Participated · Series A · Jun 2024

Motion Gestures builds AI software for hand tracking and gesture recognition that runs on third-party cameras. The software supports any camera type (RGB, NIR, Depth), any resolution including ultra-low 32×32 pixels, and arbitrary camera positions. It tracks a 21-joint skeleton per hand, provides real-time positional coordinates, recognizes dynamic gestures at low frame rates (e.g., 20 fps), and enables custom gestures without conventional training-data collection. The solution is deployable on ordinary processors and scales the number of tracked hands with available computational resources. The company is engaged with more than 150 OEMs across dozens of industry verticals worldwide. Motion Gestures plans to use the new funds to expand operations and accelerate development; it has raised USD 2M in this Pre-A and USD 10M total including USD 4.5M in Canadian government grants. Motion Gestures develops a patent-pending machine learning platform that lets developers create gesture interfaces in minutes without coding or collecting training data. The software auto-generates training data, works across motion, touch, and vision sensors, and can be deployed to cloud, gateway/hub, and embedded platforms. Its gesture library includes letters, numbers, shapes, symbols, and rotations and supports advanced 2D and 3D gestures. The platform emphasizes ease of testing via smartphone feedback and offers a free developer license to the cloud SDK. The company aims to accelerate mainstream adoption of gesture control across wearables, automotive, consumer electronics, home automation, medical devices, VR, drones, and robotics. Motion Gestures was founded in 2016 in Waterloo, Canada. The company announced it closed seed financing to further development and begin international marketing.

Participated · Equity · Mar 2024

Rithmik Solutions develops an artificial-intelligence platform that ingests high-resolution data from mixed mobile mining fleets and converts it into actionable guidance for operations and maintenance teams. Its analytics go beyond predictive maintenance, enabling mines to detect issues earlier, improve equipment reliability, and increase production efficiency while reducing environmental impact. The software is fully OEM-agnostic, supporting all major mining equipment brands and addressing customers’ need for interoperable, site-wide solutions. Headquartered in Montréal, the company positions itself as a key enabler of smart, sustainable mining by aligning operational and maintenance priorities around data-driven insights. With fresh Series A funding, Rithmik plans to accelerate global expansion, broaden its product suite, and integrate into additional digital mining ecosystems. Financial or user metrics were not disclosed in the article.

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 · May 2019

Forcen develops ForceFilm, a thin, laminatable force‑sensing film and complementary sensing systems (DedicatedOverload and Synap) that give machines a sense of touch. The company’s systems target demanding robotic applications in surgical, logistics, and space robotics where impact, overload, temperature, and size constraints challenge conventional sensors. Forcen says its technology is already moving into production with customers and will use new funding to scale prototype production facilities and support more customers. The startup plans to launch a customizable offering and off‑the‑shelf development kits later this year to accelerate adoption and allow more robotics companies to work with its tech. Forcen was founded in 2015 and is led by CEO Robert Brooks, who won the Canadian James Dyson Award in 2017 for co‑developing the core technology. Financially, the company has raised C$12.95M in equity to date following the latest round. Forcen (formerly SensOR Medical Laboratories) has developed ForceFilm, a force-sensing film that can be laminated onto parts or assemblies to provide a human-level sense of touch. The technology targets medical devices, surgical robotics, industrial robotics and aerospace/defense industries. The company is based in Toronto and was founded in 2015 by Dr. Robert Brooks. Forcen raised $500K in seed funding to accelerate existing contracts, pursue major industrial customers and prepare the ForceFilm technology for large-scale production. The team includes COO Michael Augustinavicus, VP Business Development Angad Sandhu and medical data expert Ricky Mehra. The company has support from Toronto entrepreneurial organizations including Creative Destruction Lab, Ryerson Biomedical Zone, Ontario Brain Institute, Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization, the University of Toronto’s Health Innovation Hub and Hatchery incubators.

Led · Equity · Jan 2018

Nicoya Lifesciences builds digital proteomics solutions centered on Alto, a benchtop surface plasmon resonance (SPR) platform that integrates SPR with digital microfluidics to digitize label‑free protein characterization. The company positions Alto as a high‑throughput, label‑free biosensor for academic, biotech, government, and pharmaceutical users. Nicoya says its tools are used by over 500 researchers across more than 50 countries and that the business grew to a team of over 100 employees following earlier financing. The company plans to use the new funding to continue development and commercialization of Alto and to expand into new international markets. Financially, the firm has raised a total of $35 million since inception, including prior Series A capital announced in early 2020. Nicoya provides advanced analytical instruments used by hundreds of researchers in over 40 countries and is leveraging its expertise in nanotechnology, microfluidics and biochemistry to develop Atlas, a portable COVID-19 diagnostic. Atlas is a single-use, disposable, saliva-based test that detects SARS-CoV-2 viral proteins and is designed to deliver lab-quality results to a smartphone app in under 20 minutes. The company aims to make testing more accessible in remote communities and frontline screening settings and to support public-health reopening strategies. Development of an Atlas prototype is currently underway, and Nicoya says the funding and advisory support will expedite research and development toward public availability. The company is headquartered in Kitchener, Ontario. Nicoya develops analytical instruments for biotech and pharma, leveraging nanotechnology, microfluidics and AI to help scientists study diseases and accelerate therapeutic development. Its first product is OpenSPR, a benchtop surface plasmon resonance (SPR) instrument. The company focuses on enabling research into conditions such as cancer, hepatitis, Alzheimer’s and cardiac disease. Nicoya plans to use new funding to expedite development of drug-discovery products and pursue additional opportunities within the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors. It intends to grow its team from 50 to 80 employees over the next year and expand into more international markets. Nicoya Lifesciences, launched in 2012 as a University of Waterloo spin-out by CEO Ryan Denomme, develops sensitive biosensors and nanotechnology-enabled scientific instruments to make laboratory tools more accessible. The company uses nanotechnology to lower the cost and complexity of instruments that help scientists understand diseases and develop new drugs. It is based in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. The article reports a $2M financing that the company will use to support new product development and to expand sales and marketing. The financing underscores a focus on commercial growth rather than reported operating metrics; no revenue or user figures are provided in the article. The company’s core technology and university origins are emphasized as foundational to its product roadmap and commercialization efforts. Nicoya Lifesciences builds a personal, portable Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) solution designed to make protein testing simple, quick and accessible. Their device reportedly delivers testing for less than one-tenth the cost of current solutions. The lower cost and portability aim to speed and broaden testing for life-changing and life-saving drugs. Nicoya plans to use the $50,000 award to grow its sales team, though leadership said they will first do something special for the team after the Rev program. The company’s prize and recent exposure came via Communitech’s Rev Centre Stage pitch event, part of Rev’s six-month sales-and-marketing accelerator. Rev does not take equity from participating companies.