Kare Chemical Technologies, Myomar Molecular, Stoked Bio, among the recipients.
The Government of Ontario is investing another $5 million CAD across 10 local, early-stage companies developing life sciences and healthtech solutions.
This is the fourth round of investments via Ontario’s Life Sciences Innovation Fund.
The province announced the news on Monday. Recipients include Esphera SynBio, Kare Chemical Technologies, Myomar Molecular, myStoria, mDetect, NodeAI, ScriptRunner Innovations, Stoked Bio, Synakis, and Synmedix. Each of these companies is receiving $500,000 to help turn their discoveries and prototypes into products.
For Mississauga’s Kare Chemical Technologies, this capital will help further its plans to turn orange peels into non-psychoactive alternatives for treating epilepsy, chronic pain, and neurological disorders. Other selected companies include Sudbury-based Myomar Molecular, which is building a diagnostic tool designed to measure muscle atrophy, and Hamilton’s Stoked Bio, which is developing novel anti-infectives and cancer therapeutics.
This marks the fourth round of investments via Ontario’s Life Sciences Innovation Fund (LSIF), which is being delivered by the Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI).
Ontario first launched the LSIF in 2022, committing $15 million towards the coinvestment fund, which represents part of the province’s broader strategy for reinforcing its position as a global biomanufacturing and life sciences hub. The LSIF is geared towards innovative, Ontario-headquartered life sciences and healthtech startups that have secured less than $3 million in third-party funding to date and are currently raising a pre-seed or seed round.
RELATED: Canadian life sciences is at a “generational moment,” but experts disagree on its future
Through the fund, OCI aims to help fund the development and commercialization of made-in-Ontario products in areas like cancer treatment, healthtech, neuroscience, and regenerative medicine, while also derisking the opportunity for other investors.
With its initial funding now fully deployed, in its 2025 budget, Ontario renewed the fund with an additional $15 million over the next three years.
Some industry leaders think Canada’s life sciences sector is at a “generational moment,” but have differing opinions on what governments should do to support its growth.
Today’s announcement comes a week after Ontario committed up to $5 million to help French biopharma giant Sanofi expand its AI centre of excellence in Toronto.
Feature image courtesy Ontario Centre of Innovation. Photo by Caitlyn Denys.
