10 AI companies to watch in 2021

Spotlighting the world’s most promising AI ventures, here in Ontario

Ontario has become a true hub for artificial intelligence, not just in Canada, but worldwide and the province’s reputation as a global leader in AI is growing. It’s home to world-class research centres such as the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence. Whether in fintech, medtech or other fields, some of the most promising AI ventures are located within the province. Here are just a handful of the ones to watch this year.

Ecopia

Toronto, Ontario

Digitizing the World Using AI: Ecopia is in the business of using artificial intelligence to convert high-resolution images of Earth into high-definition vector maps. These enhanced, geocoded maps are embedded into critical applications around the world. Ecopia extracts invaluable insight from geospatial big-data to help solve real-world problems in new and innovative ways—from supporting urban planning and evaluating insurable spaces to strategizing disaster relief and orchestrating vaccine distribution.

DarwinAI

Waterloo, Ontario

Accelerating Deep Learning Development with Explainable AI: DarwinAI wants to take the mystery out of artificial intelligence and make it transparent, explainable and trustworthy. Explainable AI, their proprietary technology, helps deep learning developers and data scientists overcome lengthy, manual, iterative, error-prone and bias-prone deep learning cycles. From advanced manufacturing to information technology, their tools help businesses develop AI faster, deploy it from anywhere and clearly explain data insights.

Tealbook

Toronto, Ontario

The Trusted Source for Supplier Data, Powered by AI: Tealbook is about revolutionizing how buyers obtain supplier data with machine learning and AI, bringing ease and transparency to the supply chain ecosystem. Their supplier intelligence platform transforms supplier data, giving businesses the necessary tools to feel empowered in their decisions and transform how they strategize procurement. Their platform is open to suppliers to build or customize existing profiles for their businesses.

Senso

Toronto, Ontario

The Power of AI to Increase Client Retention for Financial Institutions: Senso has developed a patented, end-to-end AI platform for financial services—one that transforms (and anonymously aggregates) fragmented data into simple endpoints of information. Its predictive intelligence continually improves over time while protecting the privacy and security of consumer information. Their platform boasts server-side encryption located in a secure data centre within the local country of their clients.

Tenstorrent

Toronto, Ontario

Scalable and Efficient Hardware for Deep Learning: Tenstorrent recognizes the ever-growing demand for computers to handle massive workloads efficiently. To address this need, they built Grayskull, a high-performance AI processor for the workloads of today and tomorrow. Their fully programmable architecture possesses revolutionary features that ensure consistently high performance.

Clausehound

Toronto, Ontario

Knowledge Management Software Services with Library API Technologies: Clausehound is a specialized software agency with a mission to solve knowledge management problems that organizations face. Their team of software engineers, content management specialists, lawyers and business analysts leverage their expertise to provide custom solutions for issues related to taxonomy, text and data collection, management and analysis. Their products use AI to facilitate the production of documents and knowledge tools, such as crafting legal documents to automate deal negotiations.

MappedIn

Waterloo, Ontario

Indoor Maps and Wayfinding—Powering Mapping Experiences for World-class Venues: MappedIn is a digital mapping platform that builds interactive maps to enhance the user experience for their various clients—ranging from shopping malls to university campuses. Their extensive tools provide AI-powered technologies, such as 3D maps and digital directories, to optimize navigation at venues for guests. Their platform offers highly personalized services that meet the different needs of their clients to direct a seamless experience for all.

BlueDot

Toronto, Ontario

Outbreak Risk Software: BlueDot leverages AI to identify infectious disease risks and build outbreak resilience. Their AI technologies aid businesses, governments and healthcare workers and patients around the world. During a pandemic, these services are imperative—their COVID Data Suite and COVID Focus Reports deliver accurate and up-to-date intelligence about COVID-19 to their clients.

BluWave-ai

Ottawa, Ontario

Artificial Intelligence for Clean Energy: BluWave-ai is the world’s first renewable energy AI company, with a goal to bring innovations in AI, edge computing and cloud-based super-computing to the world of distributed renewable energy. They work with various clients, such as electric utilities and electric fleet operators, to improve their hardware investments with their AI technology. Ultimately, they are at the forefront of accelerating the shift from a centralized, carbon-based energy model to a universal and accessible clean energy production model.

Daisy Intelligence

Toronto, Ontario

Artificial Intelligence Done Right: AI Technology for Merchandise Planning & Risk Management: Daisy uses both the AI branch of reinforcement learning and their proprietary technologies, Theory of Retail and Theory of Risk, to deliver solutions for retailers and insurance companies. Their platform analyzes business transactions and performs daily simulations to provide optimized merchandise planning and risk management decisions for organizations.

Think your company should be on this list? Please connect with our team.

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Read AI companies to watch in 2022-23.