In 2023, York University’s Schulich School of Business launched a new certificate program for Canadian technology startup upskilling called the Schulich Venture Academy (SVA).

While the business school had been supporting startups for years through Schulich Startups, SVA co-creator Cherry Rose Tan said many of its portfolio companies were still struggling to access the mentorship and training they needed to scale their businesses.

“A lot of what these founders were asking for was, ‘Hey, can we learn from somebody who’s been there and done that?’” Tan told BetaKit in an interview.

“[SVA has] become really the upskilling tool that we’ve been missing in the ecosystem for a long time.”

After identifying a gap in the market, Tan and co-creator Chris Carder teamed up with Schulich Startups a

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