The Venture Codex

Participated · Seed · Feb 2023

AAVAA develops proprietary brain-computer interface technology and a range of assistive and consumer products spanning hearing technology and AR/VR solutions. Its core technology transforms brain and bio signals into device control using subtle eye and facial movements. The company has filed five patents across more than 20 countries and was developed by a team of neuroscientists and entrepreneurs. Its product portfolio includes assistive devices and consumer applications designed for ease of use, functionality, and affordability. AAVAA aims to accelerate research and development to expand its accessible product offerings and better serve individuals with mobility and speech impairments. The company recently received a $1.3 million grant to support these efforts. AAVAA Technologies is building a "bionic ear" platform that combines sensors and integrated software to detect a user’s attention and automatically enhance or control audio in wearable devices. Its technology can amplify a selected voice, enable attention-based commands, and monitor aspects of brain and body health. The system detects head direction, eye-gaze, intentional eye blinks and other facial movements, and can be integrated into earphones, earbuds, eyeglasses and other wearables. The company launched demonstration and development kits in January 2023 as part of a commercialization program and said it expects to begin licensing its platform for commercial use by mid-2023. AAVAA was founded in 2021 and is led by CEO Barclay Knapp, CTO Naeem Komeilipoor and COO Lex Schindler. Financially, the startup has recently closed a $2 million CAD pre-seed financing to accelerate commercialization.

Participated · Series A · Jan 2022

TickSmith offers a cloud-based, B2B SaaS Enterprise Data Web Store that creates an e-commerce experience for buying and selling data. The platform supplies tools to prepare, manage, package and monetize data end-to-end. It is used by leading exchanges and financial institutions to generate new revenue streams and expand their customer bases. The product emphasizes a secure, proven solution that removes the complexities of selling and buying data. The company is based in Montreal, QC, and is commercializing its Data Web Store into additional industry segments. TickSmith raised a $20.0M Series A to accelerate sales and marketing and support broader commercial rollout. TickSmith develops TickVault, a financial data lake platform that centralizes and distributes large-scale financial data. Led by CEO and co-founder Francis Wenzel, the company serves trading and risk groups, regulators, exchanges and data vendors. TickVault is used for data centralization and distribution, market surveillance, risk management, strategy discovery and analytics. The platform helps clients comply with post-trade reporting and risk requirements such as MiFID II and the Fundamental Review of the Trading Book (FRTB). TickVault also provides a single source of data for internal compliance and risk management teams. TickSmith intends to use the new funding to further commercialize TickVault.

Participated · Equity · Aug 2021

Gray Oncology builds GrayOS, a scheduling and operations platform that overlays electronic health records to manage oncology centre resources. The software creates a digital twin to structure resources, simulate operations, optimize workflow, automate patient scheduling and provide a command centre for strategic decisions. Its platform is currently used in one of Canada’s largest hospitals for both radiation oncology and medical oncology. Founded in 2019 by André Diamant and co‑founders with expertise in healthcare logistics and radiation therapy, the team emphasizes an oncology-specific approach versus broader scheduling competitors. The company raised C$1.25M in an angel equity round and has C$2M in total non-dilutive and dilutive funding, including federal and provincial grants and an earlier Startup Health investment. Gray plans to use the financing to break into the U.S. market to address treatment backlogs and scale in a larger market.

Participated · Seed · Apr 2021

My Intelligent Machines (MIMs) offers an AI software platform, MIMsOMIC, that analyzes omics data (genomics, proteomics, glycomics) to generate predictive models for biopharmaceutical and AgTech customers. The platform aims to inject precision medicine early into drug discovery to lower failure rates, speed approvals, and reduce costs. During the pandemic MIMs also developed PandemIA, an explainable AI solution to personalize COVID-19 vaccination and treatment by monitoring genomic, clinical, and geodynamic data. The company currently has nine contracts (seven in Canada and two in Europe) and reported more than 100% revenue growth for the fiscal year ended March 2021. MIMs employs 36 people (50% women), is adding two to three employees per month, and plans to triple its headcount by 2023. The startup is focused on oncology, immunology, and agriculture and plans to use new funding to grow the team, continue fulfilling contracts, and expand into the United States and Europe. My Intelligent Machines (MIMS) provides a SaaS platform that analyzes omics data using multiple types of artificial intelligence to make bioinformatics and complex data-science methodologies accessible to non-computer scientists. The company emphasizes its ability to leverage so-called “fat data,” which it says is strategically valuable for biopharmaceutical and agricultural-technology firms. MIMS plans to develop turnkey, integrated solutions that allow life scientists without expertise in bioinformatics or data science to stratify human, animal, and plant populations. It is collaborating on a triple-negative breast cancer clinical trial with the Jewish General Hospital to identify patient groups most receptive to chemotherapy. MIMS is also working with a dairy consortium and the Valacta Center of Expertise in Milk Production to stratify cow populations and build recommendation systems for farmers. The company was founded by Sarah Jenna, Mickaël Camus, and Abdoulaye Baniré Diallo, and is based in Montreal.

Participated · Series B · Sep 2020

Inversago Pharma is a clinical-stage biotech in Montreal focused on developing first-in-class, peripherally-acting CB1 inverse agonists. Its lead program, INV-202, is being advanced for Diabetic Kidney Disease (DKD) and is slated to enter a Phase 2 clinical trial in Q4 2022. The company announced FDA IND clearance for INV-202 and expects Phase 1b topline results in subjects with metabolic syndrome. Proceeds from the Series C will also accelerate multiple preclinical programs across its pipeline. Inversago aims to establish leadership in the field of CB1 blockade and to develop therapies for cardiometabolic, fibrotic, and other metabolic conditions. The company is privately owned and targets indications including DKD, Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes, NASH, complications of obesity, hypertriglyceridemia, and progressive-fibrosis interstitial lung diseases. Inversago Pharma is a preclinical-stage biotech focused on first-in-class, peripherally-acting CB1 inverse agonists. Its lead candidate is INV-101 and the company plans to use recent proceeds to advance INV-101 to clinical proof-of-concept while progressing research on other selected compounds. Inversago targets metabolic and fibrotic conditions including Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), type 1 diabetes and diabetic nephropathy. The company’s approach is designed to inhibit peripheral CB1 signaling—thought to be activated in many of these diseases—while avoiding the CNS liabilities associated with central CB1 blockade. Clinical and scientific data cited by the company support CB1 inhibition as an effective therapeutic strategy in several diseases, and Inversago emphasizes a safer therapeutic window through peripheral-only action. Following the financing the company expanded its board to help transition from preclinical work toward first-in-human trials. Inversago Pharma is a Montreal-based, preclinical-stage company developing new generations of peripherally-restricted CB1 inverse agonists/antagonists for Prader-Willi Syndrome, type 1 diabetes, obesity and other metabolic disorders including NASH. Its core product is a CB1 receptor blocker designed to avoid the central nervous system adverse events that terminated earlier, centrally-acting CB1 programs. The company’s technology is based on work by CB1 expert George Kunos at the NIH/NIAAA and has shown in preclinical models that peripheral CB1 blockade can treat obesity, NASH, liver fibrosis and diabetes without the behavioral CNS effects of earlier compounds. Inversago intends to advance its peripherally-restricted CB1 program into clinical trials. The company launched operations to exploit the therapeutic potential of reinstated CB1 blockade across multiple metabolic indications. The announced Series A financing will support the company’s development plan and progression toward clinical development.