Starting a Business in Victoria, BC: The Founder Community and Local Businesses to Know
Starting a business in Victoria, BC is hard, but it's a lot easier when you're not on your own. These are the people, groups and programs I wish I'd known about when I started Isla Lune. Entrepreneurship doesn't have to be lonely here, and I don't gatekeep, so this is everything I've used, in the order I'd use it.
Olivia Wein, Isla Lune
I'm Olivia Wein, and I founded Isla Lune, cotton pajamas designed in Victoria, B.C. I launched it eighteen days after graduating from UVic's Gustavson School of Business. Once I found this community, it became one of the most supportive parts of building the brand. People make introductions and answer questions about things you haven't done before.
I'm a member of Victoria Builds, a social club for young entrepreneurs in Victoria, and on September 22 Isla Lune is co-hosting a Victoria Tech Week panel on young founders and AI with the UVic Entrepreneurship Club. My other projects are at Olivia Wein Ventures.
Shop Isla Lune pajamas →Register for the Tech Week panel →
Find them: islalune.ca · LinkedIn · @islalunesleep
Step 1: Find your people in Victoria's entrepreneur community
This is the part I wish someone had told me sooner. Building alone is hard, and most of what's helped me came from being in the right rooms.
Samuel Games, Victoria Builds and Canine Car Care
Sam is 20 and runs three things at once. He founded Victoria Builds, a members-only club for business owners in Victoria that has grown to more than 110 members. Members get a private WhatsApp group for advice, introductions and hiring, a monthly pickleball game, a monthly dinner of 30 to 40 people and smaller brainstorming sessions, all for $27 a month, and pitching is banned. It's now expanding to Vancouver.
He also runs Canine Car Care, which does mobile car detailing and car cleaning in Victoria, coming to you across Greater Victoria, the Cowichan Valley and the Vancouver area with non-toxic, pet-safe products. It has more than 200 five-star Google reviews, and offers monthly detailing subscriptions and fleet detailing for businesses.
Sam started in high school selling vintage clothes online. On his podcast, Reject Mediocrity, he interviews entrepreneurs, including Andrew Wilkinson and Rob Fraser of Outway.
Apply to Victoria Builds →Get a Canine Car Care quote →Listen to Reject Mediocrity →
Find them: LinkedIn · @realsamg · @victoria.builds · @caninecarcare · Reject Mediocrity on Apple Podcasts
Entrepreneurs' Lunch Club
Hosted by Andrew Wilkinson, the Entrepreneurs' Lunch Club brings Victoria's founders together for monthly lunches, workshops, speaker events and dinners. I'm a member, and it's a really great community. Membership is by approval, and there's a Start Up tier for businesses that are just getting going.
Interesting People
Andrew Wilkinson also hosts Interesting People, three days in Victoria with 150 people he invites every summer. It's hard to get into and it isn't cheap, but it's worth knowing about. The next one is July 26 to 29, 2027, and you can leave your email on their site to hear when applications open.
Muhammad Aarij, UVic Entrepreneurship Club
Aarij is president of the UVic Entrepreneurship Club (UVEC), a student club focused on startups and AI. It's open to UVic students and runs events through the year, including a weekly pickleball game.
He's doing his master's in data science at UVic. Before moving to Canada he built IXB Cafe in Karachi, which reached more than a million rupees in monthly revenue before he sold it, and worked as a product analyst at CareCloud on its stratusAI Desk Agent. He's also a TEDx speaker.
Join the UVic Entrepreneurship Club →
Find them: LinkedIn · @uvicentclub
VIATEC and Victoria Tech Week
VIATEC is Greater Victoria's tech industry association. It runs events, workspace and a job board all year, and it puts on Victoria Tech Week, a full week of events across the city. This is only its second year, and it runs September 21 to 25, and it's one of the easiest ways to meet a lot of Victoria's founders in one week, including at our panel on the 22nd.
