The Technology Issue
Letter from the Editor | 4
Tune In | 6
Check out the CSE’s content hub for capital markets news, trends, and insights
Upcoming Events | 7
Meet the CSE team at the following key events
Sona Nanotech | 8
A mission to make cancer treatment more effective with fewer side effects
Treatment.com AI | 12
On the front line of the quest to enhance healthcare system efficiency
Metaguest.AI | 16
Leading hotel brands look to Canadian AI for better stays, operating efficiency, and incremental revenue
BioMark
Diagnostics | 20
Early cancer detection using biomarkers could save lives and healthcare system resources
Railtown AI
Technologies | 24
Advanced AI platform helps software developers tackle a trillion-dollar problem
FendX
Technologies | 28
Developing nanotech-based surface treatments to fend off harmful pathogens and save lives
Spotlight on Melissa Robertson | 32
CSE Event & Content Manager
Melissa Robertson shares her journey to the capital markets and insights into the CSE’s thoughtfully curated content mix and events calendar
The information contained in this magazine is provided for general information purposes only and should not be construed or relied upon as legal, financial, investment or any other kind of professional advice or opinions. No one should act, or refrain from acting, based solely upon the information provided in this magazine without first seeking appropriate, qualified professional advice. The information is not an invitation to purchase securities listed on CSE. CSE and its affiliates do not endorse or recommend any securities referenced in this magazine. The opinions and views expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect the views of the CSE or its affiliates. CSE nor any of its affiliates make no warranties or representations regarding the completeness, reliability, or accuracy of the information. This magazine may contain links to third-party websites or services that are not owned or controlled by CSE or its affiliates. CSE or its affiliates have no control over, and assume no responsibility for, the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party websites or services. The inclusion of any links does not imply endorsement by the CSE or its affiliates. We reserve the right to update or change this disclaimer at any time without prior notice. Readers are encouraged to review this disclaimer periodically for any changes.
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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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EDITORS
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WRITERS
Oliver Haill
Angela Harmantas
Emily Jarvie
Ian Lyall
Peter Murray
Libby Shabada
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To read more about the companies mentioned in this issue, visit blog.thecse.com or proactiveinvestors.com
TERRITORY ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The Canadian Securities Exchange acknowledges that our work takes place on traditional Indigenous territories.
Letter from the Editor
Spring is typically the season that signals growth and transformation. These are not typical times, however. As this issue of Canadian Securities Exchange Magazine goes to press, businesses are facing an operating landscape marked by mounting political tensions, rapidly shifting climate and trading realities around the world, and continuously evolving technology – particularly artificial intelligence (AI) – driving an unprecedented velocity and scale of change.
Despite the enormous challenges currently confronting business and capital markets leaders, we, as an exchange that is always invested in fostering Canadian innovation, are also witnessing the tremendous resilience, ingenuity, and leadership from companies on the Exchange and across the Canadian economy more broadly.
The six CSE listed companies featured in this issue showcase what technology visionaries and entrepreneurs do best: tackle an uncertain future with bold ideas of what's possible through innovation. In the healthcare sector, for example, BioMark Diagnostics is working on metabolomic approaches to early cancer detection, while Sona Nanotech is developing cancer treatments through targeted hyperthermia therapy with gold nanorods, and FendX Technologies is applying
nanotechnology to pathogen transmission prevention. AI is also prevalent in this issue, with Railtown AI Technologies, Metaguest.AI, and Treatment.com AI deploying this rapidly advancing technology to solve software development inefficiencies, transform hospitality operations, and enhance healthcare system efficiency.
This issue also coincides with the CSE’s third Summit on Responsible Investment (SoRI), which returns to Kelowna, a city that has experienced devastating wildfires firsthand.
As business leaders and keynote speakers gather at SoRI, they will undoubtedly illustrate the hopeful message that the challenges confronting the world can be successfully met when bolder and better systems – including governance and decision-making frameworks –work in concert with entrepreneurs, investors, and stewards of capital. Collectively, these capital markets stakeholders can significantly advance the generational opportunity to accelerate and sustain the solutions required to carry us into a promising and prosperous future.
The entrepreneurs highlighted in this issue, as well as those with whom we work every day at the CSE, remind us that progress comes not from waiting for certainty but from moving forward with purpose and vision. Their unwavering resilience in the face of so many unknowns serves to light the way to a better world for us all.
