Natalia Lumen

With 350+ digital health startups and over $2B raised in the last 36 months, Toronto is now leading in AI diagnostics, virtual care, and pharma tech innovation. (Source: MaRS, 2025; StartUp Health) But beyond funding, what makes Toronto’s ecosystem powerful is its depth across the full healthcare value chain—from virtual care to AI imaging, patient data to drug discovery. Here’s a breakdown of the sectors scaling fastest 👇 1. Telehealth & Virtual Care - Full-stack care platforms built for access, speed, and reimbursement integration. - Maple (getmaple.ca), Rocket Doctor AI, Tia Health, KixCare - Virtual Care for Kids, Mavencare, MD Connected, Therapia, Your Doctors Online, Verto Health 2. AI Diagnostics & Imaging - AI-first tools built for radiology, dermatology, ophthalmology, and pathology. - Altis Labs, Swift Medical, PocketHealth, RetiSpec, Perimeter Medical Imaging AI , A.I. VALI, Pathcore, Skinopathy, Synaptive Medical, Muse (InteraXon), eSight, Xandar Kardian 3. Health Data & Ops Platforms - Interoperability, workflow automation, EMRs, and patient engagement layers. - Smile Digital Health, MedStack, Think Research, OceanMD, a WELL Health Company, PointClickCare, League, Signal 1, Hypercare, Figure 1, ACTO, BlueDot, Verto Health, ThoughtWire 4. Digital Therapeutics, Mental Health & Rehab - Digital care tools targeting pain, cognition, therapy, and chronic care adherence. - Greenspace Health, Layla Care, ManagingLife, Curv Health, Phyxable, Creyos, Inkblot Therapy by GreenShield Health, MindBeacon by Kii Health, Lucid, Ellerca Health Corp. 5. Medical Devices & Wearables - Hardware+software innovation in brain health, rehab, diagnostics, and sanitation. - Exact Imaging, Conavi Medical, Synaptive Medical, CleanSlate UV, Able Innovations, Myant, Epineuron, Muse® by Interaxon Inc. (Muse), eSight, Xandar Kardian Inc. 6. Life Sciences Tools & PharmaTech - Accelerating drug discovery, clinical trials, and personalized medicine. - Deep Genomics, BenchSci, BioRender, ODAIA, DNAstack, PhenoTips, Geneseeq, Notch Therapeutics, Future Fertility, ProteinQure, MedMe Health What Makes Toronto’s HealthTech Ecosystem Work? - Built around global research institutions like UHN, MaRS, and U of T - Supported by cross-border access to U.S. payers, FDA pathways, and pharma partnerships - Balanced across the stack: B2C, B2B, SaaS, and hard tech - Powered by clinical validation + commercial design from day one 📈 Looking to scale into hospitals, sell to providers, or raise across Canada and the U.S.? We help HealthTech startups with: - Market research & validation - Provider & payer lead generation - GTM strategy + regulatory storytelling - Fundraising traction narratives 📩 DM for a Toronto-tailored go-to-market strategy or explore: growthvybz.com #Toronto #HealthTech #DigitalHealth #MedTech #DrugDiscovery #Telemedicine #MentalHealth #AIinHealthcare #Canada #HealthcareInnovation #GrowthVybz #GTMstrategy

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Senior care is a huge huge space! And all our populations are growing older every moment, with fewer young people to help support the older folks. Abhishek Mohanty of CareFlick talks about how he sees AI impacting the Senior Care space - not much yet he says. CareFlick is building a kickass AI companion for seniors, one who will be both empathetic, available 24x7, and providing reports to the carers to get early warnings on loneliness, depression, etc. #Upekkha #AI

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10 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐊𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐤𝐚: 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐀𝐈 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 A decade ago, Kanerika Inc started with a simple belief: data and AI could transform how work gets done. Ten years in, we're still at it. Ram Charan recently shared something that resonated a lot: "If you deliver what you promise, you meet expectations. But if you consistently deliver more, you create advocates."  That's been our north star. Not just meeting the brief but solving the actual problem. 𝐀 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 📍 12 AI Agents launched —shifting everything from how Scrums are run to how highly-sensitive documents are reviewed or insights is drawn from a massive data lake. 📍 100+ enterprises empowered across industries 📍 300+ transformations delivered 📍 50+ experts united by purpose 📍 5 continents impacted 📍 Microsoft Solutions Partner for Data & AI 📍 Analytics on Azure Specialization 📍 Millions in business value created   But honestly? The part I'm most proud of is this: we went from building dashboards to building agents that people actually use. Alan helps with legal reviews. Susan redacts sensitive data. Mike validates documents. Karl delivers instant insights. Jarvis can act as a scrum master. These agents are solving real problems, not just sitting in a deck. 𝐍𝐨𝐰, 𝐰𝐞'𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬. The next phase is about building things that scale organically. We're putting more energy into our own platforms- shifting from helping companies transform to giving them tools they can run with- through our enterprise-ready AI agents, migration accelerators, all powered by our proprietary platform FLIP.  Additionally, we're working closely with hyperscalers to accommodate demand, provide a wide range of services, and operate with high reliability and security. Over the past 10 years, we’ve learned a lot—and we know there’s still much to build. One principle remains clear: 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰, 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞. Here's to the next chapter... Amit Chandak Manisha Chowdari Nalla Cdr Manpreet Singh (Retd) Chirag Patel Anshul Sharma Amit Kumar Jena Sushree Swagatika Gaurav Verma Zay Watson Ruba Diab Dylan Lurvey Nandini Kanumuri Sunil Allada Ubedulla Shariff Mohamamd Dr. Kshitij Singhal Varun Saket Valiveti Sarika Kothakonda #KanerikaTurns10 #AIWithPurpose #DigitalTransformation #CEOReflections #BornAI 

