Class of 2026 marks the first time 10-week program has hosted a startup from Sudbury.
The Google for Startups Accelerator has unveiled the 14 companies participating in its seventh annual Canadian program, one year after focusing the program on companies building with AI or machine learning.
This is the second year Google has loaded up on “AI-driven” startups in the Canadian accelerator cohort.
The startups touch a variety of industries, including real estate, construction, agriculture, finance, manufacturing, e-commerce, healthcare, and life sciences. However, they all have one thing in common: the startups are “AI-driven,” as Iran Karimian, Google Canada’s head of accelerator and startup ecosystem, described in a blog post this morning.
This is the second year in a row Google has loaded up on “AI-driven” startups in the Canadian accelerator cohort. Last year, Karimian told BetaKit that Google looks for companies building with AI or machine learning, or have a “very clear case of how they plan to implement it in the near future.”
While Montréal-based companies led the pack last year, Toronto has the most representation in the class of 2026, with six startups. Other participants hail from Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Kitchener-Waterloo, Québec City, and, for the first time, Sudbury, Ont.
The lone Sudbury company is Waive Medical, led by co-founder and CEO Shreyansh Anand, which provides an intelligent automation tool to help reduce administrative work in clinics. Anand said in a statement that his company is “at a critical juncture” as it scales to hundreds of clinics using its system.
“To reach the next stage in our journey, we recognize that we need mentorship and support from some of the top product and technical minds,” Anand said.
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Google says the accelerator program is best suited for revenue-generating Canadian tech startups between the seed and Series A stages that are leveraging AI or machine learning technology in their product, service, or operations.
During the 10-week program, Google mentors will help each participating startup sharpen its business model, scale its AI capabilities, and network with potential investors and partners, according to Google. The program does not provide equity funding to the selected startups.
Cohort members will also receive early access to Google AI products and are eligible for Google Cloud Credits and access to Google’s Cloud Tensor Processing Units; hardware that is specifically made to train machine learning and AI models.
The program will conclude with the cohort showing off its progress at a Demo Day hosted by Google during Toronto Tech Week in May.
All 14 companies in the 2026 cohort are listed below:
- Accord (Toronto, ON)
- Actuality (Toronto, ON)
- AllMind AI (Waterloo, ON)
- Amical (Québec City, QC)
- Banting AI (Toronto, ON)
- CropMind Inc. (Calgary, AB)
- EyeCareX (Vancouver, BC)
- Innovate-Ops(Kitchener, ON)
- LandLogic(Toronto, ON)
- MyHealthspan (Victoria, BC)
- Opener (Toronto, ON)
- Optionality (Montréal, QC)
- PlaySpace (Toronto, ON)
- Waive Medical (Sudbury, ON)
Feature image courtesy Google via LinkedIn.