Grand Challenges Canada
VC Fund
Toronto, Canada
Grand Challenges Canada is a VC fund in Toronto focused on Health Care and Medical Device. Grand Challenges Canada is dedicated to supporting Bold Ideas with Big Impact® in global health. They are funded by the Government of Canada and they fund innovators in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and Canada. The bold ideas they support integrate science and technology, social and business innovation – they call this IntegratedInnovation®. They focus on bringing successful innovation to scale, catalyzing sustainability and impact. They have a determined focus on results, and on saving and improving lives.Grand Challenges Canada works closely with Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and Global Affairs Canada to catalyze scale, sustainability and impact. Grand Challenges Canada takes an evidence-based approach to development innovation to save and improve lives in LMICs. They are a platform for development innovation in Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) through their Saving Lives at Birth, Saving Brains and MNCH Stars in Global Health programs. They are also focused on helping the poorest and most vulnerable populations, for example those who suffer from mental illness.Since their launch in 2010, Grand Challenges Canada has supported a pipeline of over 700 projects in more than 80 countries. Their investments are producing results: Thousands of lives have been saved and over two hundred and eighty thousand lives have been improved, thus far. By 2030, these innovations have the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives and improve millions of lives.
- Total investments:
- 15
- Last investment:
- Lead investor:
- 47%
Last updated:
For AI agents: llms.txt
Industries Grand Challenges Canada invests in
Stages Grand Challenges Canada invests in
Countries Grand Challenges Canada invests in
Round sizes
Contacts
| Name | Phone | Socials | |
|---|---|---|---|
Round size
- Grant
- $100k–$423k
- Debt Financing
- $765k–$11M
Investment Focus
Industry
- Health Care 10 (67%)
- Medical Device 8 (53%)
- Biotechnology 5 (33%)
- Medical 2 (13%)
- Software 2 (13%)
Stage
- Grant 5 (33%)
- Debt Financing 3 (20%)
- Seed 2 (13%)
- Pre-Seed 2 (13%)
- Convertible Note 1 (7%)
Country
- Canada 5 (33%)
- United States 3 (20%)
- India 1 (7%)
- Kenya 1 (7%)
- Zambia 1 (7%)
Team
| Name | Title | Investments | Links | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Jocelyn Mackie
Co-CEO
|
Co-CEO | Total investments: 0 | Find email | |
Karlee Silver
Co-CEO
|
Co-CEO | Total investments: 0 | Find email |
Investments
| Company | Description | Round | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hewatele is a social enterprise that provides affordable quality medical oxygen to all needy patients together with its affiliates CPHD and Mediquip Global. | $20M / Venture - Series Unknown / Feb 14, 2024 | ||
| Hewatele is a social enterprise that provides affordable quality medical oxygen to all needy patients together with its affiliates CPHD and Mediquip Global. | $11.1M / Debt Financing / Oct 20, 2023 | ||
| Karman Healthcare are see a world where everyone has an opportunity and means to access equitable and affordable healthcare. | Grant / Jun 26, 2023 | ||
| DawaMom is a standardized mobile clinic that delivers maternal and neonatal health through a digital health platform leveraging a wide network of trained 1st level clinicians and community health workers (CHWs) for emerging markets. | $250K / Pre-Seed / Sep 18, 2022 | ||
| Nivi is a digital health company that enables every person to realize their aspirations for better health. Nivi accomplishes this through a relentless focus on providing on-demand, trusted, and actionable health information that enables every individual to make more informed and supported decisions about their health. For our customers in thecommercial, public, and non-profit, Nivi illuminates trends and patterns in the health journeys that individuals take from initial marketing engagement, to health content accessed, and finally to actions taken in seeking out health services, purchasing health products, or achieving a particular health goal. It is through these insights gleaned from askNivi accompaniment that enables our customers to tailor the services they offer to best meet the needs of the audiences they serve. | $422.6K / Grant / Jan 01, 2020 | ||
| OmniVis is a leading biotechnology company that has developed an integrated platform to transform the speed, accuracy, and economics of pathogen detection, anywhere in the world. OmniVis’ ultrasensitive handheld device provides a low-cost solution to labor intensive lab testing, bringing accurate results directly to the source in under 30 minutes. | $177K / Grant / Feb 19, 2019 | ||