LampPost
LampPost is a Victoria events app and newsletter started by two UVic grads who found it hard to meet people after moving here. It's the easiest way to see what's on each week, and its founders are part of this community too.
Caffe Fantastico
This one's random, but for some reason there are always founders at Caffe Fantastico. It's a Victoria coffee roaster with a few locations, and if you spend a Saturday working from one, you'll meet some of the coolest people in the city.
Web Summit Vancouver
If you're ready for something bigger, Web Summit Vancouver is a huge tech conference at the Vancouver Convention Centre. It ran May 11 to 14 this year, I went, and Isla Lune was on the League of Innovators booth. It was a fantastic experience. The next one is May 25 to 28, 2027.
Pickleball, weirdly
As weird as it sounds, founders in Victoria are really into pickleball right now. Victoria Builds runs a monthly game. It's niche, but join a pickleball group. You never know who you'll end up playing with. If you don't have a group yet, the Victoria Pickleball Centre on Westshore Parkway in Langford has indoor courts, drop-in play and new player registration.
Play at the Victoria Pickleball Centre →Join Victoria Builds pickleball →
Step 2: Get mentorship and free support
Victoria has people whose whole job is helping new founders, and it costs nothing to ask them for time. These are the ones who helped me most.
Tyler West, Olena Marun and the UVic Innovation Centre
The UVic Innovation Centre, also known as the Coast Capital Innovation Centre, is UVic's on-campus business incubator. It offers free programs and mentorship, runs the PitchIt and PlanIt competitions, and has supported more than 375 ventures that have created 600-plus jobs. Tyler West, its program, operations and communications coordinator, and Olena Marun, who worked at the Centre until this spring and is now with UVic's philanthropic partnerships team, are a big part of the reason I've done well in business, and if you're starting something, I highly recommend chatting with them.
There's a lot coming up. A new cohort of the Innovation Centre Launch Program starts this fall. On September 24, the Centre and UVic's engineering faculty are hosting the UVic Startup Showcase from 4 to 7pm in the Engineering Lab Wing lobby, with ventures from the UVic community and panels on entrepreneurship and research commercialization, and it's open to the public. The day before, on September 23, Olena is moderating She Owns the Upside at Fort Tectoria, a panel of female founders on funding, defensibility, AI and nerve with Karolina Valente of VoxCell, Katie Gamble of Nature Bee and Claire Butterfield of ADHD Central.
Register for the UVic Startup Showcase →Join the She Owns the Upside panel →See Innovation Centre programs →
Find them: uvic.ca/innovation · Contact the Innovation Centre
Dr. Brock Smith and Dr. Claudia Smith, Kidovate
Dr. Brock Smith is my academic supervisor on my Mitacs research at UVic, and he's one of the best people in Victoria to talk to about starting a business. He joined UVic in 1991 as a founding member of the Gustavson School of Business, has led its entrepreneurship team since 2007, and founded the Innovation Centre for Entrepreneurs, which is now the Coast Capital Innovation Centre.
In 2019 he and Dr. Claudia Smith, who holds a PhD in entrepreneurship and has taught at Gustavson for more than 15 years, started Kidovate, a free youth entrepreneurship program for middle and high school students on Vancouver Island. Young people get a graphic novel workbook that walks them through their business decisions, can be paired with a UVic business student, and then sell what they make at a market day. It has grown into Canada's largest youth entrepreneurship market, and this summer it came to Ship Point in Victoria.
Kidovate Victoria 2027 is on April 10 at The Bay Centre, and Kidovate Nanaimo is on April 24. Registration opens in January, and last year Victoria's spots filled within five hours, so parents should plan ahead.
Sign up for Kidovate →Volunteer with Kidovate →
Find them: kidovate.ca · @kidovate_victoria
South Island Prosperity Partnership
South Island Prosperity Partnership (SIPP) is Greater Victoria's economic development alliance, working to attract investment, grow key sectors and build shared prosperity across the region. They're always willing to help founders who want to grow a business here.
