (fourth from right), president and CEO of Ontario Centres of Excellence, at the UBI Gala in Toronto (photo by Jennifer Robinson)

Jennifer Robinson

Topic

Global Lens

Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship

International Rankings

ONRamp

Startups

ThisIsThePlace

The 91�Թ� is among the top five best global universities for fostering startups, says UBI Global, a Stockholm-based research and advisory firm that ranks top business incubators and accelerators.

“This is amazing news and an important recognition of the growing international status of our entrepreneurship community at 91�Թ�,” said Vivek Goel, vice-president of research and innovation.

“The breadth and depth of 91�Թ�’s research expertise coupled with the entrepreneurial talent, ideas and drive of our students and faculty has created a rich, dynamic environment to grow the next great global startups," he said.

“We’d also like to thank the Province of Ontario for their strong support of student entrepreneurship opportunities across the province, which is why Ontario incubators had a very strong showing across the board.”

In the past five years, the 91�Թ� has created more than 150 companies, generating more than $500 million in investment.

This Is The Place: Read more stories about entrepreneurship at 91�Թ�

On Thursday, UBI Global ranked 91�Թ� Entrepreneurship among the world’s top five university-managed business incubators. This marks the first time the university has participated in the UBI ranking program, which produces its global benchmark report every two years.

The independent firm, which assessed almost 1,400 programs in 53 countries, announced the rankings in four categories in Toronto at the 2018 World Incubation Summit.

The news comes as 91�Թ� begins its second annual Entrepreneurship @ 91�Թ� Week on Monday. The week-long community celebration, which involves talks with business leaders and workshops for student entrepreneurs, culminates on Thursday, March 1 with the Startup Showcase, where members of the public can talk with 91�Թ�’s student entrepreneurs and see their innovative products firsthand.

“By highlighting the impact and performance of these programs, we are not only helping incubators and accelerators to become more efficient, but we are also assisting government officials in developing their respective innovation ecosystems,” said UBI Global CEO and co-founder Ali Amin in the statement.

“The benchmark and rankings also enable corporations to make informed partnership and investment decisions about the incubation programs and the startups they intend to engage with.”

Unlike most universities, 91�Թ� has nine startup incubators across its three campuses, which help foster student and researcher startups at all stages of development and in a wide variety of areas, from artificial intelligence and quantum computing to health-care innovations and mobile apps for consumers.

There are also 200 courses and programs available and the opportunity to attend countless events which attract more than 25,000 year student participants each year. The community also has new space for entrepreneurs to work, network and hold meetings at ONRamp, which opened last fall, as well as the state-of-the-art Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship, which will open soon.

“For such a large school, it just seems like everyone has this buy-in [for entrepreneurship] which you just don’t typically see,” said Gurinder (Gary) Sangha, a serial entrepreneur who recently joined 91�Թ�’s 22-member Entrepreneurship Leadership Council.

“It’s not a check-the-box, ‘we do this, too’ kind of thing. It’s very serious.”

Learn more about 91�Թ� Entrepreneurship

Wynne champions diversity in STEM during visit to 91�Թ�

noreen.rasbach — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 17:28:55 +0000

Wynne champions diversity in STEM during visit to 91�Թ�

noreen.rasbach Wed, 02/14/2018 - 12:28

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Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne (second from left in front row) addresses 91�Թ� engineering students on Tuesday. She is sitting beside 91�Թ�'s Molly Shoichet, who is Ontario's first chief scientist (photo by Roberta Baker)

Topic

City & Culture

Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Diversity

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Undergraduate Students

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne visited the 91�Թ� this week, speaking with Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering students about the challenges and opportunities they face and the importance of diversity in STEM disciplines.

Wynne began her visit at the site of the Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship, which will officially open in April. She met with Angela Schoellig, an assistant professor at the 91�Թ� Institute for Aerospace Studies, who spoke about her research to develop algorithms for autonomous flying robots, and with Jennifer Drake, an assistant professor in the department of civil engineering, who presented her pioneering work on water-permeable concrete for urban environments.

The Premier also took a tour of Polaris, the Blue Sky Solar Racing team’s latest vehicle, and a number of projects – including sounding rockets and a microsatellite – from the 91�Թ� Aerospace Team.

The demonstrations were followed by a town hall-style meeting in the Lassonde Mining Building, with an audience of more than 50 91�Թ� engineering students.

“When we think about the challenges we face today, whether it’s climate change, big data or health, we can’t help but think about science and engineering,” said University Professor Molly Shoichet, Ontario's first chief scientist, who moderated the discussion. “It’s exciting to have these conversations about how we can harness our collective brain power, and bring the diversity of our cultures and genders into the conversation to solve these problems.”

Over the next hour, Wynne heard from students about a wide variety of topics, from hydro pricing to artificial intelligence, and from mental health on campus to diversity in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

Watch the Premier’s conversation with 91�Թ� engineering students on Periscope

One theme that emerged was the need to overcome barriers for groups who have been traditionally under-represented in STEM, including women, Black and Indigenous students. Wynne spoke of the current “non-systemic approach” to enriching diversity: While many universities and organizations have outreach programs designed to help people in these groups see themselves in STEM, they don’t exist everywhere and are often are not co-ordinated with the provincial education system.

“I think it starts long before high school, when little kids get messages about what it’s OK for them to do and not to do,” said Wynne. “When certain groups feel that certain avenues are cut off to them, that skews the participation rate.”

Wynne and the students agreed that some of the barriers to diversity in STEM are embedded in the wider culture, and that ongoing work will be required at many levels – parenting, the education system, employment standards – to change them. Still, there are steps that governments and institutions can take to lead by example, including more equitable representation on their boards of directors and examining systemic biases within their hiring practices.

“My intention as a politician is to work to level the playing field so that everyone can be at their best,” said Wynne. “That’s how the province is going to thrive.”

Kathleen Wynne met with graduate students about their research while visiting 91�Թ� Scarborough (photo by Ken Jones)

Wynne also visited 91�Թ� Scarborough, where she met with graduate students in the department of physical and environmental sciences and heard presentations about their research. She also met with undergraduate students about the benefits and challenges of pursuing higher education in Ontario.

“It's important that policy-makers know that we do a lot of diverse work in our department ... topics that are really relevant currently in science,” said Ariola Visha, a graduate student in the Arhonditsis Ecological Modelling Lab. “You have climate change, you've got mercury contamination, you've got agro-forestry. It just means a lot that science is being heard and that science has a voice.”

With a file from Raquel Russell