OBIO® Introduces the Future Female Leaders in Life Sciences

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--OBIO^® is pleased to announce the women-led companies selected for the third cohort of its Women in Health Initiative (WiHI) Seed Program. 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.

According to Founders Forum Group, female-founded companies represented 6.4% of deals in 2024, but received only 2.3% of capital. Even when women founders succeed in securing capital, they receive significantly less than their male counterparts.

The WiHI Seed Program helps women entrepreneurs in the health science sector to overcome these challenges by offering access to advisory, expert networks, industry resources & tools, non-dilutive funding and an opportunity to pitch for equity investment. To date, 18 companies have completed this comprehensive six-month program and collectively raised over $29 million.

“OBIO^® is proud to support women entrepreneurs in the life sciences and health technology sectors,” said Dr. Maura Campbell, President & CEO of OBIO^®. “The WiHI Seed Program provides critical funding (both dilutive and non-dilutive), industry tools/resources, access to subject matter expertise and advisory supports to empower women entrepreneurs to raise capital, grow their businesses, and bring new health innovations to patients.”

The selected companies for the WiHI Seed Program 2025 are 20/20 OptimEyes Technologies, Arche Biotechnologies, BLOCK Biosciences, Fibra, Hada Medtech, NodeAI Diagnostics, NuvoBio, Savyn Tech and Virano Therapeutics. The nine companies are drawn from the biotech, medtech and digital health sectors and include novel therapeutic approaches to treat cancers, solutions for patient monitoring and cancer staging, and digital platforms for women’s health and trauma therapy.

“It’s a sincere privilege to participate in the WiHI Seed Program,” said Mackensey Bacon, CEO & Co-Founder of NodeAI Diagnostics. “There is a crucial funding gap for women entrepreneurs, especially at early stages. The industry expertise and support from OBIO^® will accelerate our path towards raising capital and commercialization. It is refreshing to have programs advancing women in entrepreneurship and I am humbled to be joining this exceptional cohort of women leaders.”

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 LinkedIn and X.