Prevasum is Working to Stop Car Thefts Before They Happen

Over 47,000 vehicles were reported stolen in Canada in 2025. While that number represents an 18% decrease in thefts from the prior year, auto thefts are still up 371% compared to the last decade. Vehicle thefts affect more than the owner. Drivers across Canada have seen Insurance rates increase by an average of $130 annually. Some insurers are even adding surcharges of $500 or more for high-risk vehicles like SUVs.

Preventing vehicle theft is an increasingly crowded market, with solutions from specialized bags that block thieves from accessing key fobs to homeowners installing retractable bollards to secure their driveways.

But what if there was a simpler, less costly solution to stop would-be vehicle thieves without expensive alarm systems or other physical theft deterrents? That was the inspiration for a capstone project by Conestoga College Bachelor of Engineering - Electronic Systems Engineering students Noah Grant, Brandon Hauck, and Wyatt Richard. 

For the project, the team developed a two-factor authentication system for a vehicle’s on-board diagnostics (OBD) port. The OBD port has been standard on virtually every vehicle produced since 1996. After graduating, the trio of founders launched Prevasum to commercialize their technology.

“We knew we wanted to solve a real world problem,” Noah said. “We ultimately landed on car theft. When we looked at existing solutions, we knew we could do something different and innovate in this space.”

As they worked through the capstone project, their program coordinator suggested they look at the Venture Lab for Tech (VL4T) program.

“We learned engineering in school, but the business side — that’s all new to us. We’re three engineers, so to have all these resources has been invaluable,” Noah said.

To understand why they focused on a vehicle’s OBD port, you first need to understand how thieves steal cars. The OBD port allows technicians to diagnose problems and update information in a vehicle’s onboard systems. It also allows thieves to program new electronic keys to start and steal a vehicle. 

“There are lots of tools that you can buy online for a few hundred dollars that you can just plug in and essentially pick your make and model, program a key, start the vehicle, and drive away,” he said. “It doesn't work for all of them, but it works for a large number of them.”

The capstone project was a secure lock for the OBD port. If a thief tried to tamper with it, the port would break off before they could use it to program a new key. The other method thieves use is less common, but equally as dangerous for vehicle owners.

“Your keyless entry system can be used to trick your car into thinking that the keys are right outside when they're inside your house. Thieves are scanning for signals and then using a relay attack to unlock and steal a car,” Noah said.

After launching Prevasum, the founders decided to focus on the first problem — securing the OBD port. They have developed a mobile app as part of the solution. If a thief does attempt to break the Prevasum OBD port lock, the vehicle owner will get a notification letting them know.

“Even if thieves steal your vehicle through a relay attack, they're going to need access to the OBD port to clone the new key so they can permanently steal your vehicle. Our product will help vehicle owners prevent the OBD port from being used to program new keys,” he said.

Building a business from a capstone project isn’t a straight path, but thankfully Noah said the VL4T program and coaches have been there to guide them. 

“There are so many unknown unknowns,” Noah said. “Everything is much harder when you try to do something outside of the classroom. But Venture Lab for Tech has taught us how to make data-driven decisions.”

Part of making data-driven decisions is speaking with customers and industry partners to make sure their solution solves the problem customers are experiencing.

“We gathered a lot of user feedback from the police and potential customers,” Noah said. “We’re planning to start testing our second version with early adopters later this year.”

As any tech founder will tell you, “hardware is hard”. Noah added that as an early-stage startup, they are making sure they invest in hardware development in a way that sets them up for success.

“Venture Lab for Tech has helped us understand what we need to be in a state to take an investment, because we're going to need to take in some amount of capital so that we can start manufacturing our go-to-market version,” Noah said.

For go-to-market, Prevasum is in talks with some major Canadian retailers and insurance companies. Both channels offer different opportunities to get their technology into vehicles across the country.

“We think there's a lot of value if insurance companies would lower your premium for having our product installed,” he said. 

There are many solutions on the market, but Noah pointed out that most of them are focused on tracking as opposed to prevention. They can also be expensive and difficult to install, with many requiring professional installation.

“I want my mom to be able to install this thing,” Noah said.