The first roadshow for China-Canada technology Enterprise Exchange and Innovation was successfully held to promote the efficient docking of resources between China and Canada

Gather innovation resources and link the industrial development of China and Canada. On June 23, Canada Station of 2022 Overseas Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation Week – the first docking activity of China Canada science and technology enterprises exchange and innovation was successfully held.

The activities include offline venues in Nanjing, online venues in Toronto and online venues in Beijing, aiming to promote the innovation and entrepreneurship policies in Gulou District of Nanjing and the overall situation of Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute/Yangtze River Delta National Innovation Center, and promote the effectiveness of the joint construction of China Canada overseas collaborative innovation centers.

Wang Lijuan, Deputy District Head of the People’s Government of Gulou District, Nanjing City, heads of the Science and Technology Bureau, the Commerce Bureau and the Management Committee of Gulou District, Nanjing City, Dr. Luo Benjin, Chief Scientist of the Yangtze River Delta National Technology Innovation Center/Jiangsu Institute of Industrial Technology, Dr. Song Yijun, representative of the provincial government in China and commercial counselor of the Canadian Embassy in China, Mao Hai, Secretary General of the Angel Hundred, and Wang Tong, founding partner of the CCAA China Canada Angel Alliance, were present, Cooperate with representatives of Canadian innovative technology enterprises, representatives of domestic and foreign investment institutions, representatives of enterprises in the Yangtze River Delta, representatives of government parks, etc.

Wang Lijuan, Deputy District Head of the People’s Government of Gulou District, Nanjing, made a detailed introduction to the basic economic and social situation, scientific and technological innovation development and scientific and technological innovation policies of Gulou District, Nanjing.

Wang Lijuan said that since 2018, Nanjing Municipal Government has issued “Innovation No. 1 Document” for four consecutive years, striving to build a leading national innovative city. Wang Lijuan mainly introduced Gulou District’s resource endowment, innovation strength, all-domain innovation and the layout of creating urban silicon alley. Combined with this activity, she introduced to overseas entrepreneurs the “Zijinshan Talented Pioneer Plan — High-level innovative and entrepreneurial Talents Project” which will be applied soon. Wang Lijuan talked about: We will continue to strengthen the docking and communication with Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute, China-Canada Angel Alliance and the Committee of 100 Angels. Based on the advantages of Drum Tower and the platform of Nanjing (Canada) Overseas Collaborative Innovation Center, we will simultaneously promote enterprises to “go global” and projects to “bring in”, continue to promote friendly exchanges between China and Canada, and write a new chapter of openness, integration and mutual benefit.

Dr. Luo Benjin, the chief scientist of the Yangtze River Delta National Technology Innovation Center/Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute, introduced the situation of the Yangtze River Delta National Technology Innovation Center/Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute in detail.

Luo Benjin gave a detailed introduction to the functional positioning of the National Innovation Center’s “Science and Technology System Reform Pilot Field”, “Innovation Resource Allocation Hub”, “Major Technology Collaborative Tackling Platform”, and “High quality Industrial Development Booster”. Luo Benjin said that the Center is committed to introducing international innovation resources into the Yangtze River Delta by building two bridges: “the bridge between science and industry” and “the bridge between the world and the Yangtze River Delta”. As of May 2022, Guochuang Center has established cooperation with a total of 72 overseas institutions, and set up 7 overseas incubators and representative offices. At the same time, the Center has set up R&D carriers in Jiangsu, Shanghai and other places. At present, there are more than 10000 R&D personnel, more than 1000 enterprises have been incubated, more than 5500 technologies have been transformed, and 18000 enterprises have been served.

Mao Hai, secretary-general of the Angel 100 Society, introduced the specific situation of the Angel 100 Society. As the first alliance angel investment organization registered by the national civil affairs department in China, the Hundred Angels Association has more than 100 certified members and member institutions, mainly composed of professional investment institutions with rich industrial capital and entrepreneurs with rich industrial resources who have been engaged in nearly 20 years of deep cultivation, and dabbled in TMT, AI, ICT, education, medical care and general health. Mao Hai said that he was very happy to communicate with Gulou District, Nanjing City, Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute and our excellent enterprises in Canada and hoped to strengthen cooperation in the future to jointly promote innovation between China and Canada.

