Co-founded by Anthony Rullo, associate professor of medicine, BiCova Therapeutics received $500,000 to advance its novel “proximity-inducing” therapeutic platform. This platform can be used to treat diseases like cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. The company has developed a novel class of small molecule therapeutics called Covalent Bifunctional Molecules (CBMs), and the investment will drive further development to bring the biotechnology closer to patients in need.

Founded by McMaster engineering and MBA graduate Matthew Rosato, PROVA Innovations secured a $250,000 investment to enhance its WithinStride™ line of smart insoles. These non-invasive, in-home gait training and rehabilitation tools aim to help patients regain mobility, significantly improving the quality of life for those suffering from osteoarthritis and other mobility challenges.

HARvEST Systems is a sustainable technology company co-founded by James Cotton, mechanical engineering professor, and research lab manager at the McMaster Institute for Energy Studies, Jeffrey Girard. The company aims to support decarbonization of the restaurant industry with their fuel-less, carbon-free hot water heating system and received $256,000 to further develop and commercialize their HARvEST platform.

Medical device startup A.I. VALI Inc. – cofounded by McMaster professor of medicine and gastroenterologist, David Armstrong – has developed AIDREA™, an AI platform that uses interactive machine learning to document and analyze endoscopy videos in real-time. The company received $256,000 to help transfer AIDREA™ from the initial evaluation studies at Hamilton Health Sciences to researchers, clinics and healthcare providers globally, and to improve patient procedures.

Biotech startup Esphera SynBio received $256,000 to develop a novel therapeutic technology designed to treat infectious diseases and cancer. Co-founded by associate professor of medicine, Brian Lichty, Esphera’s platform technology generates exosomes that deliver defined payloads to targeted cells in the body. It is designed to enhance existing immunotherapy and vaccine technologies and aid in gene therapy, enzyme replacement therapy and cancer immunotherapy.

Afynia Laboratories is a biotech company co-founded by Lauren Foster, professor emeritus in the department of obstetrics and gynecology, and McMaster researcher Jocelyn Wessels. The company received $468,500 to advance its blood-testing technology that can be used for at-home screening of endometriosis.

20/20 OptimEyes Technologies – a spin-out from the Sheardown Lab at McMaster and co-founded by Frances Lasowski and Heather Sheardown– received $428,000 to de-risk their patented mucoadhesive micelle nanoparticle (MNP) technology, initially targeted for the treatment of glaucoma.

LLIF Healthcare received $381,500 to further its cloud-based platform which provides doctors and hospitals with data to improve patient care and reduce healthcare costs. Co-founded by associate professor of medicine Shawn Mondoux and clinician David Hamilton, LLIF is bringing to market their MD Dashboard, which extracts physician practice data from electronic medical records and provides a practice and improvement feedback strategy to doctors.

A medical devices company co-founded by Mehran Anvari, Professor of Surgery, received $435,000. The company aims to establish itself as the pre-eminent company in MRI surgical robotic imaging and diagnostics for breast cancer.