Akash founded two companies at Velocity Incubator while completing his Mechatronics degree at UW — Crouton Labs, which failed, and Sensassure, which got acquired. Both gave him an unusually granular view of what pre-seed founders actually need.
He went on to lead AI teams at Palantir, where his work helped uncover an illegal drug ring and optimised operations of a 50-year-old oil field.
In 2020, Akash founded Alicorn Ventures, a pre-seed fund focused on technical founders. In 2022, Alicorn merged with Velocity Fund, where he has been a General Partner since.
Ross founded Tinker (YC S14) at Velocity — a crypto market maker that, at peak, handled 90% of all Canadian Bitcoin trading volume. The experience of raising from Y Combinator as a Waterloo founder shaped his view of what early-stage support should look like.
He later became an application reviewer for Y Combinator, screening over 12,000 companies. That volume of pattern recognition — across geographies, sectors, and founder profiles — informs how he evaluates deals today.
Ross served as Interim Director of Velocity Incubator before joining as General Partner, giving him a direct line into every company that comes through the building.