UVic graduate helping Victoria shoppers save on groceries with app
Published 5:30 am Friday, January 2, 2026
A 24-year-old from Victoria has developed an application aimed at saving people money on food after winning $4,000 in competitions.
Yashar Samim has completed his bachelor in commerce from the University of Victoria, and right after the graduation developed his first app, Baski.
Through Baski, Samim tries to solve a common problem of having to choose between saving money and eating healthy.
“When I graduated, I realized how expensive buying groceries was and time consuming too to find the best deals. So I’ve decided to tackle this problem by developing the app named Baski,” said Samim.
Baski received $3,000 in seed funding after winning the PlanIt competition, and an additional $1,000 from PitchIt, both run under the same roof by the UVic Innovation Centre, earlier this year.
PitchIt is a short-format competition featuring verbal pitches of up to 90 seconds, while PlanIt involves the submission of a detailed business plan.
Samim brought weekly deals, major retailers and local stores into one platform. The app allows users to compare prices, view nutrition information and even consider the carbon footprint of their purchases before deciding where to shop.
Baski does not sell products, it provides information pulled from flyers and store listings, helping users make informed choices without sacrificing health or budget, says Samim.
Launched about six months ago, Baski currently has around 300 active users who are saving about $100 to $150 per month, Sammin told Victoria News.
“Our philosophy is we don’t want to charge people to save money,” said Samim.
Baski operates with the help of three people—two Vancouver-based developers, Alex Micu and Tomer Torgman, joined the project three months ago.