Growth ambitions get boost for Hamilton health-care firm

A Hamilton company providing modular health-care infrastructure, from clinics to intensive care units, says $500,000 in funding from the Ontario government will help it ramp up its “ambitious growth strategy.”

Fero International Inc. designs and builds modular infrastructure such as labs, patient rooms, operating theatres, “rapidly deployable” health-care facilities and temporary shelters. It said its mission is to provide “scalable, rapidly deployable, and cost-effective solutions for health-care, remote communities and disaster relief.”

“We are thrilled to have received support through the Life Sciences Innovation Fund for our company,” said Sabrina Fiorellino, the company’s chief executive, in a statement. “This investment will assist with accelerating our ambitious growth strategy in the health-care sector. The world needs innovative, cost-effective, practical solutions to quickly address major infrastructure challenges and constraints in health-care, Indigenous and remote communities and areas hit hard by natural disasters, wars and other major crises.”

The Ontario government announced a total of $3 million for six life sciences companies in Hamilton, Toronto and Kitchener on July 27. Each Ontario company will receive $500,000 to help them develop and bring to market medical innovations and health-care solutions, according to the government’s press release.

COURTESY FERO INTERNATIONAL INC.

The six companies are the first ones to receive support from the province’s new, early stage Life Sciences Innovation Fund.

“Life science startups face distinct challenges in moving their innovations from the research lab into the marketplace,” said Claudia Krywiak, president and CEO of the Ontario Centre of Innovation, which delivers the Life Sciences Innovation Fund, in a statement. “The Life Sciences Innovation Fund will provide much needed support to de-risk early-stage opportunities and accelerate time to market.”

The province said its $3-million investment in the six companies will be matched by over $12 million in private sector co-investments.

“Through our Life Sciences Innovation Fund, our government is strengthening Ontario’s growing life sciences sector and ensuring our innovators have the resources they need to develop cutting-edge solutions,” said Vic Fedeli, minister of economic development, job creation and trade, in a statement. “The first group of LSIF recipients will bring our life sciences sector to new heights, ensuring Ontario remains a global leader in the sector.”

Companies across the province can apply online to receive up to $500,000 to scale their “health solutions.”

Over the last 2.5 years, Ontario has attracted over $3 billion in life sciences investments, making it the largest life sciences jurisdiction in Canada, according to the press release. It noted that Ontario’s life sciences sector generates more than $65 billion in revenue.