Nineteen startups pitched at the Fundica Roadshow’s Montreal event, but at the end of the day, only three stood on the main stage of the Rialto Theatre with a 2018 City Winner trophy in hand.

One of those winners—the victor of our pre-seed round—was Daniel Cohen, co-founder and CEO of InVivo AI. Daniel is one third of InVivo AI’s founding team, which also includes CSO Therence Bois and CTO Prudencio Tossou. Adding his experience in computational neuroscience to Therence’s and Pruencio’s respective experience in molecular medicine and machine learning, Daniel’s job is to bridge the divide between InVivo AI’s scientific and technical sides, and, as we learned at the Roadshow, successfully pitch the company’s solution to funders. 

InVivo AI was conceived in September 2017 and launched just four months later, at the top of 2018. Using molecular, target, and tissue-based descriptors, the platform accurately distinguishes between toxic and non-toxic small molecule drugs, allowing its users to predict which compounds are likely to have manageable safety margins in clinical testing, which in turn allows them to predict the drug’s eventual likelihood of success. The company’s end-goal is to be able to simulate all preclinical toxicology in silico and, consequently, de-risk drug development.

Given their ambitious mission, we were very excited to touch base with Daniel to learn more about InVivo AI’s origins and trajectory. 

At what point do you feel InVivo AI made the transition from an idea to a legitimate business?

I think we’re in the process of making that transition now! Most of us are still full-time grad students trying to build InVivo on top of our existing lab commitments. I think the catalyst for us will be when we can finish in the lab and commit to building InVivo full-time (which should be sometime over the next couple months).

What do you know about fundraising now that you didn’t know five years ago?

Everything! Five years ago, we knew nothing. My co-founder (Therence) and I met through Front Row Ventures – the first student-run venture capital fund in Canada – where we managed the fund’s life-sciences and healthcare strategy together. This gave us an inside look at the fundraising process, though from the other side of the table. Now we’re looking to apply what we’ve learned as we begin to plan for our seed raise, which we’re hoping to kick off towards the end of summer.

What was your strategy or goal while pitching at our Montreal event? And how has that strategy or goal changed now that you’re moving on to the finale?

We wanted to get our name out into the broader startup community, beyond our university bubbles, and also hear from some of the other amazing start-ups being built here in Montreal. We can’t wait to meet the teams from across Canada at the finale!

What will you do if you win our $500,000 investment award?

We’re looking to rapidly scale our machine learning team and build out a world-class drug development platform. The investment provided by Fundica would be critical in allowing us to execute against our upcoming milestones. We have big plans for the future and need the financing to help us get there!

To meet more incredible startups like InVivo AI, and to witness the rise of our next city winners, buy your tickets to the Fundica Roadshow.

Vancouver, May 31st, 2018: Tickets here  

Toronto, June 28th, 2018: Tickets here  

Finale, Montreal, July 12th, 2018: Tickets here