The selection process for cohort 7 was highly competitive, including a rigorous bootcamp to ensure the selected companies were primed for success in the hardware industry, which is notoriously known for long lead times for product validation and securing investment.
In the ever-evolving world of startups, building successful ventures goes beyond just innovative ideas and market analysis – it lies in the strength and diversity of your startup’s team.
Treefrog assists a broad range of businesses, particularly focusing on those in their developmental stages or facing technological or marketing/growth challenges. Their team aims to provide solutions that enhance growth, improve technological capabilities and streamline operational processes.
ventureLAB is proud to announce the 3rd cohort of the Accelerate AI program. This transformative 6-month program is designed to champion the growth and scaling of AI startups, empowering them to deliver cutting-edge solutions and applications that tackle the challenges in the modern industry!
$4.5 million for the next phase of the Hardware Catalyst Initiative, supporting 30 technology companies while creating and maintaining over 170 jobs in southern Ontario.
The funding proposed would be over three years and would come from the region’s Innovation Investment Fund, which the region includes in its budget to support innovative projects on an application basis.
Yin says York Region is truly one of Canada’s key innovation engines and an economic powerhouse. “We gained direct access to a diverse network of government grants, angel investor platforms, venture capital investing, workshops for prototyping and production, testing agencies and support of big multinational corporations,” Yin comments.
It is no secret that the way people and goods move is changing. From the transition to hybrid or fully-electric cars to better the environment or drone delivery to support hospital capacity, there is no shortage of examples of ways innovation is propelling sustainability in our communities and moving us forward.
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.
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 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.
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.
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