| OmniVis is a leading biotechnology company that has developed an integrated platform to transform the speed, accuracy, and economics of pathogen detection, anywhere in the world. OmniVis’ ultrasensitive handheld device provides a low-cost solution to labor intensive lab testing, bringing accurate results directly to the source in under 30 minutes. | $225K / Grant / Jun 25, 2018 | ||
| Sensoreal Inc. is a diagnostic device and service provider company. The company is developing a variety of biosensors, which can perform one-step immunoassays in low-cost, accurate and quantifiable manners. Sensoreal was founded in 2014, and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada. | $100K / Grant / Nov 20, 2017 | ||
| Atomo Diagnostics was established to capitalize on a core belief that health care products offering significantly improved levels of convenience, simplicity and user experience are disproportionately disruptive and have the potential to be very successful commercial market entrants.Having identified the usability challenges and in-fieldlimitations of existing RDT products, Atomo worked closely with healthcare workers and consumers in a range of settings and determined that by integrating all the test components into a streamlined, end-to-end solution it could significantly improve safety and accuracy and reduce user error rates.This focus on usability and how end users interact with the RDT is one of the key aspects that sets Atomo apart from its competition in the POCT market.Its unique design and patented features mean that AtomoRapid™ addresses and eliminates the vast majority of user errors identified as impacting the performance of standard RDTs in the field. AtomoRapid™ makes it easy to convert proven diagnostic technologies into user-friendly products that deliver unmatched customer satisfaction and in-field performance.These products are successful due to their ability to materially improve usability, convenience, and reliability for both professional and home users. It is this unswerving focus on exceeding user expectations that the management team has applied to the diagnostic market; a market that has to date seen little user-centric innovation.Atomo Diagnostics is headquartered in Sydney, Australia, with corporate offices located in South Africa the UK. The company is led by an executive team with a track record of success commercializing disruptive healthcare products, and the company has assembled an experienced and committed international management team and Board and advisors. | $1M / Convertible Note / Feb 01, 2017 | ||
| KA Imaging is a Canadian company that has created the world's first portable dual energy subtraction X-ray detector. The device uses dual energy X-ray subtraction which is clinically proven to improve sensitivity (compared to chest X-ray and approaching CT in many cases) in the early identification of diseases including pneumonia (incl.COVID), unidentified nodules, coronary calcifications, fractures and for verifying the position of catheters (PICC, ET, NG tubes). Reveal has cleared FDA 510(k) and is being sold globally. KA Imaging has 20 full time and 10 part-time/contract employees and has 52 global and 17 issued US patents. | $765.1K / Debt Financing / Jul 21, 2016 | ||
| See all 15 investments → | |||
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FAQ
What does Grand Challenges Canada invest in?
Grand Challenges Canada invests primarily in Health Care, Medical Device and Biotechnology startups, most often at Grant and Debt Financing stage. Most of the 15 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in Canada. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.
What is Grand Challenges Canada's check size?
Grand Challenges Canada typically joins rounds of $100k–$423k at Grant and $765k–$11M at Debt Financing. These ranges are 10th–90th percentile round sizes calculated from confirmed public funding rounds, so they are a realistic guide to the rounds Grand Challenges Canada participates in.
How do I contact Grand Challenges Canada?
Public channels for Grand Challenges Canada include LinkedIn, X (Twitter) and the website linked on this profile. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.
Who are the partners at Grand Challenges Canada?
The team at Grand Challenges Canada includes Jocelyn Mackie (Co-CEO) and Karlee Silver (Co-CEO). The Team section lists each member with their title, investment count and links.
Is Shizune's investor data accurate?
Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Oct 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.
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