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At Best Startup Canada we track over 100,000 Canadian startups and over 500,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top British Columbia based CEO’ operating in the Machine Learning space. If you think a CEO’ is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.ca.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
James Jacobs
Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Ziva Dynamics
James Jacobs is the co-founder and co-CEO of Ziva Dynamics.
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About Ziva Dynamics: Ziva Dynamics is a software company that specializes in character creation and human simulation.
Geordie Rose
Founder & CEO of Sanctuary AI
Geordie Rose is a founder and CTO of D-Wave. He is known as a leading advocate for quantum computing and physics-based processor design, and has been invited to speak on these topics in venues ranging from the 2003 TED Conference to Supercomputing 2008. His innovative and ambitious approach to building quantum computing technology has received coverage in MIT Technology Review magazine, The Economist, New Scientist, Scientific American and Science magazines, and one of his business strategies was profiled in a Harvard Business School case study. He has received several awards and accolades for his work with D-Wave, including being short-listed for a 2005 World Technology Award. Dr. Rose holds a PhD in theoretical physics from the University of British Columbia, specializing in quantum effects in materials. While at McMaster University, he graduated first in his class with a BEng in Engineering Physics, specializing in semiconductor engineering.
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About Sanctuary AI: Sanctuary AI is an artificial general intelligence company.
Sean Hinton
Founder, CEO of SkyHive
As an experienced global business leader with an MBA from Queen’s University, Sean possesses substantial expertise in skills development and is considered a thought leader on the Future of Work. With the mission of combating poverty and unemployment through the use of exponential technology, Sean strives to set a positive example for other entrepreneurs that a successful business can be built in a way that truly helps people.
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About SkyHive: SkyHive is an artificial intelligence technology that drives rapid reskilling of workforces and communities across the world.
Devesh Bharadwaj
CEO and Founder of Pani Energy
Devesh Bharadwaj is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Pani Energy.
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About Pani Energy: Pani Energy is a water treatment optimization technology company located in Victoria.
Jesse Chen
CEO CoPilot AI
Jesse is an ex-EA entrepreneur and the co-founder, CEO of CoPIlot AI. Jesse was involved in shipping 12 titles during his time at EA on the core FIFA team. Jesse has over 20 years of experience in the software industry and led the development and growth of CoPilot’s AI.
CoPilot AI is a SaaS company based in Vancouver, Canada in the AI Sales Enablement space. The company uses AI and dynamic video technology to help sales teams automatically target qualified prospects on social media, initiate one-to-one conversations, and surface timely sales opportunities without requiring any content marketing, spam emails, or advertising. The company’s vision and mission is to humanize the way businesses connect with their targeted audience at scale. Customers have connected with over 3.3M prospects in 2022 through CoPilot AI. With an AI engine trained on 8M conversation threads doubling every 8 months, CoPilot AI is becoming the leading sales, marketing and recruitment prospect platform.
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About CoPilot AI, WealthBar: CoPilot AI is a SaaS company that uses A.I. and rich social data to connect businesses with customers in a whole new way.
Saba Mohebpour
Founder and CEO of Spocket
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About Spocket: Dropshipping marketplace serving 40,000 merchants
Eric Miao
Chairman and CEO of Elevoc
Eric is the Chairman and CEO of Elevoc, an AI company providing DNN-based speech enhancement and voice interaction solutions to multiple industries including smartphones, VoIPs, auto-motives, smart home and wearables, etc. Currently, Elevoc has successfully served some key industry players such as Lenovo, Mototrola, OnePlus, Xiaomi, TCL, etc. Eric holds a master degree from University of British Columbia and used to work for IBM and RBC. He started his entrepreneurship in 2014 in Vancouver and founded a start-up specializing in providing software and consulting service. In 2017, he came back to his motherland and founded Elevoc together with other two co-founders who are distinguished scientists and has devoted all their lifework to signal processing and DNN-based speech enhancement. In 2018, Elevoc got its A round of funding from Xiaomi and Qualcomm venture.
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About : Elevoc is a leading AI-powered audio solution provider on a mission to help people hear and be heard.
Karn Manhas
Founder, CEO of Terramera
Founder & CEO of Terramera, Karn is an entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience in leadership roles in government, project management, community and business development. Karn is responsible for the vision and strategic direction of Terramera, and raised over $30M to build, scale and execute on that plan. He is a frequent speaker on issues of sustainability, making clean food affordable, feeding the world and building innovative organizations, including at TEDx and Singularity University in Vancouver. Karn has lead several companies and has a diverse set of experiences including being elected the youngest Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in the Province of British Columbia. He is a member of YPO, and in 2012 was named one of Business in Vancouver’s top Forty Under 40 businesspeople. Karn holds a Juris Doctor in Law from the University of British Columbia and a B.Sc. in Biology (Genetics) and Biotechnology from McGill University.
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About Terramera: Terramera provides intelligence developing safer, more effective plant-based replacements to synthetic chemical pesticides and fertilizers.
Mark Masongsong
CEO & Co-Founder of UrbanLogiq
Mark Masongsong was a political and government staffer for over a decade, including as an advisor to two Ministers of Health in British Columbia. He bring detailed experience in understanding the priorities of government and working with government planners. He earned his pilot’s license at the age of 17, and has served as a director to international development and environmental charities, and was awarded a Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal in 2003. BA, Simon Fraser University
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About UrbanLogiq: UrbanLogiq provides a data analytics platform that makes city planning faster, cheaper, and more accurate.
Sean Chan
CEO & Chairman of EquitySoft Investments
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About EquitySoft Investments: Canada’s only private wealth management entity specialized in machine-learning sentiment-scoring trading algorithms.
Richard Hui
Co-Founder & CEO of Warranty Life
President/CEO at Warranty Life
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About Warranty Life: Providing Usage-Based Mobile Device Insurance
Nolan Tait
Co-Founder & CEO of Internuncio Technologies Inc.
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About Internuncio Technologies Inc.: A Crowdsourcing Control Center, Built for Developers
Ryan Smith
Founder & CEO of FTSY
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About FTSY: FTSY (‘footsy’) is an A.I. platform that matches people to consumer goods where fit and comfort matter.
David Sussman
CEO of Plasmatic Technologies Inc.
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About Plasmatic Technologies Inc.: Empowering service providers and their customers to benefit from the Connected Home through whole-home insights and mobile experiences.
Slava Kurilyak
Founder and CEO of Produvia
Slava Kurilyak is the Founder and CEO of Produvia. Prior to that, Slava served as the CTO of Fitplan Technologies Inc.
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About Produvia: Produvia offers an on-demand platform for hiring artificial intelligence (AI) developers.
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