Most of the team members call York Region home. “This allowed us to centrally serve customers across GTA and beyond, enabling consumers to buy and sell cars with just a click,” Ng explains. “Carity introduced an industry-first profit-sharing car selling program, which allows consumers to share in the profits when Carity resells their vehicle, while also guaranteeing a selling price and offering upfront payments.”
The most common way for people with visual impairments to navigate outside is through the use of guide canes and raised tactile indicators at intersections. Yu said these devices are more than 100 years old, and there hasn’t been much progress made with alternative solutions, while the Visiontif wearable device is a screen reader for the real world.
The summit featured an exclusive Pitch Gala where eight companies vie for a chance to win a collective $50,000 in non-dilutive cash prizes to further advance research and scale operations.
At ventureLAB’s third HardTech Summit, speakers discussed challenges and opportunities facing deep technology startups across the country and offered entrepreneurs advice on navigating them.
PharmaGuide patient portal, PharmaVisionAI, aims to ease the administrative burden faced by physicians in the Canadian health care system by using technology to facilitate drug coverage processes.
Founded in 2016, Snappy offers restaurant management technology for customer touchpoints including point-of-sale, online orders, loyalty programs, reservations, waitlists, and custom-branded mobile apps and websites.
ventureLAB’s VP of the Hardware Catalyst Initiative, Avinash Persaud, took on the role of moderator for a thought-provoking panel discussion “Sustainable Semiconductor Solutions with AI” at Elevate Festival 2023.
Join us in celebrating Small Business Week 2023, which takes place from October 15 – 21 and is a national celebration of entrepreneurs and their contribution to Canada’s economy.
Across the country, organizations are pushing for greater gender diversity to support women’s participation in the tech sector. VentureLAB’s Tech Undivided program and the federal government’s Women Entrepreneurship Strategy (WES) are among the initiatives helping women entrepreneurs grow and scale their businesses.
“On behalf of the Board of Directors, it is our pleasure to welcome Hugh to the dynamic ventureLAB team,” said Yalda Riahi, Chair of ventureLAB’s Board of Directors. “We believe that Hugh’s unique expertise in many of the technology-centric sectors will help move us to the next chapter of helping Canadian companies succeed globally. We also believe his leadership will contribute significantly to Canada’s goal of solidifying our position in key high-value industries, including semiconductors, AI and medtech.”
The network, the organization said in a release issued at Collision 2023 in Toronto, “catalyzes investments in the Canadian hardware and deep-tech sectors,” through the raising of capital and development of third-party partnerships for startups.
This announcement signals a momentous milestone in Canada’s commitment to attracting top global talent and solidifying its position as a leader in research, development, and innovation.
ventureLAB announced the launch of the Hardware Angel Network (HAN), the only hardware and deep-tech focused investor network supporting pre-seed and seed stage startups in the country.
The province’s $107 million Critical Technology Initiatives funding supports programs led by not-for-profit organizations that will accelerate the use of critical technology by Ontario companies and enable the development of innovative made-in-Ontario solutions. Full news release: news.ontario.ca
The grant program will offer up to $10,000 to eligible organizations and individuals through four submission deadlines each year.
The semiconductor industry supports a variety of products since the semiconductors, or tiny chips, can be found in thousands of products such as computers, smartphones, appliances, gaming hardware and medical equipment like ventilators. This has been an important initiative through the pandemic given the global shortage of supplies, the region stated.
“I have lived in York Region for over 30 years, and have worked here for half that time. Contributing to the continual growth and success of our Region is truly important to me,” says Loo. “York Region has a phenomenal history of innovation and entrepreneurship – and it’s important that we continue to build on this…”
ELLA, run by York University’s innovation hub, YSpace, has received $3 million from a federal government program called Women Entrepreneurship Strategy (WES) to expand support for woman entrepreneurs across the country.
On March 29, women entrepreneurs, founders from ventureLAB’s Tech Undivided initiative and senior leaders in the hardware and semiconductor industry came together from across the province to celebrate and recognize women in the tech sector.
2022 was an exceptional year for ventureLAB as they continued to build tech titans that are Born Global, Inclusive by Design and Built to Scale.
ventureLAB’s Accelerate AI company, Cyberworks Robotics, is a one-of-a-kind startup that’s making it easy for companies to use autonomous machinery. A real-time example can be seen in ventureLAB’s Innovation Space where Cyberworks Robotics’ sensor technology is actively used on the floor cleaning machines, keeping the space tidy using a fully autonomous vehicle.
“Thanks to our partnership with ventureLAB, more Canadian entrepreneurs will learn how they can take advantage of government tax credits to secure a more predictable cash flow and access capital sooner,” said Alastair Nimmons, Executive Vice President at Easly.
The collaboration aims to bring together the knowledge and experience of individuals and organizations with a strong background in cutting edge hardware development and medical technology, in order to create an environment that will attract MedTech startups to York Region and Ontario, and ultimately benefit patients and healthcare providers alike.
ventureLAB’s Hardware Catalyst Initiative is now accepting applications. Learn more and apply by March 6!
Yspace, York University’s entrepreneurship hub, has launched 3 programs this month: Founder Fundamentals, Venture Catalyst and Tech Accelerator.
Fruit of the Land Culinary Market and International Safety both advance to to the finals of the Ontario Made Awards.
ventureLAB’s President and CEO, Melissa Chee, was recently featured by CTV News to discuss the importance of boosting semiconductor output to remain competitive.
Melati’s latest venture, QEA Tech, focuses on energy loss in buildings. As much as 51 per cent of heating and air conditioning escapes through poorly sealed or insulated areas on a building’s exterior.
The Regional Municipality of York conducts an annual Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (HIRA) to identify the top 10 threats facing our communities and York Region businesses. Use it to inform your business continuity plans so your business can be as effective as possible during a service disruption and quickly recover afterwards.
By the end of the next cohort in March 2023, the Treefrog Accelerator will have supported 300 founders and wants to expand this to help 400 more individuals in the next two years.