This China-Canada technology Enterprise Exchange and Innovation activity specially introduced 4 Canadian hard technology enterprises with the intention of landing in Canada. Including the new nanomaterial project NNT with world-class biomaterials technology; MARI, an advanced robot workstation project dedicated to complex surface processing and flexible automatic processing applications; It has won many technical awards in the industry and won the kitchen waste treatment project Genecis recognized by world-class well-known enterprises; It is currently developing Mech Solutions, a revolutionary AI-driven 3D printing cloud management platform.

Most roadshow enterprises have strong R&D teams and continuous R&D capabilities, have many years of relevant experience in related fields, and maintain in-depth R&D cooperation with world-class institutions, including the University of Toronto, and national laboratories.

As a bridge for the construction of China Canada innovation ecology, the China Canada Angel Alliance and the China Canada Joint Venture Camp have been committed to building a cross-border investment ecosystem for early innovation and entrepreneurship enterprises in Canada, and take China, the world’s largest and fastest growing consumer market, as a platform to provide broader development space for outstanding overseas projects. Over the seven years since its establishment, it has provided more than 20 million Canadian dollars of financing for more than 40 start-ups in Ontario, and has found partners or co founded companies for 16 enterprises in China. Even under the influence of the COVID-19, the China Canada Joint Venture Camp helped its student enterprises achieve several hundred million Canadian dollars of financing.

Subsequently, the China Canada Angel Alliance and the China Canada Joint Venture Camp will cooperate with the China Canada partners to organize the Canadian science and technology enterprise roadshow docking activities on a quarterly basis, build a bridge between the government and the industrial research institute for overseas excellent enterprises to land in China, and promote overseas enterprises to enter the Chinese market more quickly.

AcceleRoute Portfolio Extended with New Patent to Significantly Improve Network Robustness

news source:https://www.inventionshare.com/news/acceleroute-portfolio-extended-with-new-patent-to-significantly-improve-network-robustness

OTTAWA, ON, June 23, 2022 — A new patent has been added to the AcceleRoute portfolio that significantly improves network time-alignment over previous AcceleRoute designs.

Time-alignment is an AcceleRoute mechanism that enables the design of bufferless-core networks. Previously, AcceleRoute had been using a single level scheme for globally time-aligning all data traffic through the network core. The new patent employs three levels of time-alignment which significantly reduces the time required to re-align any parts of the system that experience a disruption.

AcceleRoute network designs are of particular interest to Data Centers in achieving the lowest possible internal latency and highest possible throughput.

The AcceleRoute portfolio now comprises 36 issued patents with over 700 claims, and is being offered for sale in advance of auction later in 2022.

About InventionShare
InventionShare is the exclusive agent handling the sale of the AcceleRoute patent portfolio.

InventionShare specializes in accelerated monetization of significant technologies to achieve strong returns. Starting with significant inventions that can change the world, we introduce them to the innovation pipelines of established large global companies and new rising stars. InventionShare seeks to apply new technologies to existing successful companies, enabling their products to meet the challenges of the future.

AcceleRoute Portfolio Extended with New Patent to Significantly Improve Network Robustness

news source:https://www.inventionshare.com/news/acceleroute-portfolio-extended-with-new-patent-to-significantly-improve-network-robustness

OTTAWA, ON, June 23, 2022 — A new patent has been added to the AcceleRoute portfolio that significantly improves network time-alignment over previous AcceleRoute designs.

Time-alignment is an AcceleRoute mechanism that enables the design of bufferless-core networks. Previously, AcceleRoute had been using a single level scheme for globally time-aligning all data traffic through the network core. The new patent employs three levels of time-alignment which significantly reduces the time required to re-align any parts of the system that experience a disruption.

