Spring Names Four Impact Ventures to Watch Ahead of Web Summit Vancouver

Spring’s list highlights local founders building scalable solutions across food, maternal health, youth employment, and biomaterials

VANCOUVER, British Columbia and Unceded Territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nat, May 06, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As Vancouver prepares to host Web Summit, one of the world’s largest technology conferences, Spring, an ecosystem leader that trains and connects impact founders and investors, is highlighting a fast-growing but often overlooked segment of the innovation economy: impact-driven ventures scaling solutions around urgent social and environmental problems.

This list follows a strong showing from Spring alumni at the 2025 Web Summit Vancouver, where Spring-supported companies were among the winners across all pitch platforms. This year, Spring is naming the next cohort of impact-led ventures it believes investors, media, and ecosystem leaders should be watching.

Spring’s ‘Impact Ventures to Watch’, a curated list of four BC-based companies showing what gamechanging innovation looks like:

• Gigsup: Canada’s first career intelligence platform for students
• Mama Milk Innovations: innovating breastfeeding with a breast pump that doesn’t suck
• PhyCo Technologies: creating biomaterials with seaweed-based plastic alternatives
• VEGAIN Nutrition: developing scientifically backed plant-based sports nutrition

Spring’s view into this pipeline comes through Scale Ready, its program for high-potential impact companies preparing to raise capital and scale. Since launching in BC, Scale Ready has supported 180 companies, helping founders strengthen their investment readiness, storytelling, and growth strategies. Notably, 70% of participating ventures are led by founders from underrepresented communities, and the program has helped catalyze nearly $15.3 million in investment in just eight months, contributing to Spring’s broader track record of catalyzing $120 million through its programs.

While BC is widely recognized as a major technology hub – home to more than 11,000 tech companies and approximately 220,000 tech workers – impact ventures remain under-labeled and often overlooked in mainstream tech conversations and global stages like Web Summit.

Caroline von Hirschberg, Co-CEO, Spring, says “Web Summit is a global stage, but the companies most worth watching are not always the loudest in the room. Through Scale Ready, Spring is seeing a pipeline of founders building ventures like VEGAIN Nutrition, Mama Milk Innovations, Gigsup and PhyCo Technologies. These ventures are commercially strong, impact-led, and building solutions to challenges their communities and industries can’t afford to ignore.”

Gigsup

Sector: Future of Work / EdTech
Founders: Stephanie Brown
About: Gigsup is Canada’s first career intelligence platform for students, helping young people move from self-exploration to clear education and career pathways through data-driven insights, personalized decision-making tools, and access to real opportunities. Founded by Stephanie Brown, a PhD researcher in talent analytics and former lululemon corporate leader, Gigsup is built from direct experience with the confusion many students face when trying to choose a path in a changing labour market.

The company is tackling a growing workforce challenge: young people are being asked to make major career decisions in a world shaped by AI, shifting skills, and changing employer needs, often with fragmented advice and outdated tools. At the heart of the platform is a dynamic digital identity profile that captures values, personality, skills, and lifestyle preferences - the data that actually predicts career fit, but doesn't exist on the open internet for LLMs to train on. Gigsup is positioning itself as a more human-centered alternative to traditional job boards and career assessments by prioritizing alignment over volume and direction over guesswork.

Milestones include:

• • Onboarded more than 1,500 users within the first weeks post-launch
  • Launched its explainable career pathway engine, powered by its proprietary VISI model: Values, Interests, Skills, Identity
  • Working with dozens of BCIT students turning capstone projects into production infrastructure including product, datasets, and institutional dashboards
  • Secured non-dilutive funding and support through IRAP and Mitacs
  • Semi-finalist in the Accelerate Okanagan Angel Summit
  • Finalist in Innovate BC Founder Faceoff Pitch Competition at Web Summit Vancouver BC Pavilion
  • Gigsup's pre-seed round is nearly full and closing soon, with limited remaining allocation reserved for select strategic investors who believe in the vast opportunity behind this mission
    
    

Mama Milk Innovations

Sector: HealthTech / Maternal Health
Founders: Shaz Tayebi, Jonathan Tippett, Vivek Balasubramanyam
About: Mama Milk Innovations is building a better breast pump for anyone who uses one, especially parents balancing infant feeding with work, recovery, caregiving, and daily life. Its technology is designed to make milk expression safer, gentler, and more effective than conventional pumps, which too often rely on discomfort as the norm.