In October 2025 they launched the Greater Victoria Possibility Charter, a commitment from community, business, education and government leaders to build something here together, and I spoke on the student founder panel at its launch. Anyone can sign it.
Step 3: Apply for grants, competitions and startup programs
Every one of these is something I've applied to or been part of, in roughly the order you'd reach them. Most are free to apply for, and several give money you never pay back.
If you're at UVic, start here
The Gustavson Start-Up Competition
If you're in UVic's Gustavson BCom entrepreneurship program, you spend your final term building a real venture. Faculty pick the finalists, and community judges award the seed funding at the end of the year. That prize is what got Isla Lune started. I won first place and $10,000, which paid for the beginning of the business.
Having an opportunity like that at the end of school is huge. If you're choosing a program at UVic and you want to start something, this is the one.
UVic PitchIt, PlanIt and the SF-ELF co-op grant
The Innovation Centre runs two competitions open to UVic students, faculty, staff and alumni. PitchIt is a 90-second pitch worth up to $1,000, with applications due November 17 and the competition on November 24. PlanIt is a business model competition with up to $8,000 in prizes, due December 1 with the competition on December 8.
If you're a UVic co-op student, you can do an entrepreneurial co-op work term on your own business, and the Strategic Framework Experiential Learning Fund (SF-ELF) can give you up to $5,000 for it. I received it, along with the Graeme Jackson Award, a Gustavson award in memory of a student with a strong entrepreneurial spirit.
If you're under 30
League of Innovators and LOI Labs
League of Innovators is a national charity that runs a free accelerator for founders aged 15 to 30, and it takes no equity. LOI Labs is a 10-week online program for founders with a first version of their product, with live sessions, small peer groups, a Demo Day and a package of partner perks. I was in Batch 16.
Labs runs twice a year, and applications for Labs 18 open in October 2026. It's free, with a refundable $120 deposit to hold your spot.
LOI also has a brand new program called Edge, which I'm part of. It's built around founder wellbeing, and Edge founders even get free therapy sessions through LOI's partners.
Futurpreneur
Futurpreneur is national, for founders aged 18 to 39, with financing up to $75,000 and a mentor matched to you. Your business has to be under 24 months old.
They have been running since 1996 and have put $259 million into more than 21,000 young entrepreneurs. There are dedicated streams for Black and Indigenous founders, both with additional BDC financing.
Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA)
The Global Student Entrepreneur Awards run through the Entrepreneurs' Organization, for student founders aged 18 to 30 who are enrolled in a post-secondary program. Part-time enrolment counts.
Your business needs to have been running for six months and to have made at least $500 USD in revenue or raised $1,000 USD. It goes from local rounds through nationals to a global final.
Once your business is incorporated
Mitacs Accelerate Entrepreneur
Mitacs Accelerate Entrepreneur pays student, recent grad and postdoc founders to research and develop the core of their own startup. Each four-month internship is worth $15,000, projects can run up to two years, and applications are accepted any time.
You need an incorporated business that you own, an academic supervisor, and a place in an approved incubator, which in Victoria is the UVic Innovation Centre. This is how I received $45,000 for my research on Isla Lune, with Brock as my supervisor and the Innovation Centre as my incubator.
When you're ready to hire (for free, or close to it)
Venture for Canada funded internships
Venture for Canada's internship program covers 50% of a student intern's wages, up to $5,000 per student per term, for startups and small businesses anywhere in Canada. Interns can be full or part time, remote is fine, and the same intern can be funded for two terms in a row. I'm a Venture for Canada fellow and have hired interns through them.
For this school year, internships can start any time until February 28, 2027, as long as funding lasts.
And this one is a bit insane: through their Intrapreneurship Program, a whole group of students works on a project for your business for 7 weeks, and Venture for Canada pays them, so it's completely free for you. Students put in up to 60 hours each on things like marketing, research, data analysis and operations, then present their results. It's open to Canadian businesses with fewer than 500 staff, and applications for the January cohort close January 1.