CSE TV
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THE EXCHANGE FOR ENTREPRENEURS PODCAST
Listen to a variety of in-depth conversations with thought leaders and innovators on Season 4 of The Exchange for Entrepreneurs Podcast. You can find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and more.
Tune in: blog.thecse.com/cse-podcasts
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Tune In
Check out the CSE’s content hub for capital markets news, trends, and insights
The Market this Month Podcast
Join co-hosts Anna Serin from the CSE and Bruce Campbell from StoneCastle Investment Management for our new monthly podcast, The Market this Month, presented in partnership with Stockhouse, where we discuss trends in the junior and small-cap markets, including tariffs, interest rates, and news from CSE listed companies.
Sol Strategies’ Issuer Update Clip
We caught up with Sol Strategies (CSE:HODL) CEO Leah Wald for an engaging discussion on institutional staking, validator infrastructure, and strategic investments within the Solana blockchain and ecosystem. The conversation delves into its recent acquisitions, partnerships, and role in the 3iQ Solana Staking ETF.
Summit on Responsible Investment Playlist
Catch up on all Summit on Responsible Investment (SoRI) content with our YouTube playlist, and learn about the future of sustainable mining, botanical synthesis technology, ESG from a mining lens, fintech and sustainable investing, and many more fascinating topics. Plus, subscribe to stay tuned for more videos coming soon.
Spirit Blockchain Capital’s Issuer Update Clip
Spirit Blockchain Capital (CSE:SPIR) CEO Lewis Bateman joined us to share the company’s bold vision for the future of blockchain finance, including the acquisition of Dogecoin Portfolio Holding, its strategic base in Switzerland, and the upcoming launch of its tokenization platform.
MORE CONTENT ON CSE TV
Subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch new episodes and replays: youtube.com/CSETV
Upcoming Events
Meet the CSE team at the following key events
Precious Metals Summit Beaver Creek
Beaver Creek, Colorado | September 9-12
This premier independent investment conference focuses on explorers, developers, and emerging producers of gold, silver, and platinum group metals, bringing together senior precious metals companies representing the world’s mining and mineral exploration sectors.
Going Public and Raising Capital in Canada
Halifax, Nova Scotia | September 16
Our popular Going Public event returns this September, and the CSE is pleased to head back to Halifax to host. Attendees will enjoy a series of expert presentations that will explore topics surrounding opportunities and strategies for successfully entering the public markets in Canada.
International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC)
Sydney, Australia | October 21-23
We’re looking forward to heading back to IMARC, one of Australia’s largest events for mining professionals. This world-class conference unites some of the most influential people in the mining industry and offers programming across nine concurrent conferences covering the entire mining value chain.
Bay Street Rides FAR
Toronto, Ontario | September 27
The CSE is proud to once again participate and sponsor Bay Street Rides FAR in support of Autism Science Foundation Canada. Join us for a day of family-friendly biking or walking to raise money for autism awareness, research, and resources.
The 64th WFE General Assembly & Annual Meeting
Istanbul, Türkiye | October 21-23
We’re proud to be attending this exclusive World Federation of Exchanges event, where we’ll be joining fellow leaders of global exchanges, as well as regulatory authorities, industry experts from academia, and the media, for in-depth discussions on major issues surrounding the exchange industry.
For more information about these and other events we’re attending across the year, visit go.thecse.com/events
If you’d like to schedule a meeting with us at an event we’re attending, email the CSE at events@thecse.com
Sona Nanotech
A mission to make cancer treatment more effective with fewer side effects
By Ian Lyall
Cancer is an oftentimes fatal condition that has touched most people’s lives directly or indirectly. And while there are treatments available, depending on the type of cancer in question and how advanced it is, much of the time they do not work.
Traditional treatments such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy are well understood. When administered in a timely manner for an amenable form of the disease, they perform credibly. But they can be tough on the body and leave lingering side effects.
Beyond this, efficacy can be patchy. Take immunotherapy, now seen as the gold standard for cancer treatment – response rates range between 15% and 35%, depending on the drug and tumour type. Toxicity is also a problem in around 20% of patients.
The broader research into drug efficacy paints a similar picture across different classes of treatment. The problem is not with medication per se. It lies with the nature of cancer itself and the patient’s immune system.
Cancer is not a single defined disease, but a cluster of them that have learned how to fool the human immune system. Even within cancers of a similar type, presentation can vary in ways almost as unique as the DNA that defines us.
As researchers have deepened their understanding of cancer, the idea of a silver bullet treatment has faded. Instead, physicians now
favour a more nuanced approach, although we have yet to see truly personalized cancer medicine to date.
