Ideas with Impact
UNB Faculty of Management

The recent acquisition of Saint John-based AI cybersecurity company TrojAI by Silicon Valley’s A10 Networks marks an important milestone for Atlantic Canada’s innovation ecosystem. While financial terms were not disclosed, TrojAI had most recently raised US$5.75 million (C$7.77 million) in 2024, reflecting strong growth leading up to the acquisition.

For the University of New Brunswick’s faculty of management, the moment also represents something more: a real-world example of students participating directly in that success.

TrojAI was one of the Fraser Student Venture Fund’s early investments in 2021, and that investment was shaped by students working through a hands-on, collaborative process. Delivered in partnership with the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation (NBIF), students in UNB’s venture assessment class work alongside NBIF professionals to assess startups within its portfolio. They conduct due diligence, evaluate risk, and recommend investments, often into the same companies NBIF is backing. In the case of TrojAI, students were not just studying a promising company, they were helping assess and support it at a formative stage.

In the years that followed, new cohorts of students continued that work. As TrojAI grew, students revisited the company, analyzed its progress, and this past year recommended a follow-on investment, actively contributing again as the company scaled. With the acquisition, students are now seeing the full lifecycle of an investment they helped shape, from early-stage evaluation through to exit.

That continuity is what sets the experience apart. Students are not working through hypothetical cases or observing from the sidelines, they are making informed decisions, participating in real investments, and seeing the long-term impact of those decisions play out over time.

This outcome also speaks to the quality of UNB’s programs and its partners. Identifying and supporting a high-potential company requires thoughtful analysis, sound judgment, and comfort with uncertainty. Through experiences like this, students are developing those skills in meaningful, applied ways which prepares them to contribute in professional investment and entrepreneurial environments.

Just as importantly, the Fraser Student Venture Fund was designed with a broader purpose. Established in 2018 by alumnus Charles “Chuck” Fraser (BBA ’68), the fund was created to give students the experience of actively contributing to the growth of Atlantic Canada’s startup ecosystem. TrojAI’s success reflects that vision: students are not only learning how venture capital works, they are also helping direct capital toward companies building and scaling in the region.

As investment proceeds are returned to the Fraser Student Venture Fund, they will be reinvested into new opportunities, allowing the next group of students to step into that same role. With 13 investments in UNB-connected startups to date, the cycle continues: students learning by doing, and in the process, playing a meaningful role in shaping the region’s entrepreneurial future.

Photo: In UNB’s venture assessment class students learn how to conduct due diligence, evaluate risk, and recommend investments to the Fraser Student Venture Fund Investment Committee.

UNB’s International Business and Entrepreneurship Centre (IBEC) is looking for pre-seed and seed stage ventures with UNB connection (students, alumni, faculty, staff). Entrepreneurs interested in applying to the Fraser Student Venture Fund should contact Ryan Reid at ryan.reid@unb.ca.