These 8 Canadian startups launched to help those most vulnerable to the coronavirus

In many ways, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought nothing but bad news for innovation. According to one report, 58 percent of Canadian startups have already been significantly affected by the crisis, and according to Startup Genome, up to $28 billion in startup investment could dry up this year alone. 

But at the same time, every crisis also brings complex and pressing problems that need solving — which are fuel for innovation. In a matter of months, the pandemic has surfaced gaps in the medical field to be addressed, revealed the limitations and possibilities of lives lived remotely, and challenged communities to come together during a difficult time. And some startup founders have risen to the challenge. 

Below, we’ve rounded up eight innovative startups that have emerged in response to COVID-19 — seeing opportunity and responsibility where many others have seen only limitations.

TakeCare Supply

With over 61,000 cases of COVID-19 overwhelming hospitals across Canada, medical equipment for healthcare workers has been in short supply — so much so that Health Canada has temporarily lowered its standards for imported personal protective equipment for frontline staff.

The supply of PPE has been further strained by those outside the healthcare field, who have been advised to wear masks as a precautionary measure.

Enter TakeCare Supply: a made-in-Toronto supplier of reusable masks for non-frontline workers. TakeCare Supply aims to keep Canadians safe while preserving N95 masks for healthcare workers and reducing the amount of single-use waste produced during the crisis.

TakeCare Supply was launched in March by a group of friends and entrepreneurs, including fashion designer Anna-Maria Mountfort, social entrepreneur Kevin Vuong, startup investor Larry Lau, and factory owners Ali Mansouri and Dung Huynh.

The startup has already sold 100,000 masks, and helped 150 factory workers hold onto their jobs throughout the pandemic.

GroceryHero

In late March, Matthew Lombardi, a management consultant in Toronto, was chatting with a friend of his in the healthcare field. His friend, a doctor, mentioned how challenging he and his colleagues had found it to shop for groceries: not only were physicians working incredibly long hours, but entering a grocery store meant putting the public — and themselves — at higher risk of infection.

Soon after the conversation, Lombardi and four friends began brainstorming solutions — and 36 hours later, GroceryHero Canada came to life. 

GroceryHero is a free service that matches frontline healthcare workers with volunteers who pick up and drop off groceries for them. The sign-up process is streamlined and simple, and GroceryHero works by simply connecting volunteers to busy medical workers. Volunteers then shop for and deliver the medical professional’s groceries, and the medical professional pays the shopper for the cost of the groceries.

The non-profit has already helped match 700 volunteers to medical workers across Canada.

The Atrium Project

In a similar vein to GroceryHero, the Atrium Project connects those in need of extra help during physical distancing measures with those willing to help.

Launched by 20-year-old app developer Ryan Kelly, the Atrium Project connects volunteers with those nearby who are at high risk of contracting COVID-19. Pairs are matched by their location and requirements, and volunteers can then help matches in their community get groceries or other essential supplies.

Based in London, Ontario, Kelly saw the opportunity to use technology to scale mutual aid networks during the pandemic. But he also sees a use for the app long after a vaccine for the virus is developed.

“No matter what, there’s still going to be a need to support people in their community,” he told the London Free Press in April. “I don’t think that’s something that will ever go away.”

COVIDHelper

In Vancouver, tech entrepreneur Sam Chandola has built out a similar database of local helpers: an online tool, COVIDHelper matches volunteers to high-risk neighbours for help with grocery and medicine pickup. The sign-up process was made intentionally simple, with a focus on protecting users’ data, and volunteers are contacted by email when someone in their postal code requires assistance.

For Chandola, the impetus to build COVIDHelper came from his own situation. “Both of my parents live in New Delhi, which is quite far away,” he told the Vancouver Courier in March. “For people like them, whose family may not be really close to them, how and where would that support system come from?”

COVIDHelper hasn’t limited its reach to Canada, either: both volunteers and those seeking assistance can enter locations around the world — with the hope that as many individuals as possible can be helped through this time. 

Go Fog It

When Diana House, an entrepreneur and investor based in London, Ontario, looked ahead at a world opening back up post-COVID-19, she saw both a gap and an opportunity — and she got to work.

Recognizing how important yet difficult it is to fully sanitize spaces, particularly those frequented by people most vulnerable to the virus, House launched Go Fog It: a cleaning service that involves spraying a 99.9 percent botanical disinfecting fog into a space, allowing the disinfectant to quickly and effectively reach all areas of a room.

According to Go Fog It, the disinfectant is government-approved for COVID-19 and can be used in office spaces, long-term care homes, restaurants and bars, cars, and residential homes. And it’s a solution others are clearly banking on: Go Fog It has already been awarded $20,000 in funding as part of TechAlliance’s COVID-related Recovery and Rebuilding the Region Design Challenge.

Plan a Funeral

One of the most heart-wrenching experiences families and friends have endured during the pandemic is saying goodbye to loved ones while still abiding by social distancing measures.

Toronto-based Effie Anolik had already entered the funeral business two years ago, when she started creating software for funeral planners. At 28, her father had passed away and she had been surprised at the lack of online planning options available, so she created B2B ecommerce company Epilog, which helped funeral planners build out their online presence for consumers.

Now, Anolik has launched a second business: this time, to help individuals plan funerals virtually. Plan a Funeral assists people through the entire funeral planning process, including reaching out to funeral homes on individuals’ behalf, and allows individuals to hold digitally-enabled funerals and memorials online —facilitating a service and having participants gather in virtual reception rooms.

With physical distancing measures in place, there’s an immediate need for a service like Plan a Funeral. But with globalization spreading people increasingly around the world, services like Plan a Funeral are also likely here to stay.

Sustain the Line

When COVID-19 first shut down restaurants across Canada, two immediate needs were visible to the founders of Old Road BBQ in Truro, Nova Scotia and Mission Watch Company in Toronto: the need to support frontline workers, and the need to keep local food businesses afloat during shutdowns.

So in late March, the founders of Mission Watch Company made a donation to Old Road BBQ, who in turn used the donation to feed healthcare workers for a month. The movement grew from there, and now has a home online, called Sustain the Line, that connects donors with local food businesses. With the donations, food businesses cook up meals and distribute them to local hospitals while keeping their businesses running.

Sustain the Line now operates in 12 cities across Canada and six in the United States, and has supplied healthcare workers with over 1,200 meals.

Grocery Neighbour

While some startups have matched those needing groceries to volunteers, Grocery Neighbour plans to bring the grocery store itself to those in need.

Launched by entrepreneur Frank Sinopoli in Toronto, Grocery Neighbour plans to outfit trucks with shelves and fridges full of shoppable groceries — from fresh produce to pantry items — and then visit neighbourhoods to give communities a one-stop grocery shopping experience.

Sinopoli aims to bring an expanded “farmers’ market quality and experience” to neighbourhoods, while still keeping groceries affordable. And while he hopes to expand to over 1,000 grocery trucks across Canada eventually, he’ll be starting with three in Toronto as the startup gets its feet beneath it.

“Time will always remain the most precious thing we have, and convenience wins most battles,” Sinopoli told the CBC in early May. “The lockdown inspired us, but it does not limit us.”

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