Halifax-based Sona Nanotech (CSE:SONA; OTCQB:SNANF) believes it may have uncovered a nanotech-based approach that could have broader application than many current frontline treatments, working across a range of solid tumours to kill them by leveraging the immune system’s natural defences. It is also highly targeted in its administration, avoiding the collateral damage that traditional chemotherapies and radiotherapies inflict on healthy tissue.
Sona Nanotech’s advance emerged from an idea conceived by Dr. Kulbir Singh and Dr. Gerrard Marangoni of St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia. It centres on gold nanorods, a technology ripe with potential but historically fraught with drawbacks.
A key impediment has been overcome through extensive R&D work at Sona, led by Singh, which now forms the core intellectual property of the business: the nanorods have been rendered biocompatible, which makes them a very promising candidate for in-human use.
“Lots of people make nanoparticles, and lots of people make nanorods. We're the only ones who make nanorods at scale that are biocompatible, so they're ideally suited to what we want to do with them,” says
Sona Nanotech Chief Executive Officer David Regan.
As part of a process called targeted hyperthermia therapy (THT), a solution containing hundreds of billions of these tiny particles, undetectable under a regular lab microscope, is injected directly into a solid tumour.
system by presenting tumour antigens (distress-signalling biomolecules) to the patient’s immune system, which otherwise would be kept hidden by the cancer tumour.
This opens the door to treating so-called "cold" tumours that are not recognized by the body’s diseasefighting T cells.
the therapy on melanoma, breast, and colorectal cancers. Mice were given a single injection of gold nanorods, which were then heated using a near-infrared laser. This gentle heat destroyed cancer cells and exposed hidden markers that triggered an immune response.
People think of clinical trials as being tens of millions of dollars. We have a path that is a fraction of that, which we think could be very exciting.
— Regan “
A near-infrared light (NIR) source then activates the particles, heating the tumour from within. Due to its non-ionizing nature, NIR light is harmless to human tissue and can penetrate the skin. For example, an oximeter that is pressed to the finger for oxygen testing uses NIR light.
The precision and temperature control are such that only the malignant area is affected, sparing surrounding healthy tissue.
“Our current ways of killing cancer are brutish in terms you, and even I, can’t comprehend,” says Regan. “Chemo is, of course, but even radiation does a lot of damage, and surgery has huge risks.”
“The idea behind this is we heat the tumour gently from the inside out, and we control the temperature very carefully at around 45°C, in which case you're only harming cancer cells, not healthy cells, because cancer cells have a lower tolerance for the heat they can withstand.”
In animal models, this approach not only shrinks tumours and kills cancer cells but also stimulates the immune
These cold tumours are also where all current immunotherapies, such as Merck’s blockbuster Keytruda, struggle.
Another potential strength of Sona’s technology is its ability to carry immunotherapy drug molecules on the tiny nanoparticles. This raises the prospect of further enhancement of the technology.
This approach fits with one of the current trends in cancer research: antibody-drug conjugates that bring together therapies to create more effective treatments.
Regan also points to its potential use as a neoadjuvant therapy, a treatment given before a primary treatment that enhances the efficacy of drugs.
All of this is promising in theory. But how far along the research and development curve has Sona progressed?
The company is on the cusp of a first-in-human feasibility study, which may bring it to the attention of the industry’s key opinion leaders.
Before reaching this point, significant research was conducted, testing
In colorectal and breast cancer models, combining THT with leading immunotherapy drugs led to near-complete tumour elimination, whereas the drugs alone had little effect. In the melanoma model, THT produced a rare abscopal effect: even tumours not directly treated began to shrink.
Gene activity tests confirmed that THT strongly activated the immune system, but without the toxicity often associated with other treatments.
The next step is a first-in-human deployment of the technology in around 10 people with advanced melanoma that has resisted traditional treatment. The aim is to demonstrate safety and immune-activating potential. Skin tumours are to be chosen partly for practical reasons, as they are accessible for injection and imaging.
While melanoma is typically immunogenically "hot" and responsive to immunotherapy, some late-stage melanomas can become "cold" due to immune evasion mechanisms, leading to poor responses to current drugs.
The study's primary endpoint is safety. Researchers will monitor how
well patients tolerate two applications of THT delivered a week apart. Secondary and exploratory endpoints will assess tumour size and immune system activity, including changes in immune cell populations and cytokine levels.
