Turning up the Heat: MaRS’ Investment Accelerator Fund announces 8 summer investments

Who said summers are a slow time? It definitely has not been for the Investment Accelerator Fund (IAF) as we announce eight new investments—and prepare for an event on Tuesday, July 26th at MaRS to showcase four of them.

This doesn’t mean we are stopping to relax. We have five more investments in the final stages of diligence which will close shortly, raising the total to 13 new investments in the past year. We believe this makes the IAF the most active seed-stage investor in Ontario, and maybe even Canada.

I looked back and realized that it has been one year, almost to the day, that I joined the IAF and it has gone by like a blur. It’s been crazy-busy but it has been fun and rewarding to work with so many different early-stage companies, a great team at the IAF, and energetic and committed people within the ONE network and the investment community.

There is still a huge void in available capital at the seed stage, but I am feeling a vibe and energy in the technology industry that I have not felt for some time. It’s at a grassroots level, with entrepreneurs, angels and some of the new microfunds banding together to finance some very exciting new companies.
The IAF has been a catalyst to many of these new investments and we are not letting up. We have an active pipeline and will be announcing several more financings in the next quarter. The quality of deal flow has been excellent and this is confirmed by the follow-on investment interest that many of our companies receive from both Canadian and US venture capital firms.

A number of investments were announced on June 26th that reflect our diversity across sectors and applications.

The IAF is committed to investing $500,000 in each of the following companies:

• GridCentric: GridCentric offers two groundbreaking technologies, one of which supports cloud computing, while the other cuts the number of servers needed in client/server IT set-ups
• Karos Health: Karos Health is creating an exchange network to improve the electronic ordering and distribution of results of diagnostic imaging tests between hospitals, imaging centers and radiology reading services
• Locationary – Locationary is now commercializing its sophisticated cloud-based, local data management system that helps mobile and web publishers improve quality while reducing the costs and complexity of managing local business place’s data.
• Temporal Power Ltd.: Temporal Power develops and manufactures electrical energy storage systems that use a breakthrough flywheel technology. The technology is aimed at helping the electrical utility industry modernize the grid, integrate wind and solar power, and better utilize water to generate clean power

The Investment Accelerator Fund-Life Sciences (IAF-LS) is committed to investing up to $1,000,000 in each of the following companies.

• Cytochroma Inc.: Cytochroma is a pharmaceutical company that is developing and commercializing  products to treat and prevent vitamin D insufficiency and secondary hyperparathyroidism associated with chronic kidney disease
• Profound Medical Inc.: Profound Medical is an award-winning medical device company commercializing a device that accurately treats localized prostate cancer with unmatched precision, on an out-patient basis
• Trillium Therapeutics: Trillium Therapeutics is developing an innovative treatment of interstitial cystitis, a chronic and debilitating bladder disease that affects millions of women in North America alone
• Xagenic Canada Inc.: Xagenic Canada is commercializing a low-cost, chip-based diagnostic testing system that can detect and identify germs within 30 minutes, right at the point of care (no lab required)