HATCH Ventures Step Up to Tackle COVID-19

Agility is a defining characteristic of successful startups. Meet the game changing HATCH ventures that have shifted gear to tackle COVID-19:

3DQue

3D Printing for a cause

Aiming to transform the way companies manufacture, 3DQue provides a solution to fast, smart, and sustainable 3D printing. For their team, the wake of COVID-19 presented two pressing issues they had the potential to solve: the economic and human implications of the virus.

In the past few weeks, 3DQue has broadened their operations to serve businesses impacted by waning international supply chains, keeping companies open by creating custom products otherwise near impossible to obtain in the current climate. They are collaborating with a range of industries to provide parts critical to their continuation, expanding the breadth of their business to provide solutions to lessen the economic impact of the virus.

Most notably, 3DQue is a part of an open source community that is leading the design of products for the 3D printing of scarce health necessities like face shields and ventilators. 3DQue’s end to end automation suite of printers puts the team in a unique position to produce these necessities, locally, to feed hospital and healthcare supply shortages without jeopardizing social distancing protocols. They are working with collaborators all over the world to help source and create sterilizable materials suitable for the 3D printing of medical supplies that can take the place of big factories that have been halted due to the virus. As part of the BC COVID-19 3D printing community, the team is preparing to expedite the printing of thousands of healthcare devices, critical for front line workers.

deepND 

(Re)building HR infrastructure

During the COVID-19 crisis, Brianna Blaney, founder and CEO of deepND and Envol Strategies, has been working pro bono to advice companies navigating the HR landscape amidst COVID-19.  One of the most material aspects of this crisis is the job market, making workforce solutions more necessary than ever as businesses who’ve never had layoffs are finding themselves considering major cuts while others are too shocked to move forward.

A solutions based SAAS (software-as-a-service) platform, deepND uses artificial intelligence to help customers hire better hourly workers and keep them longer. Brianna’s service company Envol Strategies specializes in solving complex hiring and retention challenges. Without skipping a beat, both teams have channeled the agility and creativity custom to early stage companies, shifting their priorities to build an online hub for employers with custom resources and tools to not only survive, but position themselves to come out stronger than ever. Easing the whiplash caused by the many programs and benefits spun out over the last few weeks, they’ve provided transition guides for companies ranging from remote learning for employees to virtual onboarding processes to give people a better experience at work.

deepND has expanded the scope of their product to address the urgent requirements of hourly employers, tapping into new opportunities to solve real business problems and build a new normal for hourly employers. With employers uncertain of how to proceed, deepND and Envol Strategies have become core drivers of this transition, leveraging their expertise to (re)build better, results-oriented HR infrastructure.

Acuva

UV-LED disinfection

Acuva Technologies is empowering customers globally to produce safe drinking water through their advanced UV-LED disinfection systems. A global leader in UVC-LED water disinfection technology, Acuva designs, develops and manufactures advanced UV-LED systems for water disinfection applications. Developed in partnership with UBC, Acuva combines the proven performance of UV disinfection with the energy efficiency of LEDs to purify drinking water with microbial disinfection rates up to 99.9999% without adding chemicals into the water, eliminating the need for plastic water bottles. Acuva has entered partnerships with major OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) around the globe to integrate their UV-LED water disinfection modules. In April, it was announced that they are introducing a UV-LED disinfection mask and UV-LED disinfection portable device in efforts to help fight COVID-19.

Acuva is an alumni of the HATCH Accelerator program