AcceleRoute network designs are of particular interest to Data Centers in achieving the lowest possible internal latency and highest possible throughput.

The AcceleRoute portfolio now comprises 36 issued patents with over 700 claims, and is being offered for sale in advance of auction later in 2022.

About InventionShare
InventionShare is the exclusive agent handling the sale of the AcceleRoute patent portfolio.

InventionShare specializes in accelerated monetization of significant technologies to achieve strong returns. Starting with significant inventions that can change the world, we introduce them to the innovation pipelines of established large global companies and new rising stars. InventionShare seeks to apply new technologies to existing successful companies, enabling their products to meet the challenges of the future.

ApplyBoard and Ireland Join Forces to Educate the World

news source:https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/06/22/2466955/0/en/ApplyBoard-and-Ireland-Join-Forces-to-Educate-the-World.html

Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, June 22, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today, ApplyBoard, the global technology platform powering an education revolution, is thrilled to announce Ireland as its latest study abroad destination. This is the fifth study abroad destination that ApplyBoard has expanded to as part of its ongoing mission to educate the world. 

ApplyBoard is excited for this opportunity to help Ireland grow and reach its international education goals. To date, five higher education institutions in Ireland have partnered with ApplyBoard: Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin, Maynooth University, University College Cork, and the University of Limerick. ApplyBoard looks forward to building more momentum within Ireland’s international education sector.

“With a highly-regarded education system, rich history, and innovative culture, Ireland has so much to offer international students,” says Martin Basiri, CEO and Co-Founder of ApplyBoard. “Building this strong relationship with Ireland signifies an important step in expanding new opportunities for future students, supporting the long-standing legacy for excellence in the Irish education sector, and continuing to break down barriers to education for countless students around the world.” 

Now, students and recruitment partners can look forward to having access to Ireland’s higher education institutions on the ApplyBoard Platform. 

“ApplyBoard is incredibly well placed to partner with University College Dublin (UCD), to promote Ireland, to connect with international students who are looking for an educational experience that sets them apart and provides them with a competitive advantage,” says Una Watkins, Director International Student Recruitment, UCD. “Sharing our values in putting students first and supporting the success of all students, we very much look forward to working alongside ApplyBoard as they empower people around the world to study abroad and access the very best education.”

“Ireland is becoming an increasingly popular study destination for international students as the world-class standard of our education is matched by the post-study work opportunities available in Ireland,” says Giles O’Neill, Head of Education in Ireland. “ApplyBoard puts the student at the heart of what they do and keeps them there — this is a mission that we share and something that I am sure we can build on together into the future.”

ApplyBoard recognizes the need to continue to scale and expand its diversity of tech offerings to propel the international education sector forward. Most recently, ApplyBoard announced the acquisition of TrainHub, an education industry training ecosystem, to help strengthen international student recruitment. ApplyBoard also launched the ApplyBoard Insights Dashboard, a SaaS tool that leverages the latest study abroad data to help higher education institutions make important choices in international student recruiting. 

To learn more about ApplyBoard growing in Ireland, visit here: www.applyboard.com/resources/ireland-resources  

About ApplyBoard

ApplyBoard empowers students around the world to access the best education by simplifying the study abroad search, application, and acceptance process to more than 1,500 institutions across Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Ireland. ApplyBoard, headquartered in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, has helped more than 300,000 students from more than 125 countries along their educational journeys since 2015. To learn more, visit: www.applyboard.com

Applyboard Named CIX’s 2022 ‘Innovator of the Year’

news source:https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/applyboard-named-cix-2022-innovator-150000690.html

The CIX Innovator of the Year Award is given annually to a Canadian company that disrupts and transforms an industry in profound ways. Past recipients of the Award have included Trulioo, Miovision, Lightspeed, ecobee, Real Matters, Wattpad, Shopify, Vision Critical and Desire2Learn.

