EQUIP Grant Recipients Announcement

VentureLift

Round 2 Recipients

The VentureLift Grant supports trainee-entrepreneurs at critical stages of commercialization—helping them overcome development hurdles and bring their health innovations closer to market. VentureLift provides up to $25,000 per project.

• Narjes Allahrabbi
  Toronto Metropolitan University – Fertilead Inc. 
  Development and validation of an autonomous sperm preparation device

• Stephanie Buryk-Iggers
  University Health Network – Sparked Inc.
  Smart saliva technology for heart health

• Olga Klushina
  University of Toronto – Oculum
  Intraoperative visualization for eye tissues

• Sushant Singh
  University of Toronto – VRiT Inc.
  INSITE Bioprinter for enhanced autograft fixation in severe skin wound reconstruction

VentureConnect

August Round Recipients

The VentureConnect Grant—providing up to $5,000 in travel support to help trainee-entrepreneurs accelerate their ventures and grow their professional networks. 

• Marc Shenouda
  University of Toronto
  Neuropeutics Inc. 

VentureLift

Round 1 – March 2025

• Ehsan Zare Bidaki, University of Waterloo,ThermOcular AI Corp.
  ThermOcular AI is developing the first AI-powered, temperature-based screening platform for Dry Eye Disease—designed to deliver fast, affordable, and objective assessments during routine eye exams. Our goal is to transform dry eye diagnostics with real-time thermal imaging and automated biomarkers that improve clinical efficiency and patient care.
  Project Title: Advancing Commercialization of ThermOcular: An AI-Powered Diagnostic Platform for Dry Eye Screening  

• Jonathan Labriola, University of Toronto, Synakis Synakis’ is developing ocular solutions to provide a quick, comfortable, and convenient recovery for patients with retinal injuries and disease.
  Project Title: Manufacturing processes and design controls for SNK-125 

• Marc Shenouda, University of Toronto, Neuropeutics Inc. Neuropeutics is a pharmaceutical company developing targeted therapies to extend neurodegenerative disease patients’ survival and improve their quality of life. We have developed a first-in-class patent-pending small molecule with great efficacy in preclinical models of TDP-43 pathology.
  Project Title: Enabling Pre-seed Round Raise for the Development of Small Molecule Targeting TDP-43 Protein Aggregation for the Treatment of Neurodegenerative Diseases   

VentureConnect

July, 2025

• Yihang Cheng
  Western University — MVT in Silico Corp

• Mazhar Shahen
  University of Waterloo — NewGen Health

May, 2025

• Nancy Tahmo, University of Toronto, HormonaLab
• Ria Khan, University of Toronto, NephroTech

April, 2025

• Yihang Cheng, Western University, MVT in Silico Corp.
• Yosuke Niibori, University of Toronto, Re:Pair Genomics
• Luca Hategan, University of Toronto, Re:Pair Genomics

March, 2025

• Hasam Madarati, McMaster University, Rayyan Therapeutics
• Marc Shenouda, University of Toronto, Neuropeutics Inc.
• Nabanita Nawar, University of Toronto, HDAX Therapeutics