Startups, Accelerators & Incubators

From Honey Bee Conservation to Plant-Based Salmon: Natural Products Canada Awards $1M to Bio-Based Companies

Natural Products Canada (NPC) announces it has awarded over CAD $1M in grants to ten Canadian companies creating bio-based innovations. Representing a range of startups and universities, the innovators are creating solutions that address everything from saving honey bee colonies and upcycling industrial waste to making plant-based salmon, natural food additives and non-toxic cleaning supplies.

“Our government recognizes the immense strength of Canadian innovation, which serves as a driving force for our nation”

To receive funding, which was administered through NPC’s Commercialization Programs, each applicant had to provide “a compelling case” for their innovation and detail the challenge the program funds would address.

“We continue to be inspired by the innovators we work with on a daily basis,” says Shelley King, CEO of Natural Products Canada. “The solutions have the potential to address challenges as diverse as protecting our bee populations to ensure our farmers can produce enough food, to reducing the amount of material that ends up in our landfills.”

Biobased companies
©Natural Products Canada

The recipients include: 

  • Atlantick Repellent Products (Nova Scotia)
  • NPC funding:  $18,000

Atlantick creates insect repellants without the use of synthetic chemicals. The company will use the NPC program funds to pursue regulatory strategies for new products. 

  • InnuScience Group (Quebec)
  • NPC funding: $21,960

Uses patented microbial strains, enzymes and surfactants to create non-toxic, biodegradable cleaning and hygiene products. Will use the funding to conduct a market analysis for a range of new products.

Bug spray
©Atlantick
  • Nature ReCombined Sciences (British Columbia) 
  • NPC funding: $250,000 

Develops natural plant-based extracts with a broad range of anti-microbial uses, including as an effective pesticide for Paenibacillus larvae, a type of bacteria that infects and destroys bee colonies. The company will use its program funds to conduct safety and efficacy trials of its product on honey bee diseases. 

  • Natures Crops International (Prince Edward Island)
  • NPC funding: $250,000

Develops, grows and processes specialized oilseed crops into ingredients for the nutritional and personal care industry. The company will use the funds to conduct research on upcycling its primary product’s waste stream into a value-added industrial ingredient.

  • New School Foods (Ontario)
  • NPC funding: $75,000

Produces whole-cut seafood alternatives using a patented food structuring technology. New School’s first product is s fillet of salmon that looks, cooks, flakes and tastes like fish with the same nutritional profile. The company will use its funding to hire a Lead Food Materials Scientist to design its R&D and product development platform.

Salmon Filet
©New School Foods
  • NULIFE GreenTech (Saskatchewan)
  • NPC funding:  $250,000

NULIFE uses Hydrothermal Liquefaction (HTL) technology to transform high-moisture industrial wastes into valuable biofuels and biochar, and carbon credits. The technology also addresses PFAS contamination. NULIFE will use its funds to assess and optimize the process of breaking down various feedstocks into biocrude.

  • Phytokraft Environmental Solutions (Ontario)
  • NPC funding: $16,416

Phytokraft is creating a bolt-on process that recovers natural phytochemicals from industrial production processes. Its first target is a rare, woody-smelling compound that is prized in the fragrance and flavor industries. Phytokraft will use the funds to develop an R&D and commercialization plan.

  • Sesh Products (British Columbia)
  • NPC funding:  $25,000

Is developing a novel nicotine delivery system that is tobacco-free, smokeless, long-lasting, and discreet. The product is intended for the Canadian market. Sesh will use its funds to develop the regulatory strategy for its nicotine replacement.

Nicotine control products
©Sesh
  • University of Alberta (Alberta)
  • NPC funding: $78,430

The University is creating a thermally reversible gel from pea protein. Made with upcycled ingredients, the vegetarian gel can enhance texture for foods like yogurt and jellies or encapsulate bioactive ingredients, such as in gummies. The University of Alberta is using the funds to evaluate the gel’s performance, economics and potential for scale-up. 

“Eagerly anticipating outcomes”

“Our government recognizes the immense strength of Canadian innovation, which serves as a driving force for our nation,” said the Honorable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry. “And through NPC’s Commercialization Programs, we can harness innovative spirit towards developing green solutions for global challenges. That’s why we are eagerly anticipating the outcomes of all ten recipients of the Commercialization Programs’ inventive proposals aimed at addressing longstanding issues through cutting-edge technologies and facilitating their market adoption.”

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