Nishant Raizada is a Senior Director, Technology and Innovation Banking at Desjardins, and is based out of Toronto. His role is to lead Desjardins’ tech banking offering in the Ontario…
Desjardins Startup Prize 2024 Pitch Competition

Finalists
Early-Stage
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Epiloid Biotechnology
Epiloid provides contract research services for preclinical pharmaceutical research, specializing in electrophysiological analysis of patient-derived human cerebral organoids.
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Neuropeutics Inc.
A pharmaceutical company developing disease modifying treatments to extend neurodegenerative disease patients’ survival and improve their quality of life.
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Opal Technologies
Opal Technologies is sustainably producing specialty chemicals by upcycling low-value biomaterials.
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ToothPod
Toothpods are a dental smart-gum to supplement your oral hygiene when there is no access to a toothbrush or toothpaste through anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial and remineralizing properties.
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Xatoms
Xatoms utilizes AI and quantum chemistry to accurately predict 3D models of photocatalytic structures, aiding in cleaning polluted waters across the globe. 2 billion people lack access to drinking water; Xatoms is on a mission to solve this problem by introducing more affordable and efficient water technology.
Late-Stage Prize
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Cove Neurosciences Inc.
In the clinical trial setting, only 8.2% of drugs tested for neurological diseases reach the clinical setting, relative to 15% of all drugs overall. This is largely due to the lack of biomarkers to characterize the heterogeneity of patients, as well as variable response to therapeutics. Accordingly, there is a critical unmet need for biomarkers…
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Creative Medical Solutions
Creative Medical Solutions is transforming uroflowmetry testing and addressing the rising patient load with a medical device designed to elevate patient care and streamline provider efficiency. Our device offers greater comfort, facilitates faster testing, and permits higher throughput in clinics.
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SilicoLabs
SilicoLabs creates virtual experiences that simulate real-world scenarios to train/assess humans & AI behaviour and save precious time and resources
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Spero Analytics
Spero Analytics builds automated IoT solutions for large-scale greenhouse gas monitoring, enabling landfills and oil refineries to track and mitigate methane emissions in compliance with environmental regulations.
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Synakis
Synakis has developed a novel ocular hydrogel that is injectable, biocompatible, biodegradable, low swelling and transparent. Our biomaterial can be used as a vitreous substitute for vitreoretinal surgery and to deliver engineered therapeutics to treat leading causes of blindness.