Natural Products Canada Invests $1M in Five Innovative Companies, Advancing Canada’s Bioeconomy

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia — Today Natural Products Canada (NPC) announced a $1,016,330 investment across five early-stage companies. This brings its total investment to over $15.2 million across more than 100 Canadian start-ups.

The five funding recipients — Novagevity, Catalera Biosolutions, Toothpod, Sustainable Bioproducts Innovations (SBI), and Naturfect Natural Solutions — reflect the breadth of Canada’s bio-based innovation pipeline. They are developing solutions in plant-based nutrition and meal replacement, functional foods, agricultural biologicals and seed technology, sustainable fat-replacement ingredients, and natural household and personal care. NPC’s investment will enable $2,543,328 in total project activities across three provinces.

This investment is supported by the Government of Canada’s Strategic Response Fund. It is building momentum behind NPC’s bioeconomy leadership across the country and around the globe. NPC’s Commercialization Programs bridge the gap between innovation and market success for early-stage companies.

Portfolio companies have leveraged every dollar of NPC investment to secure an additional $51 in follow-on capital. This creates a powerful multiplier effect.

Through Proof of Concept, Fast Track to Financing, and Access to Talent streams, NPC acts as a “strategic angel,” providing financial support, guidance and connections to its network.

Details of the five recipients of our Commercialization Program investment are listed below. For more information about these companies and their innovations, or to explore collaboration opportunities with Natural Products Canada, please contact: info@naturalproductscanada.comCommercialization Program RecipientsNovagevity
Program: Proof of Concept
Project Budget: $861,507
NPC Contribution: $344,602
Province: Nova Scotia
Novagevity has developed Canada’s first plant-based, organic, allergen-free complete meal replacement beverage under its Sperri brand. This project will validate and optimize two new products: Sperri Control, targeting glycemic health, and Sperri Kids, a pediatric oral nutrition supplement. Both deliver higher protein and fibre with lower sugar, while remaining free of gluten, soy, dairy, and artificial ingredients.

Proof of Concept

$344,972

$137,989

British Columbia

Catalera will undertake a proof-of-concept project to advance its natural wax-based microencapsulation platform for biological seed treatments. The project will validate their seed coating technology in the field under Canadian agronomic conditions, generating the data required to assess technical performance and commercialization readiness.

Fast Track to Financing

$65,000

$25,000

Ontario

Toothpod is a functional chewing gum that supplements oral hygiene when conventional tools are not available. It delivers anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, and remineralizing agents shown to support oral health. This funding supports customer discovery and market segmentation work to identify Toothpod’s ideal customer groups and translate those insights into a go-to-market strategy.

Proof of Concept

$874,895

$349,958

British Columbia

SBI is scaling and validating 0Fat™, a plant-based, allergen-free fat-replacement platform made from chia-derived mucilage and food-grade dietary fibres. The technology can replace a large share of fats and oils across sauces, spreads, dairy analogues, and baked goods without compromising taste or texture. This project advances production scale-up and validation for commercial food applications.

Proof of Concept

$396,954

$158,781

Ontario

Naturfect has developed a high-performance, plant-based laundry detergent under its Liquid Earth line. The formulation pairs advanced surfactant and enzyme chemistry to match the cleaning performance of leading conventional detergents while keeping a non-toxic, plant-derived ingredient profile. This project will support a scale-up demonstration trial of the product.

Natural Products Canada (NPC) is the driving force behind Canada’s Natural Product Innovation Cluster, a strategic and diverse community focused on the development and commercialization of naturally-derived products and technologies in agriculture and agri-food, health and life sciences, natural resources, and sustainable bioproducts. As part of its role in the Cluster, NPC offers in-depth advice and a strategic suite of commercialization programs to Canadian early-stage companies and research institutes; provides connections and innovation scouting services to corporations and investors; and leverages an investment fund (Nàdarra Ventures) to help develop and de-risk promising Canadian opportunities. NPC has received financial support from the Government of Canada’s Strategic Response Fund, administered by the Department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, and the Centre of Excellence in Commercialization and Research (CECR) program, administered by the Networks of Centres of Excellence.

Contacts

Kim Cumpson

Natural Products Canada