March 25, 2025 – The winning pitch at FACIT’s sold-out annual Falcons’ Fortunes pitch competition and recipient of the $100,000 Ernsting Entrepreneurship award was delivered by Dr. Waël Hanna, co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of NodeAI Diagnostics (“NodeAI”). The Hamilton, Ontario based start-up is leveraging the power of artificial intelligence to improve the speed and accuracy in evaluating and staging non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. The innovation is poised to address a long standing gap in lung cancer diagnostics that can better inform treatment decisions and ultimately improved patient outcomes.
Tag: life sciences
FACIT and OBIO® announce inaugural WeSEED cohort of women-led start-ups in joint seed capital and commercialization program
March 6, 2025 – The Women’s Synergistic Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (WeSEED) program leverages the combined, complementary capital, expertise and resources of OBIO® and FACIT. The resulting synergies provide a continuum of seamless support and lower barriers faced by women STEM leaders in accessing business training, advisory resources, networks and venture funding.
Mind the Gap Canada!
June 27, 2024 – Importance of FACIT and other seed stage venture groups in building the local innovation ecosystem. Life sciences commercialization in Canada has a seed venture financing gap where companies fail to establish local roots and intellectual property gravitates to the US, reinforcing the export of jobs and industry experience.
Newsweek: The New Era of Life Sciences 2024
May 15, 2024 – FACIT President discusses early-stage investing in Canada in an interview with Newsweek’s Investment Reports and appeared in The New Era of Life Sciences 2024. FACIT is an innovative organization focused on bridging the gap between cancer research breakthroughs and their commercialization, thereby accelerating the journey of scientific discoveries from the laboratory to the marketplace.
FACIT and OBIO® partner on women-focused seed capital and entrepreneurship program
March 8, 2024 – On International Women’s Day, FACIT and OBIO® are pleased to announce a new partnership in the Ontario life sciences ecosystem, built on their common goal to drive entrepreneurial and commercialization mandates to address the unmet needs and barriers faced by female entrepreneurial leaders in STEM.
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FACIT and T-CAIREM at the University of Toronto partner to commercialize medical AI
August 2, 2023 – FACIT and T-CAIREM announce partnership to commercialize medical artificial intelligence (AI) innovations. The partners intend to harness both T-CAIREM’s innovative translational research in AI and FACIT’s unique commercialization-venture model to build the next generation of Ontario biotechnology companies. The joint mission will accelerate the benefits of AI research to support patients battling cancer.
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FACIT generates $1.5 billion in follow-on investment
March 29, 2023 – FACIT announced $1.5 billion in follow-on investment attracted to its portfolio of cancer biotechnology start-ups in Ontario, a significant milestone for life science commercialization in Canada.
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FACIT welcomes life sciences executive Ken Newport to its Board; Director Shana Kelley appointed to the Order of Ontario
January 26, 2021 – January 26, 2021 – Mr. Newport is a passionate executive and advocate of Ontario’s life science sector, having decades of leadership experience in both public and private ventures.
FACIT recognized with 2020 Venture Capital Regional Impact Award by the Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (CVCA)
June 9, 2020 – June 9, 2020 – FACIT’s award was specifically related to the 2019 historic US$1B partnership between its portfolio companies, Propellon Therapeutics and Triphase Accelerator, and US pharma giant Celgene (acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company).