Investing In Life Sciences

CAN Portfolio Company

Can plant-based materials be used to repair and regenerate parts of the human body? The team at Ottawa-based startup Spiderwort are proving they can.

Suzanne Grant, June 2 2024

It’s this kind of receptive, genius thinking that’s been pushing boundaries at Spiderwort, an Ottawa-based startup developing biomaterials to repair and regenerate the human body. The team’s innovative theories will one day treat people with spinal cord injuries, and we have their enduring curiosity, an apple and a bunch of asparagus to

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CAN Portfolio Company

Virica Biotech is leading the charge to make gene therapies and viral medicines more accessible with their breakthrough technology

Suzanne Grant, June 2 2024

Ella Korets-Smith is having a hectic morning, busily working on a big grant for Virica Biotech, an Ottawa-based medical sciences startup she cofounded that uses breakthrough biotechnology to enhance the production of viruses for the benefit of disease-fighting gene therapies. And while the company’s goal is simple—they aim to make viral medicines...

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WES

A Lasting First Impression

Capital Angels, June 1 2024

Victoria Xu fondly remembers the first investment she made as an angel investor—it was in a brilliant biotech company cofounded by Ella Korets-Smith. We asked the women to share their journeys both securing and providing investment, and the successes that have followed. Honouring International Women’s Month, Ottawa’s Capital Angel Network and the...

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