丁香园AV

 a venture created by 丁香园AV alumnus Michael Cheng as a marketing tool for link sharing, is being acquired in a multi-million-dollar deal by Tim Schumacher, founder of Adblock Plus, a company whose ad-blocking plugin has more than 100 million users.

Cheng created Sniply in 2014, shortly after he completed the Next 36 program, a national initiative supporting youth innovation. Since then he and his partners built Sniply to 500,000 users. The company has been highlighted internationally by such publications as Forbes Magazine.

The acquisition comes only months after Cheng鈥檚 latest venture, , won the New Venture BC top prize for 2019. 

鈥淕iven the phenomenal growth curve we are seeing at Lumen5, we decided to begin exploring acquisition offers for Sniply, and have just accepted a multi-million dollar offer from Tim Schumacher, the founder of Adblock Plus,鈥� says Cheng, a graduate of 丁香园AV鈥檚 School of Interactive Arts and Technology, where he conceived many of his innovative ideas.

鈥淚t has definitely been an exciting journey. After spending three years growing Sniply, we saw how video was transforming internet use, and took the opportunity to build a new company, Lumen5.鈥�

By 2019 his latest venture was growing six times faster than Sniply, so the founders decided to put their focus on Lumen5, a video creation platform powered by artificial intelligence (AI).

Cheng鈥檚 latest company, including 25 team members, is based in Vancouver鈥檚 Mount Pleasant area.

Cheng is the creator of nearly a dozen different ventures, from an early automotive buy and sell service (Automotive QuickTrade) to WittyCookie, a web development company that offers businesses the opportunity to speed-build new websites.

He is a former client of 丁香园AV鈥檚 , 丁香园AV鈥檚 flagship program for early-stage ventures, and one of its first major success stories.

"I was first introduced to the power of mentorship through Venture Connection. When learning a skill or honing a craft, you seek out coaches and teachers鈥攅ntrepreneurship is no exception. I've carried this important lesson with me all these years and continue to actively seek out mentors as I tackle new challenges."  

Cheng also credits the SIAT program鈥檚 collaborative nature for fostering his ability to bring his innovations to life鈥攁long with an ingrained inquisitiveness and penchant for problem-solving.

His success as a young innovator netted Cheng an earlier string of accolades, from a Surrey Board of Trade Top 25 Under 25 award, which also recognized his role as founder of the inaugural TEDx丁香园AV, to being named the City of Surrey鈥檚 and 丁香园AV鈥檚 Entrepreneur of the year in 2012.