The Lo Family Social Venture Fund, launched in the spring of 2020, is already helping University of Toronto entrepreneurs create positive social impact for the global community.

Posted on October 8, 2020

More than a dozen University of Toronto startups – all focused on making a global social impact – have received support through the Lo Family Social Venture Fund, Betakit reports.

The 14 winning ventures include Ryan Tam’s startup Aerlift, a drone-operated delivery system developed at U of T Engineering that helps governments provide health care to remote populations. LSK Technologies, founded by pharmacy alumni Seray Çiçek and Livia Guo with professor Keith Pardee, received a grant for its rapid virus-testing device that can test for COVID-19 and other diseases right in your doctor’s office, or even in remote locations.

The Lo Family Social Venture Fund supports startups that will have a positive impact on the global community

Engineering alumnus Olugbenga Olubanjo won support for Reeddi, which has developed a tool that provides clean and affordable electricity to individuals, households and businesses operating in energy-poor regions of the world. Recent Rotman Commerce grads Jamie Lee and Judson Asiruwa also won support for swate, a mobile app that uses grocery inventory tracking technology to provide recipe and meal plan recommendations so individuals can decrease household food waste.

The Lo Family Social Venture Fund, launched with a generous gift from the Lo Family, provides support for social startups launched by U of T students or recent graduates that will have a positive impact on the global community, with a particular focus on Asia.

Awards for undergraduate students can be up to $15,000 while graduate students are eligible to receive as much as $30,000.

Read more about the vision of the fund and about winners who are 3D-printing smart soil to grow better crops, turning food waste into clothing and “fundamentally transforming how we respond to pandemics.”

By Emily Allison