A startup spun out of the CHEO Research Institute has raised more than $1 million in seed funding for its platform that ensures that data used to train AI models doesn’t run afoul of privacy laws. Woodway Assurance announced this week that international venture capital firm Nina Capital has invested half a million dollars in […]
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A startup spun out of the CHEO Research Institute has raised more than $1 million in seed funding for its platform that ensures that data used to train AI models doesn’t run afoul of privacy laws.
Woodway Assurance announced this week that international venture capital firm Nina Capital has invested half a million dollars in the fledgling Ottawa firm.
That brings Woodway’s total funding haul to $1.5 million since the company was launched a year ago. In December, Woodway closed an oversubscribed $1-million seed funding round led by Aventure Capital for its flagship product, dubbed EviData, that automates the process for assessing privacy risks of the data that is used to train AI models.
The deal with Nina Capital marks Woodway founder and CEO Khaled El Emam’s second collaboration with the Barcelona-based firm, which also funded El Emam’s previous startup, Replica Analytics.
“They have a fantastic network in the health-care and med-tech space globally,” El Emam told OBJ this week. “When we needed to raise more money, they were an obvious choice.”
Now at 13 employees, Woodway Assurance specializes in software that ensures data used to train AI models remains anonymous and does not violate strict privacy laws that prevent AI companies from using customers’ personal financial and other information.
El Emam said a “large chunk” of the startup’s early sales have come from the health care and life sciences sectors, but Woodway also has customers in other industries. Its clients include Toronto-based marketing consultancy Environics Analytics and local health research collaboration platform Archimedes.
Marta G. Zanchi, founding managing partner at Nina Capital, said data “is essential for research, AI, and improving patient care,” but privacy and regulatory concerns, while necessary to protect people’s privacy, often prevent organizations from getting the most out of that information.
“We're investing in Woodway because EviData directly addresses that challenge with an authoritative solution grounded in extensive research, recognized guidance, international standards, and world-renowned expertise in the field,” Zanchi said in a news release this week.
“We see tremendous potential for EviData to reduce friction, accelerate clinical innovation, and facilitate the more rapid delivery of promising treatments to patients.”
Woodway Assurance recently launched a new version of EviData that can analyze “unstructured data” such as text. El Emam said the firm plans to use the latest cash infusion to fund further R&D and grow the company’s sales and marketing teams as it expands into new markets.
While most of Woodway’s original clients were based in Canada, its customer base is “starting to tilt” toward the United States, he said, adding the firm is eyeing the Middle East and Asia next.
“The problem is global,” El Emam said. “Everybody is trying to take advantage of AI tools and training models, but it’s driven by access to data. That’s a key factor and so they need to solve the data access problem. We provide a solution to that.
“You can’t stop running, basically,” he added. “The tech development cycles are very short, but the tools available to enable us to do that are also very powerful. You have to stay on top of the advancements that are coming along every day.”
In addition to being an entrepreneur, El Emam is an epidemiologist at the University of Ottawa and a senior scientist at the CHEO Research Institute. He sold Replica Analytics to New York-based health-care analytics company Aetion in 2021.
He said the National Capital Region is fertile breeding ground for AI-related startups thanks to world-class post-secondary schools and health-care institutions such as CHEO.
“We have an environment here that enables these things to happen,” he explained. “It’s a pipeline. Being able to have a pipeline of companies and spinoffs, it can only happen if we have a good environment for that.”
