Two Canadian startups using artificial intelligence (AI) to improve healthcare at different levels have each raised more than $10 million in Series A financing.
Montréal-based AssistIQ has secured $11.5 million in financing for its AI-powered hospital supply management platform, while Toronto-based ProteinQure nabbed $11 million for its AI-powered drug discovery platform.
The news comes as Canadian hospital and healthcare providers take an interest in AI-powered tools to potentially improve care and relieve pressure on public healthcare systems.
AssistIQ looks to improve cost management at hospitals
AssistIQ said today it closed an all-primary, all-equity $11.5 million Series A round in April, led by Boston-based Battery Ventures, with participation from return investor Tamarind Hill. It raised a $2.5-million seed round in 2023, backed by Canadian investors including StandUp Ventures and N49P.
AssistIQ has developed a software platform for hospital supply management, allowing facilities to track equipment such as personal protective equipment and surgical tools.
The startup claims its AI platform can monitor the usage of disposable medical devices and supplies across surgeries and common procedures, saving time for nurses and healthcare professionals. The increased visibility and insights result in hospital cost and time savings, according to AssistIQ.
“Health systems everywhere are under pressure: more patients, fewer staff, and tighter margins,” AssistIQ CEO and co-founder wrote in an email to BetaKit. “But when it comes to supply and implant tracking, legacy systems often break down at the point of care, not for lack of effort, but because the tools don’t work comprehensively or are too hard to adopt consistently.”
As part of the round, AssistIQ said it’s bringing its platform to Northwell Health, a New York state-based healthcare provider, continuing its expansion into the United States (US) after it secured a partnership with Owensboro Health Regional Hospital in Kentucky earlier this year. The company said it has deployed and refined its supply management tool through an ongoing partnership with the Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM) Research Centre in Montréal.
ProteinQure to test its AI-engineered drug discovery
Biotechnology startup ProteinQure has developed an AI-powered drug discovery platform that uses statistical and machine learning approaches to identify new proteins that could be used in treatments for cancers and rare diseases.
Now, with $11 million in all-equity Series A financing from Tom Williams of Heron Rock Fund, with participation from Golden Ventures and Kensington Capital, ProteinQure is set to run its first clinical trial for a drug candidate for triple-negative breast cancer.
ProteinQure is set to run its first clinical trial for a drug candidate for triple-negative breast cancer.
The drug targets a receptor that is overexpressed in solid tumours, and that is resistant to certain types of treatment.
“This is the first drug in clinical trials from an Ontario-based AI company,” ProteinQure CEO and co-founder Lucas Siow told BetaKit.
The trial is slated for the third quarter of 2025 and will include between 70 and 100 patients in Canada and the US, including at Toronto’s Princess Margaret Cancer Centre.
Other Canadian biotech companies, such as BenchSci and Deep Genomics, have been leaders in the AI drug discovery space, but ProteinQure uniquely focuses on therapies using peptides, or smaller versions of proteins.
ProteinQure previously raised $5.2 million CAD in 2019, before the generative AI boom and interest in AI-powered drug discovery amped up. The new round brings ProteinQure’s total funding to $16 million.
Feature image courtesy Natanael Melchor via Unsplash.