🇨🇦 Forum Ventures Bets Big on Toronto AI
Forum Ventures has raised approximately US$25 million for its Toronto studio, aiming to launch 18 new companies over the next two years. Managing Partner Jonah Midanik is leveraging the city's deep AI heritage (home to Geoffrey Hinton and OpenAI roots) to retain local talent and build "international champions" like Shopify within Canada. Read full story
🚜 World’s First Horticulture Venture Studio
The HortiScience Innovation Center (HIC) has opened the HIC Venture Studio in Bleiswijk, Netherlands. It is the first studio dedicated exclusively to "future-proofing" greenhouse horticulture. By pairing technical inventors with commercial experts, the studio tackles labor shortages and automation, aiming to produce three scalable companies per year. Read full story
🇺🇸 New AI Studios: WaveX (AZ) & ISHIR (TX)
Two new studios have launched in the U.S. south:
- WaveX (Arizona): Launched by NovaWave and LG Electronics (LG NOVA) in Mesa's Palo District to accelerate AI innovation in healthcare and energy. Read more
- ISHIR (Texas): A new "execution-focused" studio helping founders navigate the gap from idea to $5M annual revenue with hands-on engineering support. Read more
🚀 Ignition Launches in Winnipeg
Launch Coworking and ProductStak have teamed up to create Ignition, a founder-first venture studio. Moving away from pitch decks and demo days, Ignition offers three streams—Breakpoint, Velocity, and Accelerator—to solve critical business "breakpoints" for early-stage entrepreneurs. Read full story
🌍 Global Frontiers: Nigeria & India
FirstFounders (Nigeria) is addressing the "execution gap" for African startups, with a portfolio heavily focused on AI. Meanwhile, reports from India highlight a shift towards venture studios like Foundery acting as "co-founder factories" to support entrepreneurs amidst a funding winter. Read Nigeria News | Read India News
💊 Pharma & Tech Ecosystems
AION Labs continues to push pharmaceutical AI through a federated data model, while in Calgary, the OCIF has deployed capital into QAI Ventures to develop high-tech talent and future entrepreneurs. Read AION News
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