Four Ivey alumni and one current student were spotlighted in the recent Forbes 30 Under 30 list in North America for their innovative startups that are making a meaningful impact on people's lives.
Matt Bogoroch, HBA '18, MSc '19, made the business magazine's 30 Under 30 list in the Retail and E-commerce category for his work on Birdseye, an autonomous and hyper-personalized email marketing platform.
Marlow co-founders Kiara Botha, HBA ’20, MSc ’21; Nadia Ladak, HBA ’20; and Harit Sohal, HBA ’20, made the 30 Under 30 list in the Healthcare category for the second year in a row. Armed with $1.9 million in funding, the Ivey alumni are on a mission to solve the "gender pain gap."
And Shirley Zhong, Ivey HBA/Engineering '26 candidate, has been recognized in the Manufacturing & Industry category alongside her co-founders Diana Virgovicova and Kerem Topalismailoglu, who started Xatoms, a Toronto-based startup focused on clean drinking water.
Matt Bogoroch
Co-Founder & CEO of Birdseye
Alongside a team of machine-learning engineers, Matt Bogoroch with co-founders Adam Bogoroch and Shardul Frey, launched Birdseye in 2022. Their vision was to build an autonomous and hyper-personalized email marketing platform. Birdseye's proprietary software uses AI to tailor content and promotions to each recipient, including product recommendations based on predicted color, style, and sizing preferences. It has processed more than three-million transactions for retailers across North America. The company charges a performance fee based on the revenue it generates for its customers. Birdseye has secured $3.5 million in funding from investors like Drive Capital.
Kiara Botha, Nadia Ladak, and Harit Sohal
Co-Founders of Marlow
The idea for Marlow started as a capstone project for the Ivey New Venture Project when Kiara Botha, Nadia Ladak, and Harit Sohal were HBA students. Passionate about social impact, their student team created Marlow, whose flagship product is an environmentally friendly lubricated tampon kit designed for smoother insertion. Since its launch, Marlow’s menstrual health-related content has gone viral on social media and its product has transformed the tampon experience. The trio sell lubricated tampons aimed at reducing pain associated with vaginal dryness. They also educate women about their reproductive health with a podcast and TikTok called "The TMI Club."
“Feeling so grateful for my co-founders Harit Sohal and Kiara Botha, our amazing investors, advisory board, and of course the Marlow community that continues to champion and support the work we’re doing in reproductive health,” said Ladak in a recent Linkedin post.
Shirley Zhong
Co-founder of Xatoms
Earlier this year, Xatoms participated in a number of competitions and accelerators including receiving $500,000 at Starupfest 2024 and being among the top 14 of 9,400 teams (and the only Canadian team) at the Hult Prize Foundation events in the U.K.
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