Your funding roadmap for early-stage health capital in Canada.

Early-stage healthcare, health tech, medical device, pharma/biotech, and life science companies based in Canada, raising from first cheque through Series A. That's deliberate: verified depth in one sector beats shallow coverage of every sector. If you're a Canadian health founder, this database was built for you. If you're a fintech in Austin, not yet. The beachhead expands later.

Companies outside healthcare and life sciences, companies not incorporated or operating in Canada, and companies past Series A. We'd rather tell you now than take your $99 and deliver a thin roadmap. That's what the guarantee is for, but better you never need it.

The Non-Dilutive Sprint ($49): a curated list of grants, tax credits, and programs matched to your stage, focus, and province, with the fine print that matters (reimbursement vs. up-front, matching requirements). The Capital Roadmap ($99): everything above plus the investors who fit your exact stage and sector, minus everyone you've already pitched, sequenced NOW / NEXT / LATER with outreach templates. The $249 tier adds 30 minutes with Landon Steele. Sprint buyers can upgrade to the full Roadmap within 60 days for $59.

Three ways. Every profile is verified by a human and date-stamped: no dead funds, no stale theses. It's subtractive: your roadmap removes investors you've already pitched, so every name is actionable. And it includes the category nobody else maintains: investors outside Canada who fund Canadian companies.

Start with fit, not volume. Canada has active health-focused angel groups (HaloHealth's 400+ physician investors among them, plus regional networks in nearly every province) and foreign angels who fund Canadian companies. Our database tracks 157 verified investors by stage, sector, and province. Run the quiz at the top of this page to see how many match your profile.

More than most founders realize: SR&ED tax credits (up to ~35% refundable for CCPCs), NRC IRAP contributions, Mitacs internship funding, Innovative Solutions Canada, and provincial programs from Genome BC to Ontario's FACIT. We track 57 verified programs with the two facts that matter: whether cash arrives up front or as reimbursement, and what match you must bring. That's the Non-Dilutive Sprint ($49).

Yes, and more do than founders assume. Some US funds are Canada-dedicated (Maple VC), some run Canadian offices (Versant Ventures in Vancouver), and several US angel groups state no geographic restriction at all. The catch: nobody maintains a list of them. We do, and it's the most-requested part of every Capital Roadmap.

Sequence both, and start the non-dilutive paperwork first: it costs no equity and strengthens your investor story. But know the trap: SR&ED, IRAP, and Mitacs reimburse or match, so you need cash before their money arrives. That gap is what your first investors bridge. The Capital Roadmap sequences the two halves so each feeds the other.

Accelerators run fixed-length cohorts with application deadlines, mentorship, and often funding or prizes (MedTech Innovator offers up to $500K, equity-free). Incubators are open-ended: space, mentorship, and network, usually without direct funding. Both matter at different moments. Our free On-Ramp calendar tracks both, funded ones marked.

It means your traction matches what investors at your target round expect to see, and that bar differs by sector and stage. The Steele Startup Traction Matrix gives founders a concrete picture of good, strong, and exceptional traction by round. Your Capital Roadmap uses the same gates to sequence investors into NOW, NEXT, and LATER. Traction alone isn't the whole bar: you also need a compelling story that convinces investors you are solving a big problem with global impact that will return multiples of the money they invest in you. There's more on this in the blog posts at steeleconsultinggroup.com. In practice it comes down to an effective 2-to-5-minute pitch that convinces investors to give you a longer meeting; for one-on-one guidance on yours, reach out to Landon Steele.

Your regulatory pathway is the single biggest filter on which investors can fund you, because it decides how long and how expensive the road to market is. At a high level there are five routes.

Drug or biologic. Preclinical work, then Phase I, II and III trials, then a submission to Health Canada or the US Food and Drug Administration. The longest and most capital-hungry path, and the one that needs investors who expect to wait a decade.

Medical device, lower risk. Health Canada sorts devices into Classes I to IV (the US FDA uses I to III, so the numbers don't line up between countries). Class I and II covers most instruments, wearables and imaging hardware. In the US these usually reach market by showing equivalence to an existing device, a route known as 510(k). Months to a couple of years, not a decade.

Medical device, higher risk. Class III and IV in Canada, roughly Class III in the US: implants, anything life-sustaining, anything that carries real risk if it fails. Clinical evidence is required, and in the US the route is usually Premarket Approval rather than 510(k). Timelines and budgets look closer to a drug than to a wearable, which is exactly why we track it as a separate category.

Diagnostics. In-vitro diagnostics and lab tests, with their own evidence requirements and, in the US, a possible laboratory-developed-test route.

Software. Some digital health is regulated as Software as a Medical Device; some wellness and workflow software isn't regulated at all. The difference matters to investors as much as to regulators.

Why we're strict about this: plenty of health-tech and digital-health funds state plainly that they will not touch anything facing years of clinical work. A Class IV implant founder and a wellness-app founder are both "health," and their usable investor lists barely overlap. Sorting on the pathway rather than the sector label is what stops your roadmap filling up with names that were never going to fund you.

This is background to help you read your roadmap, not regulatory advice. If you're unsure which class you fall into, tell us what your product does in your own words at intake and we'll flag it rather than guess.

Mostly yes. Y Combinator accepts Canadian corporations (confirmed, after reversing its brief 2026 pause), MedTech Innovator is fully virtual with no fee and no equity, and MassChallenge accepts global applicants. Watch two things: some programs require in-person presence in the US, and deadlines pass fast. The On-Ramp tracks both.

Within 2 business days of completing your intake. Built by a human against the verified database, not auto-generated.

Every Capital Roadmap surfaces at least 5 qualified investors not on the already-pitched list you give us at intake, or we refund it in full. Email your order number and reason to [email protected]; we respond within 2 business days.

Never and never. Investors don't pay for placement, sponsors don't influence listings, and we don't sell intros. Where an organization charges founders to pitch, we say so loudly on the listing. That's our flagging policy, not a business model.

Yes. That's exactly when the sequencing matters most. Most pre-revenue founders start with the Non-Dilutive Sprint (money that costs no equity), then upgrade when they're investor-ready.

It's used to build your roadmap, nothing else. We don't sell it, share it, or add you to lists you didn't opt into. The On-Ramp newsletter is opt-in only. Full details on our Terms & Privacy page.

We don't accept sponsorships from investors, accelerators, or incubators; the listings stay independent, and that isn't for sale. Everyone else (startup law firms, SR&ED advisors, banks, service providers to founders) is welcome to reach out: [email protected].

The $249 tier includes 30 minutes with Landon Steele, and that's the right start for most founders. If you need more than a call (investment-readiness work, fundraising strategy, ongoing guidance), that's Steele Consulting Group. Reach out to [email protected] to discuss a deeper consulting relationship.