Brunico Communications Ltd., Thursday, June 16, 2022, Press release picture
Brunico Communications Ltd., Thursday, June 16, 2022, Press release picture

ApplyBoard is the world’s largest online platform for international student recruitment. The company has built partnerships with over 1,500 primary, secondary, and post-secondary schools, and works with over 10,000 recruitment partners to drive diversity on campuses across Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

At the core of ApplyBoard’s mission is to make education more inclusive by breaking down barriers for international students.

ApplyBoard was founded by three brothers, Martin, Massi and Meti Basiri, all of whom travelled to Waterloo Region from Iran for their post-secondary education. Based on their own experiences, they saw an opportunity to streamline the search, application and acceptance processes for students wanting to pursue their high school and post-secondary education in a foreign country.

“This is a tremendous honour and vote of confidence from the Canadian tech and innovation community.” said ApplyBoard’s co-founder and CEO Martin Basiri. “Every single day ApplyBoard is dedicated to our mission to educate the world as we develop new ways to serve the millions of students around the world who are searching for a better education. The trajectory of my brothers’ lives and I changed drastically thanks to the power of education and the world of opportunity that it opened up. We can’t wait to create more positive change as a proudly Canadian company.”

“ApplyBoard was recognized as a CIX Top 10 Growth company in 2019 and we have been proudly following ApplyBoard remarkable growth,” said Lauren Linton, Executive Director of CIX. “Martin and the ApplyBoard team absolutely deserve this recognition and are role models for our industry.”

The Honourable Mary Ng, Canada’s Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development, has been invited to present the award to Martin Basiri at CIX on November 1 in downtown Toronto, followed by a keynote fireside chat.

ACTO launches LAICA, the first AI-powered conversational assistant for Life Sciences learning

news source:https://acto.com/news/press-releases/acto-launches-laica-the-first-ai-powered-conversational-assistant-for-life-sciences-learning/

TORONTO, June 15, 2022: ACTO, the only complete commercial learning platform for the Life Science industry, announced the launch of “LAICA™“, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered conversational assistant, like a SIRI™, for Life Sciences learning. LAICA is the only voice search assistant on the market that supports learning for Life Sciences commercial and medical affairs teams in real-time.

LAICA helps pharmaceutical sales representatives and medical science liaisons (MSLs) learn in the flow of work with hands-free access to accurate clinical data in seconds. Powered by AI, LAICA uses voice recognition to answer questions a pharma sales rep or MSL has anytime, anywhere. With LAICA, teams have easy access to a trusted source of medical, legal, and regulatory (MLR)-approved sales and clinical information, to quickly get accurate answers to their questions in concise, digestible snippets. View the power of LAICA here.

“The amount of information a pharma sales rep or MSL needs to know to educate and support health care practitioners with a new therapy is immense. Having quick, easy, and on-the-go access to trusted information through voice search is the solution. As such, the initial response to LAICA has been fantastic,” says Parth Khanna, CEO and Co-founder, ACTO.

“Having a new option that allows learners to access high-quality, MLR-approved content right at the point of need in a user-friendly way really aligns to the way people want to learn today,” says Terri Harchar, Managing Director, Axiom US. ACTO and Axiom’s award-winning partnership provides the Life Sciences industry with an integrated learning ecosystem that combines technology with unforgettable content, and scientific expertise, that shapes minds and drives results.
As the volume and variety of data increases in all areas of Life Sciences, from clinical trials to commercial training, the industry must embrace innovation such as artificial intelligence (AI) to automate data-heavy processes, making data a benefit, not a burden. LAICA is doing just that, making access to critical data easy for Life Sciences learners.

For more information, visit acto.com/laica or visit the ACTO booth at the LTEN Annual Conference (Booth #505) for a live demo today.

About ACTO
Global life science companies rely on ACTO’s AI-powered SaaS platform to transform their field teams’ learning journey and experience at scale. Commercial and clinical leaders leverage ACTO’s omnichannel learning platform to educate and engage learners through unified educational experiences across the care continuum. Building an ecosystem for life sciences, ACTO maintains a network of partnerships with content agencies, data providers, technology companies, and more. To learn more about ACTO, please visit acto.com.

