OBIO® Celebrates Women Leaders in Life Sciences and Health Tech with Investment in Block Biosciences and Launch of Entrepreneurship Training Program for Women in STEM

March 31, 2026 (Toronto, Ontario) – In honour of International Women’s Month, OBIO® hosted a celebration of women leaders across the life sciences and health tech sectors. The event, supported by EY and FACIT, featured remarks by Chi Nguyen, Member of Parliament for Spadina — Harbourfront, and The Honourable Charmaine Williams, Associate Minister of Women’s Social and Economic Opportunity, a panel discussion on raising capital and scaling globally, and a pitch competition showcasing the nine women-led companies of this year’s OBIO® Women in Health Initiative (WiHI) Seed Program.

OBIO® Supports Women-led Innovation with Investment in Block Biosciences

Now in its third cohort, the WiHI Seed Program was established in 2023 to address the significant barriers that women-led companies face in accessing financing and wraparound supports. The cohort, 20/20 OptimEyes Technologies, Arche Biotechnologies, Block Biosciences, Fibra, Hada Medtech, NodeAI Diagnostics, NuvoBio, Savyn Tech and Virano Therapeutics, benefited from six months of advisory services, access to expert networks, industry resources & tools, and non-dilutive funding. To mark International Women’s Day, the cohort presented their business opportunities in a pitch competition on March 5, where Block Biosciences, a Hamilton-based company developing first-in-class therapeutics designed to intercept the spread of cancer to the brain, received an investment of $100,000 from OBIO® WiHI. The audience also voted Arche Biotechnologies as the recipient of a $10,000 non-dilutive Audience Choice Award. The company is developing a real-time fluid monitoring solution to enhance patient safety and care efficiency.

“Participating in the OBIO® WiHI Seed Program has been an incredible opportunity for Block Biosciences. The mentorship, network access, and commercialization support have helped accelerate our progress and strengthen our path to market. We’re honoured to receive this investment from OBIO®, which will allow us to continue advancing our technology and scaling our impact. Programs like WiHI are critical for supporting women founders and ensuring innovative health technologies can reach patients who need them most,” said Amie Phinney, CEO and Co-Founder of Block Biosciences.

“Women are driving some of the most promising advances in Canada’s life sciences and health technology sectors, yet many still face barriers to growing their companies. This third cohort shows how targeted programs can unlock talent, strengthen our innovation economy, and bring new health solutions to Canadians. FedDev Ontario is proud to have supported the establishment of this impactful program,” said the Honourable Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario.

“On International Women’s Day and throughout Women’s History Month, we celebrate the extraordinary leadership, resilience, and innovation of women across Ontario. Congratulations to this year’s winners, whose groundbreaking work in life sciences is not only advancing critical health solutions but also changing lives and shaping the future of care,” said the Honourable Charmaine Williams, Associate Minister of Women's Social and Economic Opportunity. “Our government is proud to stand alongside women entrepreneurs who are breaking barriers and driving progress in sectors where their leadership has often been underrepresented. When we invest in women, we invest in stronger communities, a more inclusive economy, and a healthier future for all Ontarians. I look forward to seeing the continued impact of these remarkable companies and the inspiration they will provide to the next generation of women leaders.”

OBIO® and FACIT Mark First Anniversary of Joint Women’s Entrepreneurship Program

The event also commemorated the first anniversary of the Women’s Synergistic Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (WeSEED) program, co-delivered by OBIO® and FACIT. Both organizations have established track records in creating value through supporting female entrepreneurs and co-investing in women-led companies such as HDAX Therapeutics and Tenomix. The WeSEED program provides the participating women-led companies with the advisory and resources of both organizations, resulting in a continuum of targeted commercialization support.