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We don’t just need more tech in healthcare, we need tools that actually see us. This week, I went on CTV News to talk about something deeply personal and professionally urgent: ✨ How AI can transform health conversations for women. Because here’s the truth ... ➡️ 60% of Canadian adults struggle to understand their health info. ➡️ Women and racialized communities are still underrepresented in research. ➡️ Patients are Googling diagnoses – and being met with misinformation. As someone who froze her eggs at 25, navigated 6+ specialist offices as a patient, and is training to be a clinician … I’ve felt the gaps. And now, I want to help bridge them. — Here are the top takeaways I shared during the CTV segment: 1. AI can clarify your concerns. Use tools like Microsoft Copilot to draft your thoughts before a doctor’s visit, just like you would text a friend for advice. 2. It can simplify complex info. Ask for visual aids, pros/cons tables, or plain-language summaries of treatment options. 3. You can ask for scientific citations. This isn’t just about getting answers. You can request peer-reviewed, cited material that’s relevant to your lived experience. 4. It helps patients feel prepared. Instead of walking in anxious, walk in with questions, data, and language that feels like you. 5. Context matters. AI only works when you’re honest with it. Share your background, barriers, and goals — and ask it to tailor accordingly. — This is not “Dr. Google.” It’s not “Dr. AI.” It’s a best friend in your pocket to help you advocate for yourself. Because health equity starts with feeling seen and heard, not just diagnosed. 💛 Enjoyed this? Repost to your network and follow @wellbyshania for more. 💬 Have you ever used AI before a doctor’s visit? If not, what’s holding you back? Let’s talk about it below. → More behind the scenes on IG & TikTok: @wellbyshania https://lnkd.in/gB_UEZrd

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Indian Healthcare needs an AI makeover Access to basic healthcare is a luxury for many millions of Indians. Smaller cities in fact have no access to doctors not only because of lack of infrastructure, but also because even a simple teleconsultation is financially or logistically out of reach. That’s why the idea of an AI doctor is so powerful. We now have models that can handle basic diagnostic queries with surprisingly good accuracy. There are plenty studies on this. Say you are experiencing pain in your knees. If an interface lets you describe your condition well (through text or voice), AI can get you a fairly accurate preliminary diagnosis. This simply wasn’t possible earlier. What makes this even more compelling is the nature of medicine itself. It’s a field deeply rooted in written knowledge - journal articles, case studies, clinical protocols are all in text format and regularly updated. In that sense, medicine is tailor-made for large language models to keep getting better. So, the building blocks exist: ·      A capable, multilingual AI ·      An interface that Bharat can increasingly become familiar with ·      And a healthcare need that's urgent and massive While the access problem may get solved this way, the business problem still remains. How can you monetise something that feels like it should be free? Referral consults, having a doctor-in-loop service or an ads business, or something else entirely? Still thinking through it but if you’re building something in this space or thinking about this too, I’d love to jam.

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Last week I happened to have a discussion with Moeketsi Molefe, co-founder of Welo Health and Dr. Nontobeko Mbatha, founder of Tumeladi Diagnostic Pathologists about the need to structure our startups for scale. I have been reflecting on this since the chat. For every exceptional founder you need 5-10 world-class operators to truly scale a startup into a true exit within 5-7 years, and this is a critical bottleneck we're facing in the African tech ecosystem. We have a continent with a good supply of brilliant innovators and problem-solvers who have the vision and grit to build incredible solutions. Yet, the data consistently shows that the success rate of these ventures culminating in significant exits within that crucial early window remains stubbornly low. Why is this the case? It's not a shortage of groundbreaking ideas. I believe a significant part of the challenge lies in the scarcity of experienced operators who can translate that initial spark into sustainable, scalable businesses attractive to larger players or public markets. These are the individuals with deep functional expertise in areas like: 1. Strategic Finance: Beyond basic accounting, this includes fundraising strategy, financial modeling, investor relations, and navigating complex financial landscapes. 2. Go-to-Market Strategy & Execution: Understanding nuanced African markets, building effective sales and marketing engines, and achieving product-market fit across diverse customer segments. 3. Talent Acquisition & Management: Attracting, retaining, and developing high-performing teams across various disciplines, understanding local talent pools and compensation structures. 4. Operational Excellence: Implementing efficient processes, leveraging technology for scale, managing supply chains (where applicable), and ensuring quality control. 5. Legal & Regulatory Navigation: Understanding the often complex and varying legal and regulatory frameworks across different African countries. We celebrate the founders, as we should, but we need a parallel focus on cultivating and empowering a strong cadre of operational leaders. Investors, ecosystem builders and even experienced professionals in established companies need to actively contribute to bridging this gap through mentorship, training programs, and creating opportunities for operators to gain experience in high-growth environments. Acqui-hires are a form of validation, but they often don't unlock the same level of wealth creation and ecosystem impact as true IPOs or significant M&A deals. To truly unlock the potential of African innovation and see more startups achieve impactful exits within that critical 5-7 year timeframe, we need to invest as much in developing world-class operators as we do in funding visionary founders. Let's shift the narrative and actively build the operational backbone that will propel African startups to global success. #Startups #VentureCapital #EcosystemBuilding #Operations #Innovation #Africa

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