UVic co-op students
UVic's co-op program is one of the easiest ways to get great students for cheap. Grants and wage subsidies cover a big part of the cost, and through the federal Student Work Placement Program a co-op student can come with $5,000 to $7,000 in wage subsidy for the employer. UVic Co-op's funding page lets you filter by industry to see what you qualify for, and it notes where you can stack more than one.
If you're a woman building a business
The Forum
The Forum is a national charity that has supported more than 20,000 women, non-binary and trans-feminine entrepreneurs since 2002. Its Mentor Program pairs you with a mentor for an hour a month over a year, and the Odlum Brown Forum Pitch offers prize packages of around $30,000 for founders raising money in the next year. I'm a mentor there.
If you want to sit on boards one day
Innovation Governance Program (iGP)
The Innovation Governance Program, run by the Council of Canadian Innovators, trains technology leaders to become board directors, with a three-level program taught by governance experts. Admission is by application, and I just got into the Level 1 fall cohort, which runs online from October to November. It usually costs around $2,500, so it's an investment.
If your business came out of research
Labs4 Technology Readiness Level-Up (TRL-UP)
Labs4 is a national network of 40 post-secondary institutions, 11 hubs and more than 600 mentors, built to help research actually turn into a business. The BC and Yukon hub runs out of BCIT.
TRL-UP is a four month, full-time placement in an applied research lab, and it pays a $10,000 stipend. You get lab access through the Technology Access Centres, weekly one to one mentorship, commercialization training, and a validated prototype and roadmap at the end.
Eligibility runs from current post-secondary students through to two years after graduation, or five years for postdocs, and you need a research-based venture at any stage. Winter 2027 is closed and the next cohort starts September 2027.
Labs4 Market to Lab (MtL)
Market to Lab is the shorter one. Two months, a $4,000 stipend, and you lead a matched team of students working on whatever is actually blocking you from commercializing.
Same eligibility as TRL-UP, and you need a validated research-based product, service, technology or social innovation. Delivery is in person, online or hybrid depending on your hub.
Applications for the Winter 2027 cohort are open now and close on November 6, 2026.
Finding grants you did not already know about
Pocketed
Pocketed matches you against more than 300 Canadian grants and tax credits based on your region, your industry and who you are, so you are not reading hundreds of program pages yourself.
The basic tier is free. More than 10,000 businesses have used it to find over $100 million in funding.
SR&ED
SR&ED is the federal research and development tax credit, and it is the one people forget about because it runs through your tax return instead of an application form.
For Canadian-controlled private corporations the enhanced rate is 35% and it is refundable, on up to $6 million of qualified spending a year. That limit doubled from $3 million for tax years starting on or after December 16, 2024. Talk to an accountant about whether your work qualifies.
NRC IRAP
The National Research Council's Industrial Research Assistance Program cost-shares technical R&D for incorporated Canadian businesses with 1 to 500 full-time employees. It covers up to 80% of eligible salaries and 50% of subcontractor costs, and you are assigned a dedicated advisor.
There is no online form. A senior person from the business calls 1-877-994-4727, and the contact centre works out whether you are ready to meet a client engagement advisor.
Competitions worth entering
CIBC Biz Pitch
A national pitch competition from CIBC Business Banking and the Women's Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub at Toronto Metropolitan University, with $45,000 in prizes across four categories: Entrepreneurial Success Story of the Year at $20,000, Start-Up of the Year at $10,000, Promising Student Entrepreneur of the Year at $10,000, and Most Popular Vote at $5,000.
It runs annually. Applications close at the end of August and the finalists pitch live in October.
TELUS #StandWithOwners
TELUS runs #StandWithOwners every year for Canadian businesses that are operating, registered, making revenue and have between 1 and 100 employees. For-profits, charities, non-profits and social enterprises can all enter.
