New business accelerator is sustainably strengthening the economy
Smarter production is the goal of the HARVEST agri-tech accelerator that’s investing in cleantech and agriculture companies to help them scale up their businesses and strengthen the country’s economy and supply chains.
Nine start-ups from coast to coast will each receive up to $750,000 as well as critical business mentorship from Ontario Genomics, Genome Alberta and Genome Prairie to bring their products and production methods to industrial commercial scale, as soon as possible.
Thanks to funding through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s ACT Accelerator of up to $7 million, HARVEST is sustainably diversifying Canada’s economy by helping these innovative companies get their game-changing solutions to market here and overseas:
- ABAzyne Bioscience (Saskatoon, SK) is modernizing cold-weather crop protection with a bio-spray for grapes and other tender fruit.
- ALT TEX (Toronto, ON) is transforming food waste into biodegradable fabrics for the fashion industry.
- B.Nature Biotech (Saskatoon, SK) is upcycling food waste and local rock phosphate into a made-in-Canada phosphate-enhanced biofertilizer.
- Chinova Bioworks (Fredericton, NB) is upcycling mushroom scraps to create a natural preservative for the food and beverage industry.
- Launch Bioindustries (Toronto, ON) is scaling production of its sustainably made microbes that turn dairy sidestreams into a key ingredient for biodegradable plastics.
- Lucent Biosciences (Coquitlam, BC) is developing an eco-friendly, controlled-release nitrogen fertilizer to help crops absorb nutrients better.
- Performance Plants (Kingston, ON) is developing high-yielding varieties of canola that are drought and heat resistant and capture more carbon from the atmosphere.
- SymBL Innovations (Toronto, ON) is engineering microbes to upcycle dairy by-products into ingredients used in food, supplements and healthcare treatments.
- Vive Crop Protection (Mississauga, ON) is creating a precision pesticide that targets the genes of specific pests doing damage to crops but is harmless to all other species.
HARVEST Program Director Mike Dorrington says, “These companies are developing effective bio-based solutions with tangible results in response to climate change. The HARVEST agri-tech accelerator is giving them the support and guidance they need to grow their business in Canada, strengthening our economy and supply chains.”
Ontario Genomics invests in researchers and start-ups to drive industrial biotech through homegrown, cutting-edge solutions in food and agriculture, medicine and cleantech. With over 600 partnerships and $3.5 billion in investments, we’ve been working with governments, industry and innovators for over 25 years to get ideas out of the lab and into the real world. Learn more at OntarioGenomics.ca.
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Media Contacts
Maggie Blood
Innovation Communications and Public Affairs Manager
Ontario Genomics
mblood@ontariogenomics.ca