Siri is a registered trademark of Apple. LAICA is a registered trademark of ACTO.

CAMP 5.0 Launched: A Builder of China Canada Innovation Ecology, an Accelerator for Innovation and Growth

What kind of miracle will happen after six years of focused work?

In April 2015, six years ago, CAMP landed in Toronto, Canada. In November of that year, 10 Canadian start-ups from the first training camp of the China Canada Joint Venture Camp set foot on China’s land. Now, it is the sixth year.

Over the past six years, CAMP has led more than 40 Canadian entrepreneurial teams to China for learning and exchange. More than 30 campers have obtained direct investment from CCAA or Chinese investors through CAMP trips, and 16 enterprises have found local partners or established offices in China. Even in 2020, when the COVID-19 is severe, the newly completed financing amount of CAMP camper enterprises exceeded CAD 250 million.

Looking back at the start-ups that participated in CAMP that year, ApplyBoard has grown into a unicorn enterprise with a valuation of more than 2 billion Canadian dollars, and has become the first project invested by CAMP in North America with a valuation growth of more than 100 times; During the COVID-19, Cyclica, an AI platform for drug research and development, gave full play to its expertise and carried out international cooperation with a number of top institutions, including the Institute of Medicine of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, becoming a typical example of international collaborative anti epidemic; Genecis, a bioplastics disposal company for kitchen waste, has also achieved rapid growth; Fibos, an optical fiber sensor R&D company suitable for harsh environments

At the same time, CAMP has gradually become a part of Canada’s science and technology ecosystem, with relevant Canadian government departments including the Canadian Embassy in China, OCI Ontario Center of Excellence, Mals Innovation Center, China Canada Technology Transfer Center, GTAN Golden Triangle Angel Network, NACO Canada National Angel Alliance, Canada US Finance and Economics, innovation incubators, mainstream investment institutions, universities and research institutions Venture capital media have established deep mutual trust and good cooperation. With a dazzling transcript, the new CAMP has officially opened in May this year.

Due to the COVID-19, the opening ceremony was held online. 14 outstanding Canadian enterprises, including nanotechnology, life science, new energy, artificial intelligence, intelligent sensors and other hard science and technology fields, made a centralized appearance. Song Yijun, representative of the Government of Ontario, Canada and commercial counselor of the Canadian Embassy in China, former president and CEO of the Ontario Center of Excellence Dr Tom Corr, the person in charge of CAMP China, Wang Tong, the founding partner of Zhongguancun Dahe Capital, Yang Jun, the person in charge of CAMP Canada, the vice president of CCAA and other guests attended the meeting, and participated in the meeting together with representatives of Canadian government agencies, creative service agencies and venture capital media.

It is understood that 100% of the 14 Canadian enterprises entering this year are technology driven. For example, XProEM, which leads the recovery technology of lithium batteries for electric vehicles in the future, and V3E and S3M processes independently innovated and developed by the company, can reduce the energy consumption and material costs of recovery operations by more than 55%, thus greatly increasing the gross profit margin of recovery operations from 20% of current technology to about 45%; For example, Skinopathy, an enterprise engaged in remote diagnosis and treatment of skin cancer, is building a health wallet and entering the market as a telemedicine platform focusing on dermatology

In recent years, CAMP, based on the current situation in China, has chosen more enterprises driven by hard science and technology and related to China. Wang Tong, the founding partner of Zhongguancun Dahe Capital, once said that after years of exploration, CAMP has gained more recognition in guiding overseas high-tech enterprises to develop in China through early investment, and has gradually established its own standard for the selection of campers. Why do overseas entrepreneurs take Chinese money? In fact, they pay more attention to the Chinese resources that can be used behind China’s huge market and investment institutions. Therefore, CAMP mainly considers three points in the selection of campers: first, China is a huge target market; Second, the production and supply chain of enterprises is in China; Third, the project needs funds.

