BC B U S I N E SS NOVEM B ER/ D ECEM B ER 2025 | 27
FINALIST
THE KICKOFF:
Soroush Karimzadeh developed a passion for machines
early on. Growing up in Tehran, he accompanied his father,
a metallurgical engineer, on tours of radiator factories.
Those experiences sparked his interest in technology and
paved the way for him to earn master's degrees in applied
science and in finance and strategy from UBC.
By 2013, Karimzadeh was ready to make his mark. He
joined forces with Reza Abdollahi and Hamid Abdollahi
to build Novarc Technologies, a Burnaby-based robotics
company, and took on the role of CEO a year later.
"The biggest challenge our customers face is a short-
age of human welders," says Karimzadeh. While demand
for welding-dependent industries like shipbuilding, oil and
gas, housing and data centres is rising, "the average age
of a welder is 54 years old, and millennials and Gen Z don't
want to go into welding."
ACTION PLAN:
Novarc's flagship product, the spool welding robot (SWR),
has been a game-changer for the welding industry. The
heavy, 3,500-pound robot, with a small four-by-four-foot
footprint and a long 15-foot reach, mimics a human arm but
has the right degrees of freedom to provide a precise weld.
For users like local shipbuilder Seaspan, the SWR has
cut welding time from hours to minutes.
Novarc's latest product, NovAI, is a set of eyes and a
brain for other welding robots: it can "see and react to real-
world weld scenarios in real time," says Karimzadeh. It's able
to detect gaps and automatically adjust the settings so the
weld stays smooth and consistent. And, unlike systems
that use lasers or sensors to conduct prescans and make
decisions before the welding starts, NovAI can make live
changes based on the actual welding environment.
CLOSING STATEMENT:
In March 2025, Novarc Technologies secured US$50 million
in series B funding. The company is growing at around
30 percent year-over-year, with 150 team members and
revenue nearing $30 million.
"I really wanted to develop a solution or a product that I
could see people using and benefiting from in the physical
world," says Karimzadeh. "And we make sure those robots
are being used. They're not sitting idle or collecting dust.
That, to me, is real impact that we can have on our cus-
tomers' bottom line."–R.R.
Soroush Karimzadeh
C O-FOU N D ER AN D C EO,
N OVA R C TE C H N O LO G I E S
Describe your
dream employee in
three words.
Humble, hungry, smart.
Your favourite part
of your job?
Seeing people grow into
new roles and achieving
their potential.
An odd job you've had?
For a very brief moment in
time, I was commissioned
to do a voiceover in
German for a play.
RAPID
FIRE
