When Sanket Mittal first started thinking about launching a startup incubator in Vancouver, he wasn’t sure he should.

“One of my biggest worries was contributing to Vancouver’s biggest ecosystem flaw: fragmentation,” Mittal admitted in a recent post. “You hear it all the time: ‘There are a lot of great communities… but they’re all siloed.’”

But after months of conversations with founders, mentors, and community builders—and plenty of second-guessing—Mittal decided to push forward. The result is Althra, a new incubator aimed squarely at early-stage, execution-focused entrepreneurs. Launching this fall, the program promises something refreshingly simple: a space for builders to build.

A reset for early-stage founders

Althra’s design reflects what Mittal and others see as a missing piece in Vancouver’s startup scene: a central, in-person space where early-stage founders can work alongside peers, exchange ideas, and build momentum.

“This hits home,” wrote Aimée Barrie of The Acquisition Group, one of Althra’s supporters, on LinkedIn. “This model feels like a true reset: no fluff, just structure, space, and community.”

Tyler Tong McDermott of CIBC Innovation Banking echoed the sentiment, pointing to Toronto’s OneEleven as “a good model of what this can look like at scale” and adding, “Vancouver really needs a common space where founders can bump ideas off one another and build.”

Others in the community have weighed in with both encouragement and constructive suggestions—more mentors, deeper industry connections, and sector-specific groups for deeptech startups. It’s clear there’s appetite, and maybe even urgency, for what Althra is trying to create.

What founders can expect

Applications for Althra’s first cohort are open now and close July 31. Here’s what successful applicants will get: A 4-month program starting September 2025; weekly mentorship from seasoned, venture-backed founders; 24/7 workspace access in Downtown Vancouver; Open to founders across Canada; and introductions to Canadian and U.S. investors.

The program is completely free—no fees, no equity. Mittal says this was non-negotiable. “We just want to give founders the space and support to go all-in.”

The cohort will be small—just 10 startups—but Mittal stresses Althra isn’t just for its participants. The vision extends to hosting events and collaborations with other local founder communities, and initiatives like the Founder Coffee Crawl (a scenic multi-café walk Mittal recently piloted with Josh Teixeira of BeanBonus) suggest this broader focus is already taking shape.

Building something worth staying for

Mittal, a former investor, says Althra grew out of a simple gap he noticed: while programs like Toronto’s Next, Calgary’s Platform, and Waterloo’s Velocity offered strong infrastructure for early-stage founders, Vancouver felt like it lacked that central space.

Now he hopes Althra can be one step toward filling it. “I don’t want this to be a shiny new thing that adds to the noise,” he said. “The goal is to strengthen what already exists and help founders connect, collaborate, and grow together. Let’s build something worth staying for.”