In order to better let Canadian entrepreneurs understand China and settle in China, CAMP has formed a complete training system. In the past, CAMP will focus on organizing campers to come to China for a two-week study and exchange, during which time it will provide campers with entrepreneurship course training, project roadshow docking, large enterprise exchange visits, key resource docking and other activities.

This year’s CAMP has been upgraded on the basis of the past. The original 2-week activity has been upgraded to a 6-month 3-step training plan, which aims to provide more targeted guidance to campers and provide more efficient resource docking and implementation plans.   

In the first stage, CAMP invited Chinese and Canadian government institutions, investment institutions, top law firms, etc. to join in, and introduced China’s market opportunities from different perspectives, as well as the business culture that needs to be understood when entering the Chinese market. At the same time, it provides professional guidance for the campers, including law, intellectual property rights and Chinese patent and trademark application process, to study the feasible business structure of Canadian enterprises in China.

In the second stage, CAMP will help campers develop specific strategies for entering China, help campers establish contacts with Chinese investors/partners/local incubators, and finalize preliminary business development plans for specific opportunities in the Chinese market.

In the third stage, we will organize campers to visit China on the spot, connect with Chinese investors and potential partners, and promote cooperation.

In terms of scientific and technological innovation, entrepreneurship and investment ecological environment, both China and Canada are one of the innovation centers in the world today. Canada itself has a small market, but it has good science, technology and talents. Among Canada’s numerous industrial clusters, life science, clean technology and renewable energy, artificial intelligence, information and communication technology, and advanced manufacturing are all regarded as competitive industries. China, on the other hand, has a huge market, strong production and manufacturing capacity and sufficient capital, which provide the soil for innovation exchanges and cooperation between the two countries.

As an important measure to build a China Canada cross-border angel investment platform, CAMP not only opens the door to the Chinese market for Canadian start-ups, but also provides an opportunity for Chinese start-ups to seek North American cooperation. Through the training camp activities, Canadian entrepreneurs can greatly promote their understanding of China, China’s entrepreneurial environment, and China’s venture capital environment, and bring new ideas to Chinese entrepreneurs and venture capital circles, as well as more understanding of North American innovation. Zhongguancun Dahe Capital and CAMP will actively advocate innovation, entrepreneurship and cooperation exchanges with a global perspective, practically promote scientific and technological innovation cooperation and entrepreneurial culture exchanges between China and Canada, and create an international innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Cyclica and Oncocross announce partnership to develop therapeutics in oncology

news source:https://cyclicarx.com/press-releases/cyclica-and-oncocross-announce-partnership/

Toronto, Canada and Seoul, Korea – Cyclica Inc. (“Cyclica”), a neo-biotech with the vision to advance the most robust and sustainable drug discovery pipeline, and Oncocross Co., Ltd. (“Oncocross”), a biotech  revolutionizing the drug development process through its unique AI approach based on transcriptome database, announce a drug discovery partnership to advance the development of oncology therapeutics. The partnership will initially focus on discovery and developing treatments for Myelofibrosis, with plans to expand to additional oncology areas. 

“Combining forces with world class companies with complementary capabilities to ours is at the heart of Cyclica’s strategy. The combined strengths of the teams and platforms at Cyclica and Oncocross will lead to promising outcomes for the future of oncology medications, and we’re very enthusiastic about what this has the chance to mean for cancer patients”, shares Naheed Kurji, Co-Founder, President and CEO of Cyclica.

“We are very excited about this partnership with Cyclica, a global frontier in AI biotech space, where we put together innovative AI technologies that complement each other to yield a stronger outcome.  This underlines our shared commitment to bring breakthrough solutions to cancer patients”, added Yi Rang KIM, Medical Oncologist, Founder and CEO of Oncocross.

“There is no “silver bullet” in AI drug discovery & development – a deep empathy for the complexity of biology and chemistry is required to achieve top results.


About Cyclica
Cyclica advances molecules that embrace the complexity of the disease. Our work spans dozens of collaborations with large pharma and biotech and several joint ventures. We are a passionate team of biotech and pharma professionals, biologists, chemists, and computer scientists who live and labour at the intersection of our collective expertise. To learn more about Cyclica and how we partner, please visit www.cyclicarx.com.