Three grand prize winners each get a package valued at $125,000, including $50,000 in cash, plus six community awards and a People's Choice award. Applications opened in June and closed on September 2 this year, with winners announced October 1.
Free credits for your tech
Google for Startups Cloud Program
You don't need to be venture backed yet. Tech startups founded in the last two years, with a working product and plans to raise venture funding soon, can get $2,000 USD in Google Cloud credits and a year of Google Workspace. Once you've raised a seed to Series A round from investors, the Scale tier goes up to $200,000 USD in credits, or $350,000 USD for AI-first startups. Isla Lune's tools run on Google Cloud.
Claude for Startups
This one does need you to be venture backed: equity funding from institutional investors and founded in the last four years. Then you can apply for free Claude API credits and priority rate limits. Backing from one of Anthropic's partner VCs or accelerators can unlock more.
AWS Activate
Self-funded and bootstrapped startups can get $1,000 USD in AWS credits, with up to $5,000 USD for some. If you're backed by an accelerator, angel investor or VC that's an AWS Activate Provider, you can get up to $200,000 USD.
Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub
Microsoft's version of the credits, and it takes no equity. You start with $1,000 in Azure credit, then another $4,000 once your business is verified.
If you have a referral code from an accelerator, investor, incubator or university, most startups start at $100,000, and it can grow to $150,000 with sustained use. Bootstrapped and pre-revenue founders are eligible.
HyperAgent Founding 500
HyperAgent, the AI agent platform from Airtable's co-founder, gave 500 companies building with AI agents $20,000 each in credits. Isla Lune was one of the 500. Applications closed in May 2026, but it's worth watching for their next round, and for programs like it.
Lautaro Cepeda, VIBE
Lautaro founded VIBE, the Vancouver Island Business Experience, a one-day event in Victoria on November 17, 2026 for 200 founders, investors and operators. Attendance is by application, everyone gets an agenda built for them, the themed rooms stay under 50 people, and one eligible attendee wins $10,000 CAD, judged live on the day.
The idea is to put the people with capital on the Island in the same room as the people building its next companies, which Techcouver wrote about here. Before VIBE, Lautaro was CRO at Personize.ai, led business development at Aether Automation, founded TheFub in Sooke to support local food economies, and planted more than half a million trees.
Find them: vi.business · LinkedIn · VIBE on LinkedIn
Step 4: Get your website and tech built by Victoria, BC tech companies
You don't need to hire a big agency from out of town. These founders build websites, products and tech for companies here.
Ivan Cheng, Valley Edge Consulting
Ivan builds websites and apps at Valley Edge Consulting, a Port Alberni company building websites, apps and AI automation for businesses on Vancouver Island and across Canada. Their website plan is $350 a month with no build fee, custom-coded and hosted, with the domain in the client's name, and they also do AI and automation, apps and MVPs, and managed IT.
Ivan studied Computing Systems Technology at BCIT and worked at Rogers and WorkSafeBC before building Valley Edge. For businesses up-island, they offer web design in Nanaimo.
Start a project with Valley Edge →
Find them: valleyedgeconsulting.io · LinkedIn
Geoff Shera, Motus Design Group
Geoff is one of the founders of Motus Design Group, a product design and engineering firm in Victoria. Motus does contract engineering for technology companies, covering electronics, firmware, mechanical design and data science, for everything from wearables and clean tech to Olympic sports equipment. You can see their work with companies like Tersa Earth, Lifebooster and Exro Technologies.
Motus also runs an innovation co-working space at 1021 Government St, with private offices, lab space and meeting rooms, and it's where Geoff is giving us the room for the Tech Week panel.
Work with Motus Design Group →
Find them: motusdesign.ca · Motus on LinkedIn
Joshua McKenty, Polyguard
Joshua is the CEO and co-founder of Polyguard, which verifies real people, not AI fakes. It confirms in real time that the people in a company's hiring, onboarding and help desk calls are who they say they are, catching deepfaked voices, faceswapped IDs and fake candidates. It's built for secure remote interviews and help desk security, and it works inside Zoom, Microsoft Teams, ServiceNow and Jira.
