Foresight Canada has announced the honourees for the second annual Foresight 50, recognizing Canada’s 50 most investable cleantech ventures from coast to coast that are moving the needle to net zero. 

With climate-related disasters on the rise around the world, the urgent need for innovative climate solutions has come into acute focus. From direct lithium extraction to the treatment of industrial wastewater, to climate-positive fertilizers, the ventures featured in the 2022 Foresight 50 list are solving the most pressing global climate issues with made-in-Canada solutions.

To scale the critical solutions needed in the fight against climate change, Canadian cleantech ventures need more access to capital from domestic and international investors. In a 2021 national survey conducted by Foresight, Canadian cleantech innovators identified raising capital as one of their main barriers to growth. To attract this capital, these companies need to gain the recognition of investors with the resources to propel their ventures forward. Foresight 50 is bridging this gap by shining a light on Canada’s most promising cleantech ventures while directly connecting these companies with investors, customers, and partners. 

“Foresight’s audacious goal is to see Canada become the first G7 country to reach net zero. To do this, we need to aggressively commercialize and scale Canadian solutions through progressive support and access to capital. It is truly inspiring to see the innovative cleantech solutions the 2022 Foresight 50 list represents which enable us to push towards this ambitious target. By fostering relationships with investors and key stakeholders, these Canadian innovators can gain the traction they need to impact the green transition on a global scale. Last year’s Foresight 50 companies went on to collectively raise $593M to amplify their cleantech solutions — we can’t wait to see what’s possible for this year’s companies as they lead Canada — and the world — in the transition to net zero.”  said Jeanette Jackson, CEO of Foresight Canada.

This year’s Foresight 50 honourees were chosen from over 150 applications and reviewed by a panel of independent judges representing investors and cleantech community partners who selected the ventures based on criteria including potential environmental impact, overall investability, and probability of success. 

For more details on the innovative Canadian cleantech ventures featured in this year’s Foresight 50, download the 2022 Foresight 50 pitchbook.

The 2022 Foresight 50 (in alphabetical order)

Adaptis (Ontario) uses AI-powered technologies to enable building owners, architects, and engineers to make informed decisions for decarbonizing buildings and lowering the costs of planning.

Agora Energy Technologies (British Columbia) is repurposing CO2 as a raw material for supplying sustainable and abundant clean electricity.

Axine Water Technologies Inc. (British Columbia) treats the toughest organic pollutants in industrial wastewater to eliminate hazardous contaminants in the worldʼs water ecosystem.

Bio Graphene Solutions (Ontario) converts 100% organic material (biochar) via an eco-friendly process and manufactures graphene for use across numerous applications.

Carbin Minerals (British Columbia) accelerates the natural process of atmospheric carbon mineralization, removing carbon dioxide from the air and storing it permanently as rock.

Carbon Upcycling Technologies (Alberta) is a waste and carbon utilization company unlocking a new frontier of circular materials.

CarboNet (British Columbia) is accelerating the world’s transition to recycled water with a new class of chemistry.

CarbonGraph (Ontario) is a digital platform that lets companies share the carbon footprint of their products with their customers.

Copperstone Technologies Ltd. (Alberta) helps industrial clients manage liabilities and safety costs associated with hazardous sites, particularly water and wastewater facilities.

Cvictus Inc. (Alberta) decarbonizes difficult sectors with hydrogen and chemical feedstocks that are ‘cleaner than green and cheaper than grey’.

Digital Water Solutions Inc. (Ontario) is reducing water loss and providing insight into what is happening underground to municipalities and water utilities.

Earthware (Alberta) is a high-growth return-for-reuse takeout container service that will disrupt the $160 Billion takeout container industry.

Ekona Power Inc. (British Columbia) is unlocking the power of clean hydrogen.

Farment (British Columbia) is providing fermentation solutions for bio-regenerative performance.

FREDsense Technologies (Alberta) is building better biosensors to help environmental consultants, industrials, and communities understand what’s in their water. 

Galatea Technologies Inc. (Alberta) is helping the energy industry digitalize, optimize, and automate transportation workflows.

GRT (British Columbia) is rethinking waste, specifically waste soil, to bring sustainable, valuable materials to market that meet the critical, growing need for circularity within built environments.

Hempalta Inc. (Alberta) is an agricultural technology company focused on innovative hemp processing and product creation.

Highwood Emissions Management (Alberta) helps operators make better emissions management decisions and accelerates decarbonization by revealing profitable emission reduction opportunities.

