The Venture Codex

Participated · Seed · Jan 2019

Acorn Biolabs is a Toronto-based biotechnology startup that preserves hair follicle–derived stem cells for future regenerative medicine and personalized cosmetic uses. Its core product is a non-invasive, hair follicle-based cell cryopreservation service and associated storage subscription, collected at participating clinics and preserved indefinitely. The company plans to expand its commercial footprint, grow clinic partner sites and hire a sales team to support dermatology and plastic surgery practices while developing personalized topical skin and hair care products built from clients' own follicles. Acorn launched its stem cell banking service in Canada and the U.S. last year and reported cumulative patient growth of more than 10 percent monthly in 2023. The 21-person team says it holds a first-mover advantage in hair follicle-based stem cell cryopreservation and will use the new capital to invest in direct-to-consumer advertising and in-clinic promotion. Financially, the company has raised over $13.6 million CAD to date, and expects the Series A to accelerate its business and product launches. Acorn Biolabs provides a patented, non-invasive hair-follicle stem cell collection, live-cell analytics, genetic analysis, and cryopreservation service delivered as a monthly subscription. The company positions its offering as up to 80% more cost-effective than the industry average and aims to give patients access to cells for future regenerative and precision-medicine needs. Acorn’s service includes next-generation genetics and live-cell analytics to support personalized biological care. The company is backed by investors including Real Ventures, Globalive, Pool Global Partners and Epic Capital Management. In April 2021 MCI Onehealth announced a $250,000 strategic investment in Acorn and a commercial partnership to roll out Acorn’s services through MCI clinics. Through that partnership Acorn’s service is slated for availability across MCI’s network, expanding its potential patient reach. Acorn Biolabs offers an at-home solution to collect and preserve the genetic material contained in hair follicles, avoiding invasive clinic procedures. The company says it has developed a proprietary media that keeps cells viable during transport to its labs for processing. Acorn positions its service as a lower-cost alternative, targeting banking costs of less than $1,000 versus typical full-genome banking costs of $2,000–$3,000, and annual storage fees of roughly $100. The company does not currently provide downstream therapeutic services on the back end. Acorn argues stored youthful cells and genomic data could be valuable as targeted genetic and regenerative therapies advance, and plans to use the data to power studies in the future. The company is Toronto-based and led by CEO Dr. Drew Taylor.

Participated · Series A · Mar 2018

ThoughtWire is a Toronto-based developer of a Digital Twin Technology platform that enables smarter built environments. Its platform is being applied across industries to deliver intelligent automation and provide real-time guidance to machines and staff. Use cases include predicting and resolving issues, ensuring safety, improving productivity, and increasing energy efficiency. Led by CEO Michael Monteith, the company closed a combined $11.5M funding package with a follow-on potential of $9.7M. Backers include Yaletown Partners, BDC Capital, Canadian Business Growth Fund, Greensoil PropTech Ventures and EDC. ThoughtWire intends to use the proceeds to further product development and support international growth initiatives. ThoughtWire develops Ambiant, an IIoT platform that applies real-time machine intelligence to operations across smart cities, buildings, hospitals and workplaces. The platform was originally utilized in smart healthcare to improve operations, care delivery and the patient experience. For smarter buildings and cities, Ambiant is used to guide proactive maintenance, improve cost and energy efficiency, and deliver a more personalized tenant experience. In manufacturing, the platform is being applied to develop self-optimizing production lines to reduce downtime and prevent component failures. ThoughtWire was founded in 2009, is led by CEO Michael Monteith and is based in Toronto. The company intends to use the new financing to expand its geographic growth.

