Welcome to this week’s Sunday Briefing. In this issue:

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-Emily, [email protected]

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Sean Charman has spent 25 years running a roofing company in Victoria. He is not a developer. Over the past year, working with AI coding tools and no outside investment, he built Hobby Card Index — an independent platform that now indexes more than 11 million sports and trading cards across categories including Pokémon, Magic, and Yu-Gi-Oh.

The idea came from frustration. Getting a price on a single card meant opening multiple apps that rarely agreed. Charman wanted one place with real sold prices pulled from completed sales on platforms like eBay, Fanatics Collect, Goldin, and Heritage, updated nightly. Most of the development work, he says, went into the data engines rather than the screens.

The platform includes a phone scanner, collection tracking with a live portfolio total, grading ROI calculations, and a full dealer suite with inventory management and an eBay listing builder. It runs in four languages, displays prices in 13 currencies, and roughly 7.7 million of the indexed cards currently carry live sold-price data.

"I was sick of having four tabs open just to price one card, and half of them didn't even agree with each other," said Charman. "You shouldn't have to be a spreadsheet person to know what your cards are worth." Hobby Card Index launched publicly in June.

🌱 Seaweed the day: Victoria's Shift Browser awarded its second annual $25,000 Impact Grant to PhyCo, a Vancouver-based marine biotechnology company developing compostable, seaweed-based alternatives to agricultural plastic.

📜 Money for nothing: A Douglas Magazine feature examined how Vancouver Island companies — including Victoria's Archipelago Marine Research and Aluula Composites — are grappling with whether to hold onto or sell their intellectual property as they scale globally.

🌊 Under the sea: An ONC and UVic team wrapped up the first leg of their summer deep-sea expedition, completing 50 water column casts, collecting hundreds of water and sediment samples, and spotting more than 40 whales along the way.

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August 11 | iWIST presents Geeky Girls Patio Party 2026

The annual Geeky Girls’ Patio Party brings the community together to connect, share summer adventures, and discuss fall plans. This year iWIST will announce recipients of three scholarships for women in STEM.

August 22 | Cursor Codechella

​This is a one-day hackathon for 150 to 200 builders, creatives, or thinkers who want to finally ship that project they've always wanted to exist. This is not a demo day hackathon.

September 21-25 | Victoria Tech Week 2026

Unlike traditional single-venue conferences, Victoria Tech Week empowers local businesses to open their doors and welcome attendees inside, offering an authentic behind-the-scenes look at Victoria's thriving tech ecosystem. From startup workshops in James Bay to AI panels in downtown office towers and networking sessions in Saanich tech hubs, participants will experience the full breadth of Vancouver Island’s innovation landscape.

Have something or someone we should know about?

Reply or email [email protected] so we can work together to spotlight the lesser-known stories of Victoria's tech ecosystem.