Before Polyguard, Joshua co-created OpenStack while at NASA, was founding CEO of Piston Cloud Computing, which Cisco acquired, and was Field CTO at Pivotal. He co-founded Polyguard with Khadem Badiyan, and their press page has more on what they're building.
Find them: LinkedIn · Polyguard on LinkedIn · @polyguardai
Taylor Duncan and Julian Wells, North Group
North Group is an AI department on demand for small and mid-sized businesses. They plan, build and deploy a company's AI strategy, from a free audit and team training to custom tools and a fractional AI team, with a focus on using AI to make businesses more efficient without cutting jobs.
Taylor Duncan and Julian Wells are behind North Group, which was named one of Douglas magazine's 10 to Watch for 2026, with Taylor on the cover. Taylor and Julian both came straight out of UVic too, and they're great people to support.
Madison Feehan, Space Copy
Madison is the founder, President and CEO of Space Copy, which builds rugged 3D printers for extreme environments, on Earth and in space. Its systems turn local materials, including lunar regolith, into supplies and infrastructure for space missions, defence, mining and disaster response, and Space Copy currently holds a Phase II NASA contract for in-space manufacturing. She works across Victoria, Edmonton and San Diego.
The idea underneath it is in-situ resource utilization, or ISRU, which means making what you need out of what is already where you are instead of carrying it with you. Regolith, aluminum and a polymer called Zotek get milled down, extruded into filament, and printed.
What comes off the bed is finished parts. Tiles, brackets, tooling, and the grippers for the robot arm that loads the machine, printed on site instead of ordered in.
The hardware is built as self-contained units, mounted in frames and on castors, so a whole print cell moves as one piece.
Madison came to this from business rather than engineering. She has a Commerce degree in international business and entrepreneurship from UVic's Gustavson School of Business and a Harvard Business School certificate in entrepreneurship and innovation, alongside more than five years on lunar instrument development and early stage work for NASA's Planetary Science, Heliophysics and Astrophysics divisions. She sits on the other side of that process now, as an external peer reviewer and executive panelist for NSPIRES, the system those same three divisions use to evaluate proposals.
The rest of what she does:
- Chair of the Lunar Chamber of Commerce of Canada
- G100 Region Chair of Space Technology and Aviation for the Province of Alberta
- Executive panelist for the United Nations Global Expert Group on Sustainable Lunar Activities (GEGSLA, UNCOPUOS)
- Member of the Lifeboat Foundation Space Settlement Board
- STEM lobbyist to the US Congress with the National Small Business Association
- Contributing member of NASA's Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium (LSIC) at JHUAPL
- Member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the American Society for Gravitational and Space Research
- Contributing member of The Moon Society and of Women in Aerospace Canada
- Former co-founder and Chief Financial Officer of Moon Trades, 2023 to 2024
- Guest lecturer at Concordia University
She has mentored more than 120 early career professionals across Canada, which is the part that matters if you are one.
I got to know Madison in June at UVic's Distinguished Entrepreneur of the Year gala, where the award went to TELUS CEO Darren Entwistle. I am so proud of her. She is an incredible example of the talent coming straight out of the UVic business program.
Space Copy runs internships and co-ops for people aged 16 to 35, from both STEM and non-STEM programs, including engineering, computer science and finance. Cohorts run January to April and June to September, and more than half of every cohort is women. Applications go through the Space Copy website.
Apply for an internship or co-op →Book a call with Space Copy →
Step 5: Sell in person at local markets
If you make a product, markets are the fastest way to meet customers face to face and learn what sells. These are the ones I know and recommend.
Sidney Street Market
Every Thursday evening from June to early September, 5:30 to 8:30pm on Beacon Avenue in Sidney, with hundreds of vendors and food trucks. I had a booth there this season.