HTEC (British Columbia) provides end-to-end solutions across the clean hydrogen value chain to advance the widespread deployment of hydrogen electric vehicles.

Hydra Energy (British Columbia) allows existing diesel heavy-duty trucks to run on hydrogen-diesel co-combustion, displacing their emissions by up to 40%.

Intelligent City (British Columbia) is an urban housing technology company that simultaneously addresses 3 urgent problems: housing affordability, urban livability, and the need for life cycle carbon-neutral buildings.

Klean Industries Inc. (British Columbia) is an international company focused on applying best-of-class technologies that provide industrial symbiosis between energy, waste, and resources in a commercially viable and environmentally responsible manner.

Korotu Technology Inc. (Ontario) is a carbon measurement social enterprise that helps communities protect the climate and biodiversity using remote sensing AI.

LightLeaf Solar Ltd. (Saskatchewan) makes high-performance solar panels for things that move – RV, marine, automotive, and aerospace.

Livestock Water Recycling (Alberta) provides high-tech digital manure processing that enables net-zero food production and increases food for the supply chain.

LlamaZOO (British Columbia) facilitates the creation of highly accurate and data-rich digital twins of various scales and types, for different industries including Natural Resources, Manufacturing, Indigenous Lands Management, and ESG.

Lucent BioSciences (British Columbia) delivers crop nutrition that improves yield and soil health while sequestering carbon.

MarineLabs Data Systems Inc. (British Columbia) is a coastal intelligence company and real-time data provider, transforming marine safety and building climate-resilient coastlines.

NanosTech (Alberta) is Alberta’s catalytic innovation hub, supporting the development of process technologies and supplying catalysts to other clean tech companies leading the energy transition in Canada.

NULIFE GreenTech (Saskatchewan) is transforming industrial wet waste into carbon-negative fuel and carbon credits.

Nyoka (British Columbia) engineers proteins that create safe, sustainable, and efficient light.

Open Ocean Robotics (British Columbia) is at the leading edge of robotics as a service for all meaningful markets in the blue economy.

OptiSeis Solutions Ltd. (Alberta) is bringing a new era of environmental consciousness to energy exploration.

Permalution (Quebec) works on fog and cloud water collection technology and climate adaptation solutions.

Planetary Technologies (Nova Scotia) has developed an ocean-based carbon removal approach that uses existing infrastructure and resources to accelerate the supply of high-quality, durable carbon removal credits.

Proteus Waters (Saskatchewan) has experience and expertise in circular/cleantech wastewater treatment, recovery, and reuse, and converts raw sewage into clean water and fertilizer.

Psigryph Inc. (Ontario) develops foodtech for health and owns NanopectTM, a platform, biodegradable nanodelivery system for living cells.

SeeO2 Energy (Alberta) is turning emissions into value and closing the carbon loop. 

SolarSteam Inc. (Alberta) is delivering renewable heat to industrial and institutional clients, helping to reduce their costs and emissions.

Summit Nanotech (Alberta) has developed a novel sorbent-based direct lithium extraction (“DLE”) technology, denaLiTM to accelerate the global energy transition.

Swift Charge (Alberta) Charge is developing a smart EV charging technology with proprietary power control software and power conversion hardware that closes the gap between the demand for EV charging and the limit of grid power capacity.

Swirltex Inc. (Alberta) takes the toughest wastewater and turns it into a reusable resource.

Takachar (British Columbia) turns trash (crop and forest residues) into cash (higher-value chemicals, biofuels, and fertilizer base) in remote communities.

TechBrew Robotics Inc. (British Columbia) has developed patent-pending, vision-guided robotic automation that accelerates conventional manufacturing processes.

Terramera, Inc. (British Columbia) fuses complex science, mobile applications, and automation to transform how food is grown and the economics of agriculture.

TheoryMesh (Manitoba) is building traceable and transparent food supply chains for sustainability and food safety.

Verdi (British Columbia) is building the platform to help the global agriculture industry to adapt to climate change.

Viridis Research (British Columbia) is removing microplastics from water while helping washing machine manufacturers meet environmental requirements with their cartridge-free microfiber filtration system. 

ZILA Works (Alberta) is developing a bio-epoxy resin to help product manufacturers lower their carbon footprint.

Foresight 50 is powered by Gowling WLG with support from BDC’s Climate Tech Fund II, the Canada’s Clean50 Awards Program, Copoint, Invest Vancouver, Platform Calgary, Simon Fraser University, and Vancity Community Investment Bank.

Foresight would also like to thank the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP), for providing funding support for its Cleantech Ventures program, part of which makes this initiative possible.