Ottawa invests in Toronto-based healthtech companies

TORONTO – Filomena Tassi (pictured), Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario), announced over $14 million towards the scale-up and growth of eight GTA-based companies: Able Innovations Inc., BeWhere Inc., BlueDot Inc., Cognota Inc., Earth Boring Co., Mero Technologies Inc., Pentavere Research Group Inc. and Schlesinger Group Ltd.

As a result of this investment, these companies will be able to grow digital and manufacturing solutions, move towards green operations, enhance data in healthcare settings and improve monitoring and tracking software, while also creating over 230 jobs across the GTA.

“Supporting Canadian innovators as they modernize and develop new processes, technologies and products to improve the way Canadians live and do business is critical. Today’s $14-million investment from the Government of Canada for eight GTA businesses highlights our commitment to creating jobs, investing in clean technologies and growing the economy,” said Minister Tassi.

The Toronto region is Canada’s largest financial contributor, accounting for 20 percent of the gross domestic product, and is home to more than 40 percent of the country’s business headquarters.

The company’s receiving funding include three healthcare technology organizations:

Able Innovations Inc.
Established in 2018, Toronto-based Able Innovations Inc. has developed innovative robotic technology that enables front-line healthcare staff to conduct safe and easy patient transfer solutions. This repayable investment will enable the healthcare tech company to acquire advanced manufacturing equipment to bring its patient transfer platform to market, obtain regulatory approvals and enhance add-on features. As a result, the company will bring a new, much-needed medical device into clinics and hospitals and will create 24 skilled jobs. ($797,031)

Pentavere Research Group Inc.
Established in 2016, Toronto-based Pentavere Research Group Inc. is an award-winning developer of the breakthrough DARWEN AI engine which empowers clinicians and pharmaceutical partners to access critical, lifesaving information that is buried within large amounts of complex, clinical text data. This repayable investment will allow the healthcare tech company to scale the development and commercialization of its data management processing software, DARWEN Clinical Trial and DARWEN Customer Voice AI, which rapidly extracts, structures, and analyses complex clinical data for healthcare providers and technology partners. As a result, the company will increase revenues and create 10 skilled jobs. ($1,060,000)

BlueDot Inc.
Founded in 2013, Toronto-based BlueDot Inc. has built and commercialized an advanced, real-time, early-warning service that combines artificial and human intelligence to anticipate and manage disruption from the growing number of infectious disease threats appearing around the world. The company gained international recognition after detecting and warning its public and private sector clients of COVID-19, nearly a week before the World Health Organization, and for using its predictive modelling technology to accurately forecast its spread and impacts globally. This repayable investment will support the software company to accelerate adoption and strengthen its global epidemic intelligence and threat monitoring platform. As a result, the company will expand its client base, help detect future outbreaks and meet the increased demand for its tech, while also creating 40 skilled jobs. ($3,000,000)

Since 2015, the Government of Canada, through FedDev Ontario, has invested over $900 million in more than 1,280 projects in the Greater Toronto Area creating over 30,000 jobs and maintaining over 45,000 jobs.