Participated · Equity · Nov 2017

Interaxon develops the Muse EEG meditation headband and companion software that provides feedback to help users establish and maintain a meditation practice. The company announced a $9.5M Series C and is shifting toward a subscription membership and a hardware-as-a-service approach. A new subscription service is slated to arrive early next year and will include personalized insights and biosensor trend reports based on EEG readings. Interaxon plans to build a global meditation database and develop metrics to give users meaningful insights into brain health and lifestyle factors such as meditation, sleep, alcohol, stress, exercise and diet. The company has also launched an SDK initiative to explore uses of its brain-sensing technology for potential metaverse applications. The product faces a notable barrier to entry with roughly $300 upfront hardware cost, and the recent round was described as modest compared with 2022 standards. Interaxon’s flagship product, Muse, is a brain-sensing headband launched in 2014 that uses EEG sensors to provide real-time audio and visual feedback on a user’s meditative state via Android and iOS apps. The company has driven consumer adoption through retail partnerships with Amazon, Best Buy and others, and has begun offering specialized products for clinical, professional and wellness customers. In 2017 Interaxon licensed its technology to the Safilo Group for athlete eyewear and launched a SaaS product for professional and corporate wellness programs; the VR community is also working to integrate its brain-sensing technology. Interaxon plans to use new capital to expand further into the health and wellness space, release new Muse applications and services, enter tertiary clinician markets, and build out a developer marketplace. The company employs more than 50 people, including neuroscientists and engineers, at its Toronto headquarters and intends to grow the team to accelerate product and platform development. The recent financing positions Interaxon to scale its services-based brain health platform across consumer, professional and clinical segments. InteraXon develops Muse, a head-worn device with seven sensors that detects five bands of brainwave activity (delta, theta, alpha, beta, gamma) and pairs with smartphone apps to train users' attention and reduce stress. Its first app, Calm, guides focused-attention exercises and gives real-time, session, and historical feedback by translating brain signals into wind sounds. Muse is sold direct and through retailers including Best Buy, Bloomingdales, Amazon, and Gaiam, and retails for $299 on the company website. The company ran an Indiegogo campaign in December 2012 that raised $287,000 and showcased the product at CES. InteraXon previously raised $7.2 million in two rounds from Horizon, OMERS Ventures, A-Grade, Felicis Ventures, and ff Venture Capital. According to an SEC filing, the company has raised an additional $11 million, bringing total funding to at least $18.2 million. InteraXon builds Muse, a six-sensor headset that monitors brainwaves for thought-controlled computing. The company positions Muse as leading in brainwave-enabled devices, applications and experiences and has been demoing the headset publicly. Muse is scheduled to launch next year and InteraXon plans to release it alongside a Brain Health System development platform and a brain-fitness application with cognitive exercises. The company says it plans to build numerous other Muse apps and expects developers to take the first version and start building applications immediately. InteraXon previously raised nearly $300,000 on Indiegogo and has now announced a $6 million Series A. CEO Ariel Garten projected it could take about 10 years before robust brain-based computer control is viable and up to 25 years to become a default interaction method.

Led · Seed · Mar 2016

QoC Health offers a digital platform for patient monitoring, analytics, educational materials, secure communications, decision aids, planning tools and integration with existing medical records. The company is a Certified B Corp™ and is led by Chancellor Crawford (CEO and co-founder), John Semple (Co‑Founder, Healthcare Strategy) and Sarah Sharpe (Co‑Founder, Healthcare Analytics and Quality Improvement). It has deployed an integrated multi-clinic diabetes management program in Toronto’s Toronto Central LHIN region through the South Riverdale Community Health Centre and helped Alberta’s Kids Uncomplicated build Teleroo®, a multi‑stakeholder collaboration platform for families with children with complex needs. QoC Health is also involved in the Ontario Centres of Excellence AdvancingHealth initiative and multiple CIHR eHealth Innovation Partnership Program (eHIPP) projects. The company closed a $700K seed financing and plans to use the funds to continue expansion and invest in its patient engagement platform.

Participated · Series A · Jul 2015

Perimeter Medical Imaging develops, patents, and commercializes high-resolution intraoperative imaging tools to allow clinicians to assess microscopic tissue structures during surgery. Its flagship OTIS™ (Optical Tissue Imaging System) provides an ultra-high resolution image of the entire surface of excised tissue, enabling real-time decisions at the surgical margin. OTIS™ is a platform technology designed to image multiple tissue types and aims to reduce follow-on surgeries—for example, roughly 25% of breast lumpectomy patients currently require a second operation due to residual cancer cells. Perimeter is a privately owned Canadian company and describes OTIS™ as an investigational device limited to investigational use under U.S. law. The company recently closed an oversubscribed $5 million Series A and will use proceeds to complete a clinical study at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, advance product development, and pursue FDA regulatory clearance for its first tissue-imaging product.