Mining venture strikes gold in pitch contest

Mining venture strikes gold in pitch contest

August 18, 2016

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Months of hard work and long hours have paid off for the six Queen鈥檚 University students who co-founded RockMass Technologies.

The company won the (QICSI) Venture Pitch Competition, beating out seven other teams for the top prize of $30,000 in seed-funding.

RockMass Technologies is working to improve the safety and efficiency of geological mapping in the mining, civil engineering, and exploration industries. According to the company, the device 鈥渁utomatically maps a rock face while the software analyses the data and breaks it down into key information that is used to determine the structural stability of a tunnel, mine shaft and/or rock face.鈥

The technology is based on research conducted at Queen鈥檚 by Professor Joshua Marshall and PhD candidate Marc Gallant. Dr. Marshall and Mr. Gallant patented the technology through PARTEQ and the QICSI students licensed it.

鈥淲e are so fortunate to have this great technology to use. It鈥檚 really great to be able to commercialize Queen鈥檚 research and take it to market,鈥 says Matas Sriubiskis, Chief Executive Officer of RockMass Technologies. 

Mr. Sriubiskis (Artsci鈥17) and his teammates Shelby Yee (Sc鈥16), Chief Operating Officer, Matt Gubasta (Artsci鈥17), Chief Financial Officer, Boyang Fu (Cmp鈥16), Lead Software Developer, Rigers Rukaj (Sc鈥17), Chief Technology Officer, and Nichola Trinh (Sc鈥17), Chief Business Development Officer, were overjoyed to win the pitch competition. While they savoured the moment with friends and the other QICSI participants, they had already started looking ahead.

鈥淭his (win) is fantastic, but we have to keep working,鈥 Mr. Sriubiskis says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e heading to clients鈥 mines and worksites in September, and we are developing new connections with companies. We are also looking at developing different extensions for our technology as well.鈥

Three other companies received awards following the pitch competition. The judges awarded $20,000 in seed-funding to both NorthSprout 鈥 which developed a gel-based germination medium to allow seeds to grow strong and healthy faster and with less water 鈥 and Tandem Therapy 鈥 a software platform to support the relationship between therapists and their patients. Paperweight Technologies, which is improving the home printing experience, also won $10,000 in seed-funding.  

QICSI, a 17-week paid internship where students collaborate to launch their own ventures, has existed for five years. Greg Bavington, Executive Director of QIC, says the venture pitches keep getting stronger each year.

鈥淓very year we refine the program to better meet the needs of the students,鈥 Mr. Bavington explains. 鈥淎nd as awareness grows of the Summer Initiative, our flagship program, and our other offerings, we continue to attract high-achieving students and direct them to programs that best fit their needs and interests.鈥

Visit the to learn more about its programs. 

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