9 ventures from Northern Ireland are bringing novel tech solutions to North America

MaRS and Invest Northern Ireland team up to help promising startups expand to new markets.

If skittish global markets and on-again, off-again tariffs weren’t reason enough, the protectionist stance that has come to dominate American trade policy further underscores the importance of building new opportunities. To that end, MaRS and Invest Northern Ireland have launched a six-month virtual residency to help nine startups bring their multi-sector solutions to the Canadian market.

This cohort of innovators will gain access to advisory support, capital, market data and insights, as well as tailored workshops to help them establish a presence in Canada’s innovation ecosystem. And to help them forge new relationships and build key partnerships, the leaders of these ventures will have opportunities to network and conduct an in-person market visit.

Meet the Northern Ireland startups working to make inroads in Canada with innovations in a range of areas, from food and medicine to cleantech and education.

Born Maverick is cooking up a guilt-free sweet

Born Maverick is using advanced bioengineering to address the food industry’s two biggest problems — waste and environmental harm. Using surplus agricultural resources and precision fermentation techniques, the Belfast company has developed a more sustainable and ethical approach to making chocolate. Its alternative product replicates the taste and texture of the real thing, while avoiding the issues that plague the cacao industry, such as deforestation, child labour and supply chain volatility. Biotech scientist and founder Azhar Martuza is now eyeing new markets for this sustainable treat. “Scaling internationally requires strong partnerships and market access,” he says. “Canada is an emerging leader in food innovation and biotech, making it a great place to build cross-border partnerships.”

CATAGEN is shifting emissions reduction efforts into overdrive

CATAGEN, which was spun out of research at Queen’s University Belfast, provides green emissions testing for just about anything with a tailpipe. The company’s electric testing reactor provides the emissions and performance data needed to develop more eco-friendly parts for everything from motorcycles and trucks to lawnmowers and heavy-duty machinery. Fiona Rooney, CATAGEN’s net-zero strategic funding lead, estimates that compared to conventional methods, the company’s tech can cut user costs by as much as 30 percent and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 98 percent. She’s eager to bring these savings into new markets. “Establishing strong transatlantic partnerships is more critical than ever,” she says. The company is also branching out to explore other clean air initiatives, including green hydrogen, e-fuels and carbon capture technologies.

Dia Beta Labs is developing a novel therapeutic for diabetes and metabolic disorders

In individuals with diabetes, their insulin-producing beta-cells go into overdrive to manage blood glucose levels, which can lead to further declines in cell function. Without proper treatment, patients often need to rely on life-saving insulin. As Dia Beta Labs CEO Ryan Lafferty points out, current diabetes medications do not address beta-cell decline and “do not effectively halt disease progression, are poorly tolerated and provide unsustainable weight loss.” To address this, Lafferty and his team are developing alternative medications for diabetes and metabolic disorders, including peptides that reduce — and even prevent — beta-cell destruction. After 28 days of pre-clinical treatment with these peptides, pancreatic islets in lab mice appear to resemble those in healthy, non-diabetic subjects. The company’s research suggests that new, more effective therapeutics for diabetes may be within reach.

Fortesium is taking the pain out of paperwork

“Regulation may not be the most talked-about sector in tech,” says Fortesium’s customer success manager Catherine Moore, but as she points out, there’s ample demand for solutions that help streamline critical processes in this area. “Every industry relies on trust, compliance and governance.” The startup, which has offices in Belfast and London, takes the red tape out of regulatory admin such as credential updates for physicians or professional registries for teachers. Fortesium’s platform allows users to upload documents and track applications as well as automate workflows. It also offers reporting tools for industry regulators, and acts as a public search engine with an up-to-date roster of approved professionals within a given sector.

Seedling Learning is turning schoolwork into a game

Seedling Learning works with content providers and educational publishers to develop games, customized quizzes and other tools to help students learn. The company’s Seedling Generate platform allows adopters to produce their own interactive digital resources that are tailored to their curricula and the specific needs of the communities they engage. Those capabilities were a boon for Chief Atahm School, on the Adams Lake Reserve near Kamloops, B.C., which has used Seedling Generate to function as a kind of educational micro-publisher, creating materials for students learning Secwepemctsín, the language of the Secwepemc people.

Rubik Technologies is helping small manufacturers build a digital advantage

For years, Mark Flynn and his Rubik Technologies co-founders helped large manufacturers boost efficiency through technology and data analytics. When it became clear those tools weren’t available to small manufacturers, the team saw an opportunity. “The problem wasn’t just cost, it was complexity,” says Flynn. “Many SMEs don’t have dedicated data teams or the resources to implement expensive systems.” Rubik’s cloud-based analytics platform translates manufacturing data into easy-to-understand insights that highlight inefficiencies. Flynn adds he’s eager to make new industry connections on this side of the Atlantic. “Canada’s manufacturing sector is undergoing rapid modernization,” he says. “By working with businesses here, we can exchange ideas, collaborate on technology solutions and expand our impact on a global scale.”

Senergy Innovations is using solar panels to heat your water

Senergy Innovations develops rooftop solar panels that seamlessly integrate into a home’s water heater. CEO Christine Boyle first spotted this opportunity to make better use of solar panels when managing her family’s roofing company in Belfast. “Architects didn’t like solar panels because they weren’t aesthetically pleasing,” she says. “Plus, there was no data for the customer to optimize heat energy, or for financers to prove the return on investment.” To address those challenges, Senergy developed solar panels that sit flush with a home’s roofing, blending into the exterior. The panels are hooked up to a home’s water heater, reducing reliance on the grid as well as the household’s carbon use. Users can also monitor activity from an app, including hot water availability and savings.

Srotas Health is streamlining cancer trials

Clinical trials are pivotal in the development of promising cancer treatments, but this crucial aspect of oncology is often arduous — for both doctors and patients. “We realized there had to be a friendlier way for people to find guidance and feel confident about their next steps,” says Srotas Health co-founder Vikram Parimi. After consulting with Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly to identify inefficiencies, the Belfast-based company developed AI software to streamline the logistics of clinical trials, tackling challenges in recruitment, patient retention, data management and administrative work. The program matches patients with the most suitable clinical trials, improving efficiency, accelerating treatment development, reducing research costs and making care more affordable.

Validaid is making charitable giving more secure

Although many nonprofits and charitable organizations rely on crowdfunding, the platforms they use rarely include checks and balances to ensure donations are going where they’re intended. “Fraud runs rampant” in this realm, says Validaid founder and CEO Thomas Conway. “I felt there had to be a better way to bring trust and confidence to the charity sector.” The platform verifies every organization that registers, providing philanthropists with information about financial stability, governance and impact — before they donate. Funds can be instantly sent and received anywhere in the world, without the need for manual bank transfers. “We always planned to bring our services to Canada,” says Conway, who notes the country’s reputation as a leader in charitable giving and adds that Validaid is already set up to process Canadian donations.

Learn more about the Invest Northern Ireland and MaRS collaboration.