Top-line results could emerge as early as mid to late summer, according to Regan. In the meantime, Sona will present a poster at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting in Chicago. Additional peer-reviewed papers will follow its debut publication in the journal “Frontiers in Immunology,” which has already drawn interest from researchers and clinicians.
Regan and his team are also looking to expand the pipeline of uses for the biocompatible gold nanorod platform. This will not only boost Sona’s research reputation but also enhance its appeal to potential collaboration partners.
There is also the issue of regulatory pathway. Traditional drugs undergo a three-stage approval process that is both onerous and expensive, often requiring funding from a large pharmaceutical partner.
Given that Sona’s technology is a medical device, it remains to be seen whether it will be eligible for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s 510(k) route, a potentially expedited and cost-effective path to market. That decision point will not come until feasibility study results are available and there is clarity on whether the approach qualifies as a device.
In a field where new cancer treatments can cost hundreds of millions of development dollars only to fail at an intermediate hurdle, Sona has so far progressed on a relative shoestring. It is expected that the $3.1 million friends-and-family funding round completed in the fall of 2024 will carry the company through its feasibility study.
If successful, that could provide a platform to attract further investment. The next step would be a pilot study. “We're already well down the road on setting that up, and we think that would be very well received,” says Regan.
“People think of clinical trials as being tens of millions of dollars. We have a path that is a fraction of that, which we think could be very exciting. And most importantly, we're looking to accelerate this process.”
David Regan Chief Executive Officer
Company
Sona Nanotech
CSE Symbol
SONA
Listing Date
October 4, 2018
Website sonanano.com
As Managing Editor at Proactive, Ian Lyall oversees an editorial and broadcast team spanning six offices and three continents. Prior to Proactive, he served as News Editor and Investment Editor at the Daily Mail. He also worked as UK Editor for AFX News, and as an equities reporter for Dow Jones Newswires.
Treatment.com AI
On the front line of the quest to enhance healthcare system efficiency
By Oliver Haill
I t depends on whom you ask, but healthcare in most countries feels, if not broken, then at the very least in critical condition. In Canada, the U.S., the U.K., and beyond, our medical ecosystems are strained by bureaucracy, old ways of working, inflation, workforce shortages, and ageing patient populations.
The promise of technology and artificial intelligence has loomed for years as a potential remedy. Social distancing measures imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic acted as a catalyst, accelerating the adoption of digital tools to keep patients out of emergency rooms.
There have been meaningful advances before and since, from virtual triage to AI-powered symptom checkers, but doctors and healthcare organizations remain hungry for tools that save time and resources.
Treatment.com AI (CSE:TRUE; OTCQB:TREIF) is an emerging Canadian company that has developed an AI platform to do just this, and its scope is nothing if not impressive.
The Vancouver-based team believes it has built one of the most robust, clinically grounded diagnostic AI tools on the market, with clinically validated content and proprietary algorithms being the platform’s key differentiators.
Fuelling the company’s diagnostic engine is what Treatment.com AI calls the Global Library of Medicine (GLM), which was built over the course of more than seven years, drawing on more than
40,000 hours of clinical expertise and input from hundreds of doctors globally.
This means that unlike generic large language models (LLMs), which scrape unverified information from the internet, the Treatment.com AI engine is designed to minimize bias, making it a more reliable and adaptive tool for healthcare.
"The GLM has the ability to ‘think like a doctor’ and diagnose and ask questions in the most logical and necessary way regarding more than 1,000 diseases among the most common ones you'd see in a clinic or a hospital," says Treatment.com AI Chief Executive Officer Dr. Essam Hamza, a family doctor turned technology entrepreneur who joined the company in late 2023. Hamza adds that the GLM knowledge base encompasses “over 15,000 symptoms and risk factors.”
One application of the platform that the company believes will be attractive for clinics and hospitals is an AI assistant (either through voice or text) that takes calls from patients and guides them through a structured diagnostic conversation. Triaging symptoms, suggesting assessments, and assisting with diagnosis are all parts of the process, as well as signalling possible red flags early. It can take a medical note and, where necessary, communicate with electronic medical record systems.
The GLM is designed to complement, rather than replace, healthcare professionals. It does not issue its diagnosis to the patient but rather conveys the
Image
information to a licensed practitioner, which makes follow-up quicker and minimizes risk and associated potential liability as compared to a consumer-facing-only product.
Interestingly, Hamza originally got to know the company as an investor. "I really loved the technology, but the commercial side was missing, and I could see the potential," he explains.