About Oncocross
Oncocross is a Seoul based AI biotech company focused on drug development based on transcriptome database.  Oncocross partners with pharmaceutical companies to develop treatments for intractable and rare disease both in oncology and non-oncology space by i) identifying the optimal indications of NCE under development, ii) identifying the proper indications for clinical stage failed compounds, iii) screening combination drugs that can significantly increase the efficacy synergistically, iv) finding the optimal cancer biomarker, and v) screening the optimal drug candidate for selected disease indication.  For more information, please visit www.oncocross.com or www.linkedin.com/company/oncocross-co-ltd 

Forward Looking Information
This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information which include, among other things, plans to advance one or more drug discovery programs by Cyclica and Oncocross. Such statements and information are based on management’s beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to management, and involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results performance or achievements to be materially different from that expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements and information. Although we believe that we have a reasonable basis for each forward-looking statement and forward-looking information contained in this press release, we caution you that these statements are based on a combination of facts and factors currently known by us and our projections of the future, about which we cannot be certain. We cannot assure you that the forward-looking statements and forward-looking information in this press release will prove to be accurate.

ACTO Secures $18M Financing to Accelerate Growth and Strengthen Position as #1 Learning Platform in Life Sciences

new source:https://acto.com/news/press-releases/acto-closes-18m-series-b-financing-to-become-the-1-learning-platform-in-life-sciences/

TORONTO, July 7, 2022 – ACTO, the omnichannel learning and enablement platform for life sciences, today announced the closing of a US$18 million equity financing. The investment was led by Questa Capital, a healthcare venture growth equity firm that actively invests in healthcare and life sciences software. With this investment, Questa joins ACTO’s existing investors: Resolve Growth Partners, Salesforce Ventures, Panache Ventures, and MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund1

This investment by Questa Capital validates the large market opportunity to transform critical learning experiences and sales enablement approaches in the life sciences industry. The company will use the proceeds of the investment to accelerate the growth and scale of ACTO and explore potential business and partnership opportunities.

“The rapid growth of our customer community demonstrates the industry’s interest and hunger for a new way of delivering commercial learning and development. Trends driving this shift include the increase in clinical data and the demand for flexible access to information in the flow of work. We are happy to meet these needs with the only omnichannel learning platform for the life sciences industry,” says Parth Khanna, CEO of ACTO. He added, “We are thrilled to have Questa Capital join us on this journey and look forward to delighting our customers with innovative solutions, such as our recently announced conversational assistant LAICA™, to make commercial learning in Life Sciences easier and more engaging.”

ACTO is disrupting the learning experience and sales enablement landscape in life sciences, which is primed for a new, modern and user-accessible solution to training and enabling learners in pharma. This round of funding allows ACTO to expand and enhance capabilities to accelerate its technology as the #1 life sciences-focused learning enablement platform. 

“At Questa, we are passionate about investing in innovative and well-positioned companies that empower the healthcare and life sciences industries to improve patient outcomes. We are excited to partner with Parth and the outstanding management team at ACTO to invest in the company’s strategic growth plan. With experienced leadership and cutting-edge SaaS technology, ACTO is serving a market ripe for a better approach,” says Ryan Drant, Founder and Managing Partner at Questa Capital, who was recently recognized as a top healthcare investor of 2022 by GrowthCap Advisory2.

The current financing brings ACTO’s total invested capital to more than US$30 million. ACTO continues to experience robust user and revenue growth, including a 500% increase in annual recurring revenue since 2018.

About ACTO

Global life science companies rely on ACTO’s AI-powered SaaS platform to transform their field teams’ learning journey and experience at scale. Commercial and clinical leaders leverage ACTO’s omnichannel learning platform to educate and engage learners through unified educational experiences across the care continuum. Building an ecosystem for life sciences, ACTO maintains a network of partnerships with content agencies, data providers, technology companies, and more. To learn more about ACTO, please visit acto.com.

