As we step into autumn, September successes demonstrate the incredible adaptability of Waterloo’s manufacturing sector and the high growth of some of our tech ecosystem’s shining stars.
Here are the top business and investment stories from September 2020:
Waterloo is home to 90+ PPE manufacturers
Over the past six months, Waterloo has become a PPE manufacturing powerhouse. Before COVID-19, our community had limited PPE manufacturing capacity, but today, our companies are producing everything from N95 respirators to syringes.
Read our full story on this monumental PPE pivot.
12 Waterloo companies are Canada’s fastest growing
Waterloo was well represented on The Globe and Mail’s list of Canada’s top growing companies. Read our article to find out which companies made the cut and find out why so many Waterloo companies were included.
DarwinAI updates COVID detection story
Earlier in 2020, Waterloo-based artificial intelligence startup DarwinAI set out to develop a neural network capable of detecting coronavirus using just a simple chest x-ray.
Six months later, the company says that its solution doesn’t only detect the disease – it may be able to determine the severity of individual cases.
Read the full story from the Waterloo Region Record.
Site Selection Magazine lists top Canadian regions
Site Selection Magazine’s 2020 ranking of the best locations in Canada highlighted Waterloo’s incredible tech credentials and named Ontario the best province for FDI.
Check out the article we wrote to learn about why Waterloo was included and read Site Selection’s initial publication for more information about what makes the region so competitive.
University of Waterloo becomes a 5G campus
One of the world’s leading tech universities, the University of Waterloo has become one of the first 5G smart campuses in Canada as part of a partnership with Rogers Communications.
The University of Waterloo’s research office has the full story.
ApplyBoard raises CAD$70M to expand platform
Four months after reaching unicorn status, ApplyBoard raised another CDN$70M and partnered with ETS to expand their application platform and provide international students with a complete online application experience.
We wrote an article about ApplyBoard’s journey and how Waterloo was the perfect place for them to grow (and don’t miss our original story about their unicorn valuation!).
Waterloo startups raise money to drive expansion
Two local tech startups continued the fundraising success this month, with ProNavigator raising CAD$5.6M and Acerta Analytics securing USD$5M in a series A round.
ProNavigator is working closely with Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company as part of its next phase of growth and Acerta, an AI company that works in both the automotive and manufacturing spaces, is pushing into international markets.
Clearpath Robotics, a local scale-up, also added $6.6M as an extension of the $40M raise they announced in June.
Check out our website or contact our team today.