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38 B C B U S I N E S S . C A M A R C H 2 0 2 5 The younger Varshney was also always attracted to music. "I never had any artistic talent, so I was more about finding those artists, being in the culture, being in the depths of it," he says. "It started bubbling up in grade 8 or 9. Some friends liked my music taste, so they'd follow my play- list, and I had like 300 followers on one of my playlists. Then, randomly, some artists found my playlists and reached out to get their songs on it." Varshney realized that this was something that could be monetized, and he started to build it out. He eventually got in on the ground floor of artist and brand management company Chaos Club Digital and helped it work with clients in music, sports and entertainment to help build their brands. All the while, Varshney had taken notice of the realities of the music industry and the hardships it was putting on artists. "It's pretty sad right now," he says. "An artist could have 200,000 listeners on Spotify and still be unable to support their career." So, in 2023, he co-founded Holdr, a platform where artists can build and monetize their community of supporters. "It's a modernized fan club," says Varshney, explaining that it's a bit like Patreon in that fans pay the artist for extra perks like merchan- dise or hidden tracks. There are also benefits that come with being an early supporter of an artist. B O T T O M L I N E >> Holdr is currently in beta but is targeting a full launch in 2025. The company has 10 employ- ees and around 50 artists that Varsh- ney says have either committed to the platform or are slated to join it. As for where his father has helped out? "He understands I don't want him making decisions, but he's been amazing when called upon," says the younger Varshney. "He's let me build my own mentors around me as well." Those mentors include execs from Live Nation and Universal Music. Varshney Capital Corp. was involved in the early fundraising, but "they wrote the very first cheque and the smallest one," says Varshney.—N.C. JOBAN BAL Age: 26 Founder and president, One Blood for Life Foundation T H E J O U R N E Y >> Joban Bal knew he'd be a doctor one day, but he didn't fully understand how blood donation can affect people until he started hearing stories from close friends and family. "It's touched all these lives, but I never realized the impact because we don't talk about it enough," Bal argues. "If you're healthy and you're able to, it's such a simple way to give back. And when I asked people if they'd ever donate, they'd say sure, but they never had because they were never asked." In 2016, Bal launched One Blood for Life Foundation to encourage young people to donate blood and become lifelong donors. "No money comes in or out," he maintains. "We only want you to go donate blood if you can and then we want nothing else from you." One Blood, which is partnered with Canadian Blood Services for blood collection, held its first winter campaign in Bal's hometown of Surrey. Groups of volunteers carried "Blood Donors Needed" signs as it snowed in their faces. "We filled up that clinic the first day," he recalls. As a community organization, One Blood also addresses cultural gaps in health care by recruiting ethnically diverse people for stem cell and organ donations. That improves the chances of non-Caucasian patients finding life-saving matches. In 2024, Bal completed his medical degree from UBC and began his two-year residency program. By then, his organization's base of volunteers had ballooned to 500, and Bal had become an investor and advisor with organizations like Spring and Startup TNT. "New technologies can have a profound impact in our clinical settings if we have the right people who are able to connect the pieces together. And I want to do that," he says. B O T T O M L I N E >> Surrey-based One Blood for Life Foundation has par- ticipated in over 100 public events and hosted around 30 blood and stem cell donation drives itself. It has recruited nearly 4,000 blood donors for clinics in B.C. and over 2,000 stem cell donors. In 2023, Bal was chosen to be featured on buses across Canada as part of an ongoing organ and tissue donation campaign called Leave Well.—R.R. KANE HAMMONTREE Age: 27 Founder, Solve Energy T H E J O U R N E Y >> Victoria-born Kane Hammontree moved to Los Angeles at 18 and started his first business, an exterior cleaning company called LA Window Cleaners and More. Though it wasn't the easiest transi- tion—"I learned very, very quickly how difficult it is to move to a crazy new city from little Victoria," he says—the business expanded rapid- ly and in six months grew from zero to 10 additional staff. Within two years, it was one of the highest rated cleaning companies in Los Angeles. During that time, Hammontree's friend approached him about solar energy solutions and together they went to his 2,500 existing clients hoping to sell them solar panels. "Immediately it clicked," he says. "It's a product where the home- owner can save and add value to their house, [plus] they can help the environment." From there, Hammon- tree began a deep dive into solar and eventually sold his company to begin consulting in the industry. "My main focus was putting in systems and helping them expand their solar com- panies," he says, "as well as helping grow their sales and marketing and systems on operations." Hammontree moved back to B.C. and founded Vancouver-based Solve Energy in December 2022. In addition to installing panels, Solve also offers battery backup and clean energy storage, which enables customers to save and use the energy from their panels to maintain more energy independence. "We're basically creating these tiny little grids out of our banks," Hammontree explains. While many people are looking for solutions to the current economic downturn, such as growing their own vegetables, Hammontree proposes taking control of the electricity you consume, too. B O T T O M L I N E >> Solve Energy services the Lower Mainland, Van- couver Island and Kelowna, and has recently expanded into Edmonton. It's grown in size as well, to 43 full- time employees and 12 contractors. This has allowed for more instal- lations. "We're at the point where we're having about 100-plus projects a month," he says. More installations mean an uptick in revenue, too: Solve hit around $7 million in 2024, up from $690,000 in 2023.—D.W. PAIGE CEY + JULIE LETIZIA Age: 25 Co-founders and co-CEOs, Benny T H E J O U R N E Y >> Julie Letizia's first taste of canned yerba maté was a

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