Capital & Community in Health Tech: What It Really Takes to Raise in Canada

Canada's health-technology sector staged a significant rebound in 2025 — but the recovery tells a more nuanced story. At our latest event, industry leaders gathered to unpack what this shifting landscape means for early-stage founders trying to raise capital.

As part of Toronto Tech Week 2026, Brampton Venture Zone (BVZ) joined forces with Vertex Health and the Canada Startup Association (CSA) to host Capital & Community in Health Tech — a panel discussion and industry mixer designed to surface first-hand perspectives on early-stage VC funding in the Canadian health-tech ecosystem.

The evening brought together founders, investors, and community builders for an honest, grounded conversation about where capital is flowing in the health-tech ecosytem.

The funding landscape: a rebound with a catch

Canada's health-technology investment market hit approximately $1.3 billion in disclosed funding in 2025, marking a sharp increase from the prior year. But beneath that headline number, the picture is more selective. Capital is concentrating into fewer companies, with larger cheques going to later-stage opportunities. 

With exit markets still constrained and early-stage financing tight, the Canadian health-tech ecosystem remains in a selective growth phase. Opportunity exists, but it increasingly favours companies that can demonstrate clinical relevance, economic value, and a realistic path to liquidity.

Voices from the panel

The discussion was moderated by Darrly Evanoff, a neuroscientist and VC-backed founder, who drew out candid reflections from a panel with deep roots across the ecosystem: Dr. Alison Smith, BVZ Entrepreneur-in-Residence and 2023 BVZ Launch Program alumnus, Raphael Ronen, Co-Executive Director at Inovait, and John Preece, Sector Development Officer for Life Sciences at the City of Toronto.

What the room heard

The conversation surfaced themes that will resonate with any early-stage health-tech founder navigating today's funding climate. The message wasn't discouraging it was honest.

Key Takeaways for Founders:

1. Build relationships early with investors, clients, and fellow founders

Investor relationships take time, and the best ones rarely start with a cold pitch. Start cultivating connections long before you open a round. But relationships in this ecosystem go beyond capital, building trust with future clients before your product launches validates your solution in the market and gives you real-world signal to bring to investor conversations. Equally important: build relationships with other founders in this space. The Canadian health-tech community is small, and that's actually a strength. Founders here genuinely support one another. Dr. Alison Smith shared how she got her investors for Roga through warm introductions from other founders in the space — a reminder that in a tight-knit ecosystem, your network of peers can open doors that cold outreach simply can't.

2. Back your solution with strong clinical data 

In this market, clinical evidence isn't a nice-to-have — it's a prerequisite for serious investor attention. But data alone isn't enough. Founders need to earn investor trust that their solution will actually work, and that means communicating clearly, credibly, and without hiding behind technical language. Investors hear a lot of pitches filled with buzzwords; what cuts through is a founder who can explain their clinical rationale plainly and stand behind it with conviction. Raphael Ronen emphasized the importance of truly listening to investor feedback rather than seeking validation. Confirmation bias is a real risk — if you're only hearing what you want to hear, you're limiting your ability to grow and strengthen your case.

3. Keep pitching — persistence is key

This market is genuinely hard to navigate. Early-stage health-tech funding is tight, rounds take longer to close, and rejection is part of the process. The founders who make it through aren't always the ones with the strongest decks on day one — they're the ones who stay in the game. Sometimes it's a numbers game: the more conversations you have, the better your odds of landing in front of the right investor at the right time. Refine your pitch with every meeting, absorb the feedback, and keep going. Persistence isn't just a virtue here it's a strategy.

A community worth building

Beyond the panel itself, the evening served as a reminder of what makes Canada's health-tech ecosystem distinctive: a genuine community of founders, funders, and institution-builders who are invested in each other's success.

The sector's next chapter will depend not just on innovation, but on execution and on ecosystems like ours that give early-stage companies the support, connections, and candid knowledge they need to make it through the fundraising gauntlet.