Champions Oncology Announces a Partnership with Cyclica to Develop Small Molecule Therapeutics

news source:https://cyclicarx.com/press-releases/champions-oncology-announces-partnership-with-cyclica/

HACKENSACK, NJ and Toronto, Canada – Champions Oncology, Inc. (Nasdaq: CSBR), a leading global technology-enabled biotech that is transforming drug discovery through innovative AI-driven pharmaco-pheno-multiomic integration, and Cyclica Inc. (“Cyclica”), a neo-biotech with the vision to advance the most robust and sustainable drug discovery pipeline, announced today a therapeutic development partnership.

The partnership will combine two therapeutic targets identified and validated within Champions’ Lumin platform with Cyclica’s drug discovery platform to establish a new therapeutic program.  The planned partnership will initiate with a single program focused on previously unexplored targets present in tumor indications such as non-small cell lung cancer, head and neck cancer, and other solid tumors.  The partnership will also leverage the unique experimental platforms available at Champions to ensure rapid and efficient development towards clinical evaluation.  Under the terms of this agreement, Champions will co-own the program with Cyclica and take lead in advancing the program, and, upon achievement of specified milestones and events, will be obligated to make milestone and royalty payments to Cyclica.  Should Champions decide not to continue development, Cyclica has the option to carry forward the program in exchange for milestone and royalty payments to Champions.

Ronnie Morris, MD, President and CEO of Champions Oncology, said “We’re excited to announce our first partnership in small molecule drug discovery and development, following two development partnerships with other companies involving large molecules. This partnership with Cyclica is a continued validation of the power of our experimental and digital research platforms.  With deeply characterized datasets including our world-leading PDX models and Pharmaco-Pheno-Multi Omic (PPMO) workflows, we can better understand what drives growth and survival of a tumor.  These specific targets have been interesting ones for Champions, and we are excited to establish a pipeline program in partnership with Cyclica.”

Naheed Kurji, President and CEO of Cyclica, shares “Cyclica’s unique ability to address low data targets combined with Champions’ oncology-focused platform has groundbreaking therapeutic potential. Most importantly, by exploiting novel targets with strong disease linkage, we aspire to improve patient outcomes significantly.”


About Champions Oncology
Champions Oncology is a technology-driven research organization that develops innovative therapeutics against cancer targets, offers groundbreaking research software as a service, and provides end-to-end R&D services to biopharma organizations. Champions Oncology is actively engaged in the transformation of drug discovery through a novel approach of pharmaco-pheno-multiomic integration. For more information, please visit www.ChampionsOncology.com.

Media Contact:
Rachel Bunting, MS, MBA
Sr. Director, Head of Marketing
Marketing@ChampionsOncology.com

Website: www.championsoncology.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/championsoncology/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/champions-oncology-inc-/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChampionsOncol1
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/championsoncology/

About Cyclica
Cyclica is a neo-biotech. We advance molecules that embrace the complexity of the disease. Our work spans dozens of collaborations with large pharma, biotech and several joint ventures. We are a passionate team of biotech and pharma professionals, biologists, chemists, and computer scientists who live and labour at the intersection of our collective expertise. To learn more about Cyclica and how we partner, please visit www.cyclicarx.com.

Connect and follow our drug discovery journey.

Media Contact:
Jennifer Sacco
VP, Marketing and Communications
Jennifer.sacco@cyclicarx.com

Forward Looking Information
This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information which include, among other things, plans to advance one or more drug discovery programs by Cyclica and Champions Oncology. Such statements and information are based on management’s beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to management, and involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results performance or achievements to be materially different from that expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements and information. Although we believe that we have a reasonable basis for each forward-looking statement and forward-looking information contained in this press release, we caution you that these statements are based on a combination of facts and factors currently known by us and our projections of the future, about which we cannot be certain. We cannot assure you that the forward-looking statements and forward-looking information in this press release will prove to be accurate.