MaRS innovation hub and insurance firm Definity launch new accelerator for climate adaptation startups

Kitchener-Waterloo’s Definity Financial Corporation has joined forces with Toronto innovation hub MaRS Discovery District on a new program for climate adaptation and resilience technology startups.

This Adaptech Accelerator aims to help early-stage cleantech founders with a prototype validate their climate adaptation and resilience solutions, bolster their business models, and connect with prospective customers, partners, and investors. The program was officially announced last month, but made its public debut at MaRS’ Climate Impact conference today.

Applications for the two-year Definity-backed program are set to open in January. The accelerator will support eight to 10 companies.

“We need to be making much more of these investments.”
Brendan Seale, Definity

“We believe this is a critical step in expanding Canada’s adaptation innovation economy and building a pipeline of promising solutions that can be deployed,” Paul MacDonald, executive vice president of personal insurance and digital channels at Definity, told attendees from the stage of the Toronto cleantech conference this morning.

MaRS senior manager of climate and cities Ana Gonzalez Guerrero is overseeing the Adaptech Accelerator. In an interview with BetaKit, Guerrero said the organization decided to build this program after noticing a gap in support for Canadian startups developing tech designed to help communities prevent, prepare for, and recover from the impacts of climate change.

The Adaptech Accelerator appears to mark the second Canadian program of its kind following Vancouver-based Foresight Canada’s launch of Earth Tech: Adapt earlier this year.

The initiative is launching at a time when the United States has been pulling back from investing in climate tech, and political attitudes towards ESG have deteriorated, which has clouded investor interest in the area. But this shift has not dampened Definity’s interest.

Guerrero noted that climate adaptation and resilience tech is seen as “a bit less politicized” than mitigation solutions.

Definity is the parent company of property and casualty insurance firms like Economical and Sonnet. MacDonald argued that the insurance industry—and society more broadly—needs to invest more in preventing extreme weather events, because simply charging more and more indefinitely to protect against them will lead to them becoming “uninsurable.”

Brendan Seale, associate vice-president and head of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) at Definity told BetaKit that it has “a huge interest” in supporting climate adaptation and resilience across Canada as it increasingly experiences insured losses due to these events. Insured damages due to the effects of climate change surpassed $8 billion in Canada last year.

Seale noted that while investing in mitigating the impact of climate change and adapting to this new world are both important, the former has garnered most investment to date.

“The political machinations and forces may change, but I think those are short-term blips, and the longer-term trajectory to us is clear … we need to be making much more of these investments,” Seale said.

Feature image courtesy MaRS Discovery District.