“The WeSEED program demonstrates how collaboration across Ontario’s life sciences ecosystem can expand opportunities for women entrepreneurs,” said Dr. Connie Chen, Senior Director, Strategy and Corporate Development at FACIT. “The seed venture firm boasts an investment portfolio that is now comprised of more than 40% women-led or founded oncology innovations that have attracted more than one-third of FACIT’s investment dollars, far exceeding the venture capital industry average. Through our partnership with OBIO®, WeSEED brings together complementary expertise, capital, and commercialization support to provide women-entrepreneurs with the training, advisory networks, and venture funding needed to grow their companies. We’re excited to see the continued momentum of this program and the growth of the companies benefiting from our integrated support.”

New Entrepreneurship Training Program for Women in STEM

The OBIO® WiHI is designed to increase the participation and advancement of women in the life sciences and health tech sectors. Since 2022, the initiative has supported over 370 women with training and/or on-the-job experiential learning. Building on this achievement and to address the under representation of women in ownership and leadership positions in life sciences and health tech, OBIO® announced a partnership with PRiME, the next-generation precision medicine initiative at the University of Toronto and BioLabs - University of Toronto to deliver an Entrepreneurship Training Program for Women in STEM: Health & Life Sciences. The program will run from March to June 2026 and provide commercialization training to 25-30 female innovators advancing technologies in health and life sciences.

“Canada is home to extraordinary women in science and engineering, particularly in life sciences and health technologies. The opportunity now is to help more of these innovators see entrepreneurship as a natural extension of their research,” said Molly Shoichet, Scientific Director, PRiME. “Through this Entrepreneurship Training Program for Women in STEM, we aim to equip students and researchers with the knowledge, mentorship, and networks needed to translate their discoveries into real-world health solutions and to see founding a company as the next step in their journey.”

“BioLabs University of Toronto is honoured to support the OBIO® WiHI this year.  Transitioning from being a researcher in an academic lab to an entrepreneur comes with a myriad of opportunities but also challenges. These challenges are often accentuated for aspiring women founders. Through our partnership with OBIO®, program participants can leverage BioLabs U of T’s community of startups to help build their networks and develop meaningful connections to learn from other women founders, reducing the barriers to both discovery and commercialization,” said Allison Brown, Site Head, BioLabs University of Toronto.

The Entrepreneurship Training Program for Women in STEM will support up to 30 participants, providing foundational commercialization knowledge and access to a network of female founders with experience taking innovations from bench to bedside. "Now in its third year, the OBIO® WiHI Seed Program continues to demonstrate the tremendous potential of women-led companies in life sciences and health technology," said Dr. Maura Campbell, President and CEO of OBIO®. "WiHI alumni companies have raised more than $28 million in local and international investment, demonstrating the strength of their innovations and the importance of targeted support for women entrepreneurs. We are proud to celebrate the achievements of this year’s cohort and to see Block Biosciences recognized with this investment. At the same time, we know there is tremendous talent among women in science and engineering, but the gap often lies in the transition from researcher to founder. Through our new Entrepreneurship Training Program for Women in STEM, delivered in partnership with the University of Toronto’s PRiME and BioLabs – University of Toronto, we are helping build the pipeline and ensure more women see founding a company as a realistic next step."

About OBIO®

Founded in 2009, OBIO® is a not-for-profit, membership-based organization engaged in strategy, programming, policy development and advocacy to address the needs of the next generation of companies developing innovative human health products. OBIO® supports early-stage and venture-backed life sciences and health tech companies enabling them to raise capital, hire and train industry-ready talent, facilitate the commercialization and market adoption of their technologies in health systems, and access infrastructure. OBIO® advances this goal through collaborative partnerships with industry, the investment community, academia, the healthcare system and government. For more information, please visit obio.ca and follow OBIO® on LinkedInand X. 

Media Contact:

Doriane Rey 
Senior Manager, Marketing & Communications 
OBIO® 
dorianerey@obio.ca

Sofia Ouslis
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Artificial Intelligence, Digital Innovation and Ministerresponsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario
sofia.ouslis@ised-isde.gc.ca