Voltera has made headlines in the past for being the first Canadian team to win the international James Dyson Award, and for raising $70,000 in its initial Kickstarter in just 35 minutes.
This week, Voltera co-founder Alroy Almeida went on The Disruptors to talk about what’s attracted so many early adopters to their printer for circuit boards. “The reason that that’s really special is because that’s not how circuit boards are usually made,” said Almeida.
Almeida said that the industry standard of those working with circuit boards is to send circuit board designs to a factory, spend hundreds of dollars, and after a few weeks find out whether their circuit board actually works or not.
With Voltera’s printer, users can print circuit boards within an hour to expedite the prototyping process.
Co-host Bruce Croxon said that what caught his interest was how much time this could save for those building prototypes. “In the manufacturing process, speed to market, the need to not hold big inventories anymore; I think the ramifications of this, if it can be done with volume, are massive,”
As Kanwar said that this highlights Waterloo’s strong B2B sector — and the fact that many of Canada’s strong engineers come from the University of Waterloo — Croxon commented that now was the time to figure out what areas that the Waterloo region will specialize in. “You can’t be all things to all people, but I think we’ve got the infrastructure to do it.”
Watch the whole pitch below:
BetaKit is a production partner on The Disruptors. Tune in to BNN every Thursday night at 7pm for full episodes!