��ɫֱ��

On Thursday March 26, The Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking held its inaugural Liftoff event, marking the culmination of its flagship program, Launchpad. After six months of building and refining their ventures, Apex Systems took home the first-place prize. 

Eight teams competed in Liftoff’s pitch competition, with Apex Systems — featuring Mike Comessotti, Patric Frey, Vianney Nguyen, Liam Wong and Maxwell Shedd — placing first and receiving $2.500.  

Apex Systems takes first place

The team’s startup focuses on wildfire mitigation. By consulting with researchers, industry experts and firefighters, Apex Systems developed a solution that uses drone and machine learning technology to efficiently survey large areas, delivering accessible, scalable and accurate fuel-density estimates. 

“We wanted to find a simple solution that was both impactful and scalable,” Comessoti says. “We found a gap in the market and focused in.” 

The team, all hailing from the Schulich School, cite mentorship as a key strength of the program. 

“We were very fortunate to have as a coach,” says Shedd. “She provided us with so many insights into our business strategy, our solution development and even connected us with experts in the industry. We also had weekly sessions to refine our pitching skills, which were incredibly useful. We received great feedback from coaches throughout the process.

“This has been such a privilege. We wanted to address challenges that are so prevalent in Alberta and around the world. Knowing we’ve developed a solution with real impact is the best part.”

Flagship program drives entrepreneurial thinking and resilience

Launchpad was initially developed in partnership with the at the University of Calgary in 2019. What began as an eight-week program has since grown to a six-month co-curricular experience, welcoming participants across diverse faculties. Today, Launchpad serves as the Hunter Hub’s flagship program, open to the entire UCalgary community.

Throughout the program, participants sharpen their entrepreneurial thinking through weekly presentations, workshops, coaching sessions and an interactive learning system. Liftoff marks the program’s finale, where eight finalist teams pitch live for a $5,000 prize pool. 

“During the program, I saw so many participants gain so much resilience and learn how to pivot effectively,” says Sanjeevani Uppal, BComm'25, Venture Programs specialist at the Hunter Hub and lead of Launchpad. “Their confidence grew tremendously, which is very rewarding to see.”

Agrivanna (Amirhossein Foroughi, Haden Harrison and Aminreza Abbasi) placed second, taking home $1,500. The People’s Choice Award went to LifeLens, led by Aryan Karadia, Kameel Kasumu, Isha Haider, Aly Mohamed, Saba Sadoughi and Caleb Oviawe.

Additional Awards:

Female Founders: SmartHeat (Cindy Cheng, Vaneeza Upal, Yansing Huang, Mahir Rahman)

Multisector Impact : NanoVolt Devices (Jayden Sorensen, Jesse Gerbrandt

Problem Definition: Safe triage (Jennifer Julie Lai, Muhammad Hashir Waqar, Mansi Singhal)

Best Prototype: 7x robotics (Rimoon Koryal, Usman Roshan, Yunzhe Xue)

Clearest Development Trajectory: Aurora Fluid Systems Inc (Lukas Kobler)

Best Pivot: M3P Carebot (Mohammad Farajtabar, Mohammad Hossein Sarfi, Paul McBeth, Meghdad Ghias) 

Biggest Impact: LUNARA (Pedram Nazari, Mataya Canlas, Adrina Sadeghian, Angela Stelmaschuk)

Most Coachable: Apex Systems (Maxwell Shedd, Mike Comessotti, Patric Frey, Vianney Nguyen, Liam Wong)