First & Last Chance Christmas Craft Shows
Two holiday shows at the Mary Winspear Centre in Sidney that have run since 1989, with more than 80 artists, makers and designers. First Chance is November 7 and 8, 2026, and Last Chance is December 11 to 13.
A Touch of Salt Spring
A family-run Christmas craft show at the Saanich Fairgrounds with more than 200 crafters and artisans from Salt Spring, BC and Alberta. It's excellent.
Shipyards Christmas Market, North Vancouver
100-plus wooden stalls in North Vancouver, with more than 500,000 visitors last year. Worth the ferry if you are ready for something bigger.
Step 6: Market your business
Tara Crymble, Creatorbuzz and Intros
Tara is an account manager at Creatorbuzz, a B2B influencer marketing agency that pairs tech brands with the operators, founders and practitioners their buyers already trust. Their case studies include campaigns for Apollo and Storylane.
She's also a LinkedIn creator with around 5,700 followers and graduated from UVic's Gustavson School of Business in entrepreneurship. In Victoria she hosts Intros, evenings that introduce local creators to local businesses, starting with one at Habit Coffee on Yates.
Find them: LinkedIn · About Creatorbuzz
Step 7: Support local businesses in Victoria, BC
The easiest way to support the community is to become a customer. If you need any of these, start here.
Shaan Brar, BC Brushworks
Shaan was studying at UVic's Gustavson School of Business and painting houses on the side when he decided to put school on hold and leave a well-paying job to build BC Brushworks full time. Since then he's painted hundreds of homes with his own team of painters.
BC Brushworks does interior painting in Victoria, exterior house painting, deck and fence staining, cabinet refinishing, epoxy garage floors and popcorn ceiling removal across Victoria, Langford, Sooke and Sidney, and all of its work comes with a three-year guarantee.
Get a painting quote from BC Brushworks →
Find them: bcbrushworks.ca · LinkedIn
Colin Mullett, Knightway and Evolv Modular
Colin is co-owner of Knightway, which has served Vancouver Island and Western Canada since 1973 from its headquarters on the Island. Knightway does modular and mobile home transport and installation, turnkey modular developments as a developer and general contractor, and new and used home and building sales.
Its modular brand, Evolv Modular, designs, builds, transports and installs prefab homes, garden suites and ADUs, classrooms, daycares and offices. The Haven 640 garden suite starts at $175,000.
Kevin Searle, H2O Brothers
Kevin runs H2O Brothers Exteriors with Anthony Kondrak, an exterior cleaning company working across Greater Victoria. Since 2023 they've completed more than 2,500 jobs for homes, businesses and strata buildings, and they have more than 160 five-star Google reviews.
Their work covers roof moss removal in Victoria, gutter cleaning, window cleaning, pressure washing, commercial exterior cleaning and Christmas light installation.
Get an exterior cleaning quote from H2O Brothers →
Find them: h2obrothers.com · Victoria Chamber listing · LinkedIn
Robyn Lastiwka, FAIE
Robyn launched FAIE, a bohemian women's clothing brand, in 2025 from Brentwood Bay on the Saanich Peninsula. She grew up here, spent a year studying fashion at Toronto Metropolitan University, and funded the brand herself from nannying, with no investors. The collection is inspired by her late grandmother, the Nanaimo artist Lynn Hunter.
Within months of opening preorders, FAIE was featured as an emerging brand in British Vogue, which Victoria News wrote about here, and Seaside Magazine profiled her this year. She just got back from New York Fashion Week, where FAIE had its own show this September, which is a huge deal. I'm so proud of her. Her bohemian maxi dresses and current favourites are good places to start, and every clothing piece arrives in a signature FAIE gift box.
Find them: faie.ca · @faiecanada
Matt Heywood, Heywood Academies
Matt started Heywood Academies in 2022, and it now offers math, physics and engineering tutoring in Victoria, from high school courses through university, including UVic courses and engineering. Tutoring is in person across Greater Victoria or online anywhere in BC, and they've worked with more than 280 students.
