14 AI companies to watch in 2022-23

Blumind
Information Technology
Ottawa and Toronto, Ontario

Led by industry visionaries with a proven track record for building successful semiconductor businesses, Blumind’s proprietary technology delivers unparalleled latency, power and cost for AI inference—the process of using a trained neural network model to make predictions. The company is initially targeting smart sensors and smart devices, but its architecture can be deployed anywhere AI processing is done. Blumind calls it: AI for Everyone, Everywhere.

BluWave
Clean Technologies
Ottawa, Ontario

The world’s first renewable energy AI company, BluWave brings innovations in AI, edge computing and cloud-based super computing to the world of distributed renewable energy. Its grid energy optimization platform balances the cost, availability and carbon footprint of different energy sources—both renewable and non-renewable—with energy demand, and it does it in in real-time. Among BluWave’s clients is Mumbai-based Tata Power, one of the top electricity distribution companies on the Indian subcontinent.

Cerebras
Life Sciences
Toronto and Los Altos

Cerebras is building a new class of computer system for complex AI and deep learning applications for customers on three continents in industries that range from health and pharma to energy to financial services. Winner of IEEE Spectrum’s Emerging Technology Awards, Cerebras is counting on its Toronto AI Centre of Excellence to help it accelerate its research and development and keep it at the leading-edge.

DNAstack
Life Sciences
Toronto, Ontario

DNAstack’s open platform drives medical breakthroughs by making it possible for research consortiums, hospitals, pharma companies, startups and governments to accelerate collaborative discoveries in genomics and health. The World Economic Forum named DNAstack “Technology Pioneer” for 2022 for establishing federated data networks and powering insights in pandemic surveillance, neuroscience, rare disease, and oncology.

Ecopia
Geospatial Data
Toronto, Ontario

Ecopia’s goal is clear: to digitize the world using AI. To date, its groundbreaking Global Feature Extraction technology has been used to map more than 40 million square kilometres across 100 countries. These maps, which form a digital representation of reality, are embedded into decision-making applications for governments, corporations and humanitarian organizations. In recognition of its international impact, Ecopia won the Technology Innovation award at the 2022 Geospatial World Forum.

Gatik
Automotive Technology
Toronto and Palo Alto

With a fleet of light to medium-duty trucks, Gatik is in the business of delivering goods safely and efficiently using autonomous vehicles. Together with retail giant Loblaws, it operates Canada’s first autonomous delivery fleet in Toronto. Now, it’s opened a state-of-the-art research facility in the city, noting it will be “critical to our success by giving us the opportunity to recruit and work with the brightest minds in the business.”

iMerciv
Health
Toronto, Ontario

This startup is using AI tools and platforms to help pedestrians—particularly those with vision loss—navigate the world safely. iMerciv’s MappinHood app audibly alerts users to obstacles and hazards—from paths with elevation and staircases to low-hanging tree branches, streetlamps, benches, water fountains and signages. Long-term, the goal is for the app to be able to adapt to the travel preferences of individual users.

Iris R&D Group
Smart Cities
Toronto, Ontario

Iris R&D Group is in the business of making cities smarter, with the goal of saving resources—and protecting the environment. Using best-in-class machine learning and AI, its irisGO technology captures data that helps municipalities manage essential infrastructure, which translates into significant economic, societal and environmental benefits. For its efforts, the startup won the Global Infrastructure Hub (GI Hub) ‘InfraChallenge’ 2021.

Primal
Interactive Digital Media
Kitchener, Ontario

Primal’s AI platform understands words. In fact, its cutting-edge technology can work with just a single word to recommend content and products in real-time for customers that include Twitter. With years of foundational and applied research, over 150 international patents, and an industrial strength semantic engine, Primal is growing its team rapidly—and is primed to drive global commercialization.

ProteinQure
Life Sciences
Toronto, Ontario

Using AI, high-performance supercomputing and molecular dynamics simulations, this startup has built the world’s best computational platform for protein drug discovery. The small proteins that ProteinQure specializes in are one of the fastest growing classes of therapeutics, with applications for the treatment of major diseases, including cancer, diabetes, asthma and cardiovascular disease. Still in the early stages, ProteinQure has attracted the attention of top pharma companies.

Quincus
Advanced Manufacturing
Toronto and Singapore

A global leader in AI-driven supply chain technology, Singapore-based Quincus recently opened an R&D centre in Toronto, Ontario, drawn by the city’s formidable AI expertise. With a primary focus on machine learning, AI and reinforcement learning, the centre will be Quincus’ technical research hub, contributing not only to logistics and supply chain technology, but also to industries that rely on strategic location decision-making, including autonomous vehicles, robotics and video games.

SolidState AI
Advanced Manufacturing
Toronto, Ontario

SolidState AI helps manufacturers be more competitive. The company’s proprietary machine learning software, Artificial Intelligence for Manufacturing Systems (AIMS), captures data along the manufacturing line and produces accurate predictions on manufacturing processes and how various interventions will affect performance. It connects to existing MES systems and databases, is easily scalable, and can be deployed either onsite or via the cloud.

Visto
Human Resourcing
Toronto, Ontario

Visto makes hiring foreign tech talent, including immigration, easy for companies. The company’s Express Entry platform manages and streamlines the immigration process, from application preparation through to acceptance—and it stores and saves everything in one place for easy access. The result? Companies can get the tech talent they need quickly. And add important diversity to their workforce.