Waabi

Waabi is building the next generation of self-driving technology, unleashing the power of AI to drive safely on roads. Founded by U of T professor Raquel Urtasun, co-founder of the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Waabi is bringing the promise of self-driving closer to commercialization.

In July 2024, Waabi raised one of the largest single rounds of funding in Canadian history – a $200M USD series B round to support the development of fully autonomous AI-powered trucks.  

Waabi is backed by best-in-class investors including Khosla Ventures, Uber, 8VC, Radical Ventures, OMERS Ventures and BDC Capital’s Women in Technology Venture Fund.

Phenomic AI

Phenomic AI is developing new medicine that targets the biology of solid cancers, with a mission to raise the survival curve for the hardest to treat solid tumors found in diseases such as colorectal, pancreatic and breast cancer.

As one of the first companies to use AI and machine learning to process genetic data from individual cells in cancer at scale, Phenomic AI is discovering new drug targets that address aspects of cancer biology that have previously been nearly impossible to study. Phenomic AI was co-founded by U of T Alumnus Oren Kraus and colleague Sam Cooper.

Phenomic AI recently secured a $500M partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim, a leading global pharmaceutical company also at the forefront of understanding solid cancers. The company’s therapeutics are now showing outstanding efficacy in live tissue samples taken from patients suffering from solid cancers. Phenomic AI has opened labs in Boston, as well as a small informatics group in London, UK.

The company grew out of the U of T ecosystem seven years ago, and is a product of multiple campus accelerators, including UTEST and the Creative Destruction Lab.

Ada

Ada is an AI customer service platform that empowers businesses to manage, coach and continuously improve their AI agents, driving better customer experiences with every interaction. Ada was co-founded by U of T Alumnus Mike Murchison and colleague David Hariri and was a part of U of T’s Creative Destruction Lab. 

People spend on average 43 days of their lives on hold. Ada empowers companies to deliver scalable, efficient and high-quality customer service while improving customer satisfaction and operational performance, all while reducing costs and saving millions of hours of human labour.

Ada achieved unicorn status in 2021, following its $130M Series C funding round. To date, Ada has powered over four billion automated customer interactions for global brands like Meta, Canva, Verizon, monday.com and AirAsia. It has supported over 400 million users worldwide, saved 25+ million hours of human labour and is on track to achieve 100% automated resolution rates with AI Agents.

JALI Research Inc.

JALI Research Inc. equips video game developers and production teams with a powerful and intuitive suite of tools to create unforgettable digital performances. JALI Research Inc. empowers animators to effortlessly deliver cinematic-quality character performances. 

Since launching their first product in 2020, JALI Research Inc. has worked with over 200 studios to help power facial animation features. Over 40 projects have used their tools, including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, Stellar Blade, Robocop, Atomic Heart and Rise of the Ronin. Their goal is to empower creators worldwide to tell their stories, push artistic boundaries and inspire new perspectives.

JALI Research Inc. released the second iteration of their flagship product, JALI 2.0, with an intuitive user interface, 50X improved processing speeds, expanded language models to animate in 12 languages and more options for customizing digital performances. JALI Research Inc. was co-founded by Sarah Watling and U of T alumnus Pif Edwards. JALI Research Inc. is a graduate of the UTEST accelerator at U of T. 

Mazlite

Mazlite offers an AI-driven platform for real-time quality control and optimization of industrial spray processes that enhance efficiency, reduce waste and improve sustainability across the automotive, industrial and advanced battery manufacturing sectors.

Founded by U of T alumnus Amirreza Amighi, Mazlite is transforming the automotive paint industry by addressing inefficiencies in traditional spraying processes. This allows automotive manufacturers to achieve sustainability goals while cutting costs and enhancing product appearance, all without relying on manual adjustments or guesswork in their paint shops.

Mazlite was granted their first patent and is preparing to ramp up production in 2026. 

“Mazlite started at a U of T lab and eventually made its way to a startup. Without the support of all the people at U of T, it would have been impossible to build the fundamental understanding of the science, learn about entrepreneurship and get our very first investment and customers,” says Amighi. Mazlite is one of many deep-tech startups that have completed the UTEST accelerator at U of T. 

16 Bit

16 Bit develops software medical devices that improve the efficiency and quality of healthcare. Their flagship product, Rho, is an opportunistic screening device that detects low bone density through x-ray imaging in patients 50 years and older.

Osteoporosis is under-screened and under-diagnosed. Meanwhile, underutilized information within a patient’s medical record can help doctors assess risk for the disease. Rho leverages x-rays obtained for other medical purposes to provide insight into a patient’s bone health and better allocate downstream resources related to osteoporosis diagnosis. 16 Bit’s goal is to improve population bone health and decrease the incidence of fragility fractures.

16 Bit received FDA de novo authorization for Rho, meaning it is the first of its kind on the market. Since launching in Canada in September 2022, Rho has screened over 250,000 Canadians.

“Since our humble beginnings at Health Innovation Hub at U of T back in 2016, we have been fortunate to receive a wealth of mentorship from people who truly care about our well-being and success. Being in the U of T ecosystem has allowed us to tap into a diverse talent pool of undergraduate and graduate students whom we have learned from and leveraged to build world-class products,” says Mark Cicero, co-founder and co-CEO of 16 Bit. 16 Bit is a product of both the Health Innovation Hub (H2i) accelerator in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and the Creative Destruction Lab. 

Acrylic Robotics

Acrylic Robotics has built the world’s first method to use robots to produce gallery-quality paintings, democratizing access to exceptional art while supporting the independent artists who are creating it.

Acrylic Robotics is on a mission to make high-quality art accessible for everyone, not just the top 1%. Their goal is to do more for artists, who are integral to the creation process. Participating artists are offered compensation and credit every time their work is used and created. 

Leveraging Amazon Web Service’s advanced machine learning capabilities, each artwork captures the meaning of the original piece as well as the artist’s individual style. Using AI, the robotic arm dips a brush into paint and effortlessly creates elegant artwork on a canvas.

Acrylic Robotics was co-founded by U of T alumnus Kyle Suri, who, with his co-founder Chloë Ryan, participated in the UTEST program. The program helped them craft their business model and connect with early-stage investors in the art space, including one of their first pre-seed investors.