One award, valued at $25,000 will be provided annually to a women-identifying undergraduate or graduate student engaged with Velocity programs who is intent upon working on their startup post-graduation. Selection is based on the founder’s commitment to starting their career in entrepreneurship, their effort and business traction leading up to the award decision and, the impact the award will have on the candidate’s ability to pursue their entrepreneurial goals post-graduation. Candidates are required to complete the Velocity Cornerstone program to be eligible. Interested students must complete the application - due in April - to be eligible for that year’s award. The exact due date for each year’s award will be posted on the application page.

This fund was established by a female entrepreneur and philanthropist with a deep commitment to fostering innovation, leadership, and gender equity in the business community.

Every fall and winter term, a $5,000 award is granted to a University of Waterloo student who has participated in the Velocity Cornerstone Program and is using an Enterprise Co-op to continue working on their startup idea.

Interested students must complete the application by the end of November (fall term) for the Anuj Jain Family Award and the end of March (winter term) for the Nitin Jain Family Award. The exact due date for each award will be posted on the application page.

This fund is made possible by a donation from proud UW alumni Anuj Jain (BASC ‘97) and Nitin Jain (BASc '01) and the Vijay Anand Foundation to support student entrepreneurship and to encourage more students to follow their passion in the startup community.

Momentum Grants are a $10,000 award to support newly graduated startup founders from the University of Waterloo at the beginning of their entrepreneurial journey. They are designed to help committed entrepreneurs at the time when they need the most support and bridge them to their first revenues and round of funding. There are a limited number of Momentum Grants available each year. All current University of Waterloo students and recent graduates who are actively working with Velocity on their startup are eligible to apply. Founders who have just graduated and are working on their businesses full-time as well as those who have successfully completed the Velocity summer accelerator program will be prioritized for these awards.

To begin your journey towards a Momentum Grant, get engaged with Velocity by joining the Cornerstone program which takes place at the start of each term and/or set up a meeting with a Velocity advisor.

These grants were initiated through a generous donation by Mike Stork and are supplemented and continue to grow by a multitude of donors who have gifted funding to the Velocity Trust.

Up Start Grants are $15,000 awards for students and researchers that are provided through the Office of the Vice President of Research and International. More information can be found on the dedicated Up Start webpage.

Co-op terms and summer jobs provide an outstanding opportunity to find corporate challenges that are great sources for innovation and startup creation. Velocity has created the Co-op Workplace Simulation to train students in how to approach workplace innovation in a highly interactive manner using AI-based coworkers to converse with and provide insights into their experience.

Any student who applies this experience to their real-world co-op and can identify and describe a challenge they find there, can apply for a Co-op Problem Award. The top award of $1,500 and a second award of $750 will be presented at the Co-op of the Year Awards ceremony in the winter term.
Velocity will also provide up to 10 additional $500 awards for outstanding submissions. More information along with the application portal can be found here.