Matt trained at Camosun College and UVic's engineering program, and has taught mechanical engineering at Camosun. Their reviews are five stars on Google.
Book a tutor with Heywood Academies →
Find them: heywoodacademies.com · LinkedIn
Shakir Nasim, Circle
Shakir is the founder and lead iOS engineer of Circle, a simpler social media app, a BC-based startup building a platform designed to foster genuine connection and cure algorithmic addiction. You see posts from your 12 Inner Circle members first, then a wider Outer Circle, with plans, polls, music and book posts built in.
Circle is free on the App Store for iPhone, with a 5.0 rating so far. Shakir is building it while studying computer science and business at Thompson Rivers University.
Download Circle on the App Store →
Find them: circlesocialmedia.ca · Circle on LinkedIn · Shakir on LinkedIn
Come to the Victoria Tech Week panel
On Tuesday, September 22, Sam Games, who grew Victoria Builds to more than 110 members, is speaking alongside Tara, Aarij and me on a panel about how young founders are building businesses and using AI. It runs from 6 to 8pm at Frontier, 1021 Government St, and it's free. Isla Lune and the UVic Entrepreneurship Club are co-hosting, and Geoff Shera of Motus Design Group is giving us the room.
Register for the Victoria Tech Week panel →
About Isla Lune
Isla Lune
Isla Lune is 100% cotton pajamas, designed in Victoria, B.C. and sold as separates so the top and the pants are sized on their own. You can find out where to shop Isla Lune in Victoria or read how Isla Lune came to Victoria in person, and for the end of a long day of building, there's how to wind down after work.
Common questions
How do you start a business in Victoria, BC?
Start by finding the local founder community, through groups like Victoria Builds, the UVic Entrepreneurship Club, VIATEC and VIBE. Then apply for the programs built for new founders here, like the UVic Innovation Centre, Mitacs Accelerate Entrepreneur, League of Innovators and Venture for Canada, and hire and buy from the founders already building in Victoria.
Where can entrepreneurs network in Victoria, BC?
Victoria Builds runs monthly networking dinners, pickleball and brainstorming sessions for business owners. The UVic Entrepreneurship Club runs events for students. VIATEC runs tech events through the year, including Victoria Tech Week, and VIBE is a one-day event in Victoria that brings founders and investors together.
Are there entrepreneurship programs for kids in Victoria, BC?
Yes. Kidovate is a free youth entrepreneurship program started by UVic professors Brock and Claudia Smith for middle and high school students on Vancouver Island. Participants get a workbook, can be paired with a UVic business student, and sell at a market day. Kidovate Victoria 2027 is on April 10 at The Bay Centre, with registration opening in January.
What markets can local makers sell at in Victoria, BC?
The Sidney Street Market runs Thursday evenings from June to early September on Beacon Avenue with hundreds of vendors and food trucks. For the holidays, the First and Last Chance Christmas Craft Shows run at the Mary Winspear Centre in Sidney, and A Touch of Salt Spring is held at the Saanich Fairgrounds with more than 200 crafters and artisans.
What is Victoria Builds?
Victoria Builds is a social club for young entrepreneurs in Victoria, BC, founded by Samuel Games. Members meet at a monthly dinner and a monthly pickleball game, join small brainstorming sessions, and share a private WhatsApp group of more than 110 founders. Membership is $27 a month and every member owns and runs a business.
How do you join Victoria Builds?
You apply at victoriabuilds.com. The application takes about 10 to 15 minutes and is reviewed personally, and you need to own and operate a business to join.
What is VIBE Vancouver Island Business?
VIBE, the Vancouver Island Business Experience, is a one-day event in Victoria on November 17, 2026 for 200 founders, investors and operators. Attendance is by application, and one eligible attendee wins $10,000 CAD, judged live on the day.
Cover photo by the UVic Entrepreneurship Club.