The company was founded out of clinical and lived experience. Shaz Tayebi, a lactation consultant and former midwife with more than 32 years of experience, saw how existing breast pump technology was failing many families. Together with Vivek Balasubramanyam, a biomedical engineer and former Pfizer senior director, Shaz and Jonathan are developing a regulated medical device designed to make milk expression safer and gentler.

Milestones include:

• • Developed a feasibility prototype showing stronger suction is not the only way to express milk
  • Raised more than $600,000 in dilutive and non-dilutive pre-seed funding
  • Gained WIPO international patent approval, enabling a fast-track U.S. application
    
    

PhyCo Technologies

Sector: ClimateTech / Biocircular Economy
Founder: Ranah Chavoshi and Stacey Goldberg
About: PhyCo Technologies is developing seaweed-based biomaterials as an alternative to conventional plastics, working in partnership with Indigenous Nations and coastal communities. The company sits at the intersection of marine science, climate innovation, and circular materials.

Canadians throw away nearly 5 million tonnes of plastic waste every year, creating environmental and economic pressure across rivers, lakes, oceans, and coastal communities. PhyCo’s work points to a future where biomaterials are not only less harmful but rooted in coastal knowledge, marine ecosystems, and regional economic opportunity. Founder and CEO Ranah Chavoshi is a marine biologist specializing in aquatic toxicology and seaweed science, with experience across academia, industry, nonprofits, community-led ecological restoration, and education.

Milestones include:

• • Secured investment from angel investors and a venture capital firm and continues to build toward completing its current round
  • Launched an SPV via Equivesto for investors who prefer to participate through that structure (eBC tax credit eligible)
  • $500K in non-dilutive funding raised since inception
  • Selected as a finalist for the Beaver’s Den competition, winning the People’s Choice Award, and for the Generation Regen Challenge, presented by BMO
  • Shortlisted for MassChallenge and participating in the SeaAhead Pilot Program and COAST Accelerator
  • Produced a benchtop MVP, shared materials with early adopters for feedback, and is planning 2026 pilots to inform future patent filings, regulatory strategy, and partner scale-up
  
  

VEGAIN Nutrition

Sector: Consumer / Sustainable Food Systems
Founder: Melissa L’Heureux-Haché and Edan Wolk
About: VEGAIN Nutrition is taking on one of the fastest-growing shifts in consumer health: the move from protein as a niche fitness product to protein as a mainstream lifestyle category. Its flagship product, SURGE™, is North America’s first clear vegan protein, designed for consumers who want performance nutrition without dairy, chalky textures, or legacy protein formats.

Founded in 2023 by multiple-time CPG founder Melissa L’Heureux-Haché and Edan Wolk, VEGAIN has moved quickly from product innovation to commercial traction. The company has scaled into national retail, built a strong direct-to-consumer business, and secured partnerships with leading retailers and professional athletes.

Milestones include: 

• • 2026 revenue to date has already surpassed total 2025 revenue
  • On track to 5x revenue in 2026
  • Launched patent-pending SURGE™, North America’s first clear vegan protein
  • Secured retail placements with Body Energy Club, Healthy Planet, Nature’s Source, and Popeye’s Supplements
  • Selected for a Costco roadshow in summer 2026
  • Awarded Gold Product of the Year 2025 by BC Food & Beverage

About Spring
Spring is a leader in Canada’s mission-driven business ecosystem. For more than a decade, Spring has trained and connected founders and investors, catalyzing more than $120 million into ventures creating positive change across climate, health, housing, education, and more. Spring is B Corp certified with a verified score of 117.

Media Contact

• Yulu PR: spring@yulupr.com
  
  

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