Karolina Valente has become an expert in time management and organization.

The chief executive of Victoria-based VoxCell BioInnovation, a five-year-old health sciences company in the midst of serious growth, has had little choice.

Valente and her team have had to find the balance between chasing the support and partnerships that will fuel growth and continuing their research and development.

The company, born on the University of Victoria campus, is on the cutting edge of oncology research as it creates human-like vascular tissue with cancer for pharmaceutical companies to test drugs in a more reliable way than animal testing.

Valente has been flying around the world over the last year to conferences and meetings to showcase their work, pique the interest of investors and try to raise the company’s profile.

This week, she was at Web Summit Vancouver, a four-day showcase of B.C.’s tech landscape that was expected to draw more than 15,000 attendees, including 650 investors and more than 1,100 start-up firms.

Valente said the conference, which will return to Vancouver in 2026 and 2027, was close and big enough that it made sense to go, adding VoxCell was one of the few life-sciences companies invited.

She recalls a two-minute pitch she made recently that she felt didn’t go well. Two weeks later, she got a cheque for $250,000...

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