Meet The Team
Founder & CEO
Diana Virgovicova
Diana Virgovicova is the founder and CEO of Xatoms, where she leads the development of AI-designed photocatalytic materials for water purification.
Background
She grew up in a small village in Slovakia and, at 14, traveled through India where she encountered heavily polluted rivers for the first time. That experience led her to begin researching water treatment technologies, reaching out to a local university and teaching herself quantum chemistry. By 17, she had modeled a novel sunlight-activated photocatalyst for water purification, earning the Stockholm Junior Water Prize and a full scholarship to the University of Toronto.
Achievement
Today, Diana is building Xatoms into the world's most advanced AI-driven photocatalyst discovery platform for water treatment.
Her work has been recognized globally: she was named Forbes 30 Under 30 (North America, 2025), a World Economic Forum UpLink Award winner who represented Canada as a delegate at Davos 2026. She is a fellow of the 776 Foundation (backed by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian) and the Compute for Climate program, supported by the International Research Centre on Artificial Intelligence, AWS, and UNESCO. Xatoms has taken top prizes at Startupfest and South by Southwest, and Diana has spoken on water innovation at the World Economic Forum and the Aspen Ideas Festival. She also serves as a Canadian delegate to the G20 Young Entrepreneurs Alliance.
Diana's mission extends beyond technology: she believes that clean water is an issue of gender equity, since women and girls in many regions spend up to eight hours a day securing water for their households. Solving water is, for her, also about giving that time back.
Co-Founder & CTO
Kerem Topal Ismail Oglou
Kerem is the Co-Founder and CTO of Xatoms, leading the AI and quantum modelling systems behind the company's photocatalyst discovery platform.
Background
Born in Turkey, Kerem moved to Canada to study computer engineering at the University of Toronto, specialising in artificial intelligence. His instinct for applying technology to real-world challenges emerged early - from founding a startup at 15 building 3D-printed prosthetics for disabled animals, to supporting Syrian refugee students during COVID-19 through donated computers and language classes. He met co-founders Diana and Shirley through the Cansbridge Fellowship, which led to the founding of Xatoms.
Achievements
At Xatoms, Kerem built the core machine learning infrastructure enabling rapid discovery of novel photocatalytic materials. He is a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, NEXT36 alumnus, and Cansbridge Fellow. He has represented Canada at the G20 Young Entrepreneurs Alliance (2023) and the Canada–UK AI Mission (2024), received the RBC Scholarship for Diversity and Innovation in Technology, and spoke at Elevate Festival 2025 on climate technology innovation.
Co-Founder & COO
Shirley Zhong
Shirley is the Co-Founder and COO of Xatoms, leading operations, marketing, customer relationships, bridging business needs with technological developments.
Background
Shirley grew up in China, where water contamination was a daily reality. Moving to Canada shaped her view of clean water as a privilege and drove her commitment to making it universally accessible. She studied software engineering at Western University and business at Ivey Business School. Her experience includes early-stage startups across software engineering, AI development, marketing, and business analysis, with work across Canada, China, Japan, and France. She met her co-founders through the Cansbridge Fellowship, which led to the founding of Xatoms.
Achievements
Shirley was named Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree for North America (2025). She supported Xatoms’ pre-seed fundraising, contributing to over 400 customers and investor conversations and helping close an oversubscribed round. She organized the Hult Prize qualifying round at Western University and contributed to Xatoms reaching the global Top 6 as a competitor out of 10,000 teams. She is a Cansbridge Fellow, a Draper University alumna, a One Young World ambassador and speaks English, Mandarin, Cantonese, and French.
Diana's water story
My name is Diana Virgovicova.
At the age of 17, I discovered a new type of molecule and was awarded the most prestigious water award from the Swedish Royal Family. When I was 14, I went backpacking in India with my mother, where I saw black rivers in the suburbs of Mumbai, prompting me to take action. Upon returning to my hometown in Slovakia, I contacted a local university and began researching technologies for cleaning polluted water. I then learned about quantum chemistry software, which took me three years to master.
Using quantum chemistry models, I created hundreds of photocatalyst models—substances that generate radicals upon absorbing sunlight, which then clean polluted water. Three years later, I developed a new type of molecule, leading to my recognition by the Swedish Royal Family and a full Lester B. Pearson International Scholarship to study computer engineering at the University of Toronto. However, my journey did not end there.
