A Defining Year for the Velocity Community

Velocity crossed several all-time milestones in 2025. More than 1,200 founders. Over 500 companies. Hitting $40B dollars in enterprise value. Our community continues to be a critical engine of Canadian and global economic impact. More partners and alumni are supporting founders than ever before. It takes a village, and ours continues to grow as attention shifts to what comes next: building toward $80B.

Our venture creation model is stronger than it has ever been, helping founders secure first pilots, early customers, and meaningful capital. The results are visible. In 2025, Velocity founders shipped serious technology and told compelling stories along the way.

We’ve collected a few highlights from the year below. This year also marked the release of Velocity’s first-ever Founders to Watch list.

The pace of progress did not slow. Companies across the community reached major technical, regulatory, and financing milestones.

• Float Financial announced a $70M Series B financing round led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives. Read the story.

• FluidAI reached a major milestone in AI-driven post-operative care. Its Origin inline biosensing system for real-time bedside monitoring of surgical effluent received FDA 510(k) clearance in the United States. With nearly 100,000 supported operations, the team is reshaping how surgical care is delivered. Find out more.

Ambition soared.

‍Velocity-connected companies Socratica, Float, MappedIn, and Hyivy were featured in BetaKit’s inaugural “Most Ambitious” list.

Velocity ventures reached $40B in enterprise value and more Waterloo students are building than ever before.

Nearly 500 potential startups are currently taking shape with Velocity on campus as the new year begins. This momentum reflects the depth of our community and its offerings: Read more.

Capital flowed to Velocity companies across robotics, health, clean energy, and advanced manufacturing.

• Congratulations to Vessl, Page, Voltra, Adaptis, Juniper Genomics, Cobionix, Float, Swish, and others. Closing out the year, Nfinite Nano secured $4.6M to scale technology that enables paper packaging to perform like plastic. Learn more.
• Velocity Fund II, the University of Waterloo–backed venture capital fund, announced the first close of its pre-seed fund with US$10 million in committed capital. Read the story.
• Velocity also introduced new non-dilutive grants and funding opportunities to help early founders build momentum and stay on the path to scale. Find out more.

Partnerships translated directly into real-world deployment and industry adoption.

• Real Life Robotics partnered on robot-powered delivery in Markham, Ontario, delivering secure, efficient, and lower-emission logistics. Read the story.
• The inaugural Waterloo Tech Week brought energy across the region and returns this September. Learn more.
• Velocity expanded globally by establishing a transatlantic trade corridor to accelerate market validation and founder access. Read the story.
• Industry sponsors showed stronger support than ever, helping keep founder programs active and accessible. Innovate with Velocity.
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We could keep going. To stay connected, sign up for the newsletter and visit Velocity News for the latest updates. Whether you are an investor, partner, or future entrepreneur, this is your invitation to see what comes next and to be part of it. Reach out today and join us in our next chapter.