Ontario Advances Innovation in Life Sciences with Investment in OBI Portfolio Company Vena Medical

March 4, 2026

Vena Medical, an Ontario Brain Institute (OBI) portfolio company, has received nearly $1.5 million through the Ontario Government's Life Sciences Scale-Up Fund (LSSUF) — part of a $4.5 million total investment — to expand its manufacturing operations in Kitchener, Ontario.

The company develops intravascular imaging devices that support physicians during stroke interventions and real-time diagnostic imaging. The LSSUF funding will enable Vena Medical to establish a new cleanroom facility, reshor production of their AI-powered micro-camera to Ontario, and create 13 new high-skilled jobs.

"Our team has engineered a highly complex, microscopic medical device, and now we have the state-of-the-art cleanroom and manufacturing infrastructure to build it at scale," said Phillip Cooper, Co-founder and COO of Vena Medical. "With the backing of the LSSUF, we are scaling our manufacturing right here in Kitchener. We are ready to take this Kitchener-Waterloo-born innovation to the rest of the world."

The investment reflects the Ontario government's continued commitment to strengthening the province's life sciences sector and advancing next-generation technologies across the health-care supply chain.

Vena Medical is among a growing number of companies in OBI's portfolio working to translate neuroscience research into real-world clinical and commercial applications.

Learn more about Vena Medical and OBI's Neurotech Entrepreneurship to Validate Emerging Innovations (NERVE) program.