Participated · Seed · Jun 2024

Mesosil develops nanometre-scale, silica-based additives that act as a self-assembled hard-material sponge loaded with an antimicrobial drug designed for very slow release to kill bacteria and prevent device-associated infections. The company has finalized its flagship material and is scaling up production to meet demand in the dentistry space. Mesosil is working with professional dental companies in the U.S. and Europe and supports clients through regulatory approval processes related to its material. Management sees near-term applications in dental fillings, bone cement and antifouling coatings, with longer-term potential in orthopedics and other medical or industrial uses. The technology originated from University of Toronto research (work began in 2015; spun out as an independent business in 2018) and the company filed its first patent in 2017. Mesosil closed a C$2.2M equity seed and has total funding of nearly C$3.1M to support commercialization and production scale-up. Mesosil is a Faculty of Dentistry startup from the University of Toronto that launched in early 2018. The company is developing responsive antimicrobial dental materials designed to prevent infection at the medical device–tissue interface and extend lifetime effect to stop bacteria wedging between fillings and the tooth. Mesosil completed a pre-clinical animal study last year. The new $675,000 financing will help the company scale up production of its material and grow the team to meet demand. The company is working with an industrial partner to develop a range of bioactive dental materials and aims to expand into applications within and outside dentistry. CEO Cameron Stewart, a postdoctoral fellow for Professor Yoav Finer, leads the company and said the funds will help bring the materials to patients.

Participated · Seed · Mar 2024

Noa Therapeutics, founded in 2022 and based in Toronto, uses a computer-assisted drug discovery engine to identify multimodal therapeutic compounds for immune diseases. The pre-clinical startup is developing a portfolio of non-steroidal compounds that target immune modulation, barrier restoration, and microbiome modulation. Its lead program is directed at atopic dermatitis, and the company is also advancing work aimed at barrier-dysfunction inflammatory diseases such as ulcerative colitis and inflammatory bowel disease. Noa is a resident company of Johnson & Johnson’s JLABS Toronto within the MaRS Discovery District. The company was co-founded by CEO Carla Spina and CSO Serena Mandla and has announced a board that includes Maura Campbell and François Ravenelle. The new funding will support advancing the lead candidate and the hit-to-lead phase to optimize promising molecules into potential drugs.

Participated · Seed · Dec 2022

KeyOps operates a trusted, compliant digital platform that breaks down communication barriers between life science companies and healthcare providers to enable faster, real-time decision making for medical affairs, marketing and sales teams. The platform lets customers build and manage on-demand relationships with a diverse community of key opinion leaders and medical experts. KeyOps positions itself as a digital-first alternative to traditional, time-consuming physician engagement methods by delivering fast, accurate data from a trusted provider network. The company says its product removes friction from physician engagement and supports strategic decision making for pharmaceutical commercial teams. KeyOps will use new growth funding to invest in product development and to expand into the U.S. market. The company was founded in 2020 and is based in Toronto. KeyOps operates a trusted, compliant digital platform that connects doctors and other key opinion leaders (KOLs) with life‑science companies to speed commercial decision‑making and improve responses to patient needs. The platform is positioned for medical affairs, marketing, and sales teams to build and manage on‑demand relationships with a diverse community of medical experts. KeyOps currently serves device manufacturers, laboratory testing companies, and pharmaceutical customers across multiple therapeutic areas. The company plans to use its seed funding to add engineering, product development, and sales and marketing roles over the next year, with a focus on building a U.S. commercial team. It also intends to grow its physician network across North America to broaden expert coverage. KeyOps is Toronto‑based and raised capital in December 2022 to support this expansion.

Participated · Equity · Sep 2021

Founded in 2015 and based in Toronto, MedStack provides a cloud platform designed to reduce the time and cost of building integrated, patient-centric healthcare applications. Its tools focus on data integration, privacy and regulatory compliance for digital health companies; customers cited in the article include Inkblot Therapy, Maple, 2020 On-Site, and Benekiva. In early 2020 MedStack launched MedStack Control, a second-generation platform that the company says aligns with modern software practices while meeting healthcare security expectations. The company doubled its business in 2020 and was on pace to double again the following year, growth the CEO attributes to new partners and existing customers. MedStack had a 14-person team at the time of the report and plans to use new funding to double headcount over the next couple of months. The firm intends to invest the proceeds in product development, expand industry certifications, improve integrations and usability, and pursue partnerships across the digital health ecosystem. MedStack is a Toronto-based cloud automation company that provides privacy and security compliance solutions for healthcare apps. It builds and manages healthcare privacy compliance into cloud hosting tools and offers enhanced app hosting and actively managed compliance policies. The company operates in several countries and serves over 50 healthcare app vendors across various spaces. MedStack recently launched MedStack Control, a system that provides real-time hands-on infrastructure control and greater flexibility for client companies. The company plans to use new funds to develop channels for MedStack Control, expand engineering, sales and support teams, and pursue additional third-party security certifications and attestations. MedStack was co-founded in 2015 by CEO Balaji Gopalan and CTO Simon Woodside.