Under his lead, Treatment.com AI has moved away from its early direct-to-consumer model and is now focused on embedding its technology in hospitals, health systems, and insurers in more of a “B2B2C” model.
Other changes included adding Chief Financial Officer David Worner, who brings technology industry and M&A experience, and Chief Operating Officer Richard Atkins, who spearheaded sales for CloudMD and before that was at Health Navigator, which Amazon acquired to launch Amazon Care.
Even with these enhancements, Hamza acknowledges that Treatment.com AI is not the only entity betting that AI can help solve inefficiencies in the global healthcare ecosystem. He is thus making acquisitions to provide proof that the company’s AI performs in the real world and also to broaden the company's commercial footprint.
The first addition, announced in January of this year, was Alea Health, which has a proprietary online therapy platform that
leverages AI-driven tools to address mental health challenges. The platform incorporates conversational AI and voice technology to optimize patient intake and follow-up processes, thereby reducing administrative burdens and enhancing patient engagement. The technology and skills within the team will be utilized across the Treatment.com AI group.
The latest addition to Treatment.com AI, coming aboard in April, is Rocket Doctor, a fast-growing platform for patients to access care and MDs to launch their own practices largely virtually, now with hybridized in-person models across North America.
Founded by Toronto-based emergency physician Dr. William Cherniak, Rocket Doctor has helped empower over 300 MDs to provide care to over 600,000 patient visits across North America. Cherniak calls it a "Shopify for doctors" and says it caters to both urban and underserved rural patients in Canada and the U.S.
"We're not just a virtual walk-in clinic," says Cherniak. "We’re leveraging the most advanced technology to empower physicians to practice independently, integrating family medicine, primary, specialty, as well as urgent care, keeping hundreds of thousands of people out of hospital."
For Hamza, Rocket Doctor was both a strategic fit and one generating revenue.
“ We’re leveraging the most advanced technology to empower physicians [...] keeping hundreds of thousands of people out of hospital.
— Hamza
Essam
Chief Executive Officer
Dr.
Hamza
"We're treating Rocket Doctor almost as a customer. It's a proof of concept for our AI,” Hamza says. “It allows us to optimize performance at scale and also help improve the bottom line."
It also aligns with Treatment.com AI's commercial approach. "We don’t go door to door to sell to individual doctors," says Hamza. "We're at the point now where we're ready and looking to sign contracts with healthcare organizations, insurers – anyone with thousands of doctors or millions of patients. Having built a robust cloudbased solution and graduating as one of only two Canadian start-ups in Google’s Inaugural AI First Accelerator, Rocket Doctor has the infrastructure and customer base that can use our AI technology and show it works."
Rocket Doctor has contracts with individual physicians and hospitals across Canada, as well as in California, New York, and Maryland, working with managed care plans and independent physician associations. In January, it executed a contract to go in-network with
a 450,000-member managed care plan of Medicaid in California. In March, it was awarded a new clinical contract with its partner EngageWell IPA for a US$1 million five-year CVS Health Foundation grant, providing care to seniors for cardiovascular, cognitive, and mental health.
"Rocket Doctor is not just for proof of concept. I like them as a company, and they're growing well independently and have a great brand," says Hamza. "We're not changing that platform at all. We're going to add fuel to the fire of that growth, make some introductions to improve the top line, and use our technology to try and help the bottom line too."
Treatment.com AI is also building out a suite of complementary products using its core AI engine. These include a pharmacy triage system and a medical education tool, which is already in use at the University of Minnesota.
"We're not a tech roll-up," Hamza says. "We’ll only acquire companies that truly complement our strategy.
If we buy something, it's because we believe it adds a critical piece we don’t already have."
Rocket Doctor is rapidly growing meaningful software as a service (SaaS) revenue, with gross margins near the high end of the 80% range, according to Hamza, who notes a path to doubling revenue in the first year, building on its 88% year-on-year increase in 2024. Revenue recognition for Treatment.com AI from the Rocket Doctor subsidiary is expected to begin in the second quarter, ending August 31.
"We’re moving like we’re a $100 million Annual Recurring Review (ARR) company and growing rapidly into those clothes," he says.
If Treatment.com AI can continue its progress and keep turning clinical credibility into commercial contracts, the company will deliver on its mission to improve access for patients, reduce administrative overhead for healthcare professionals, and enable providers to deliver more efficient and profitable healthcare systems.
Oliver Haill has been writing about companies and markets since the early 2000s, beginning as a financial journalist at Growth Company Investor and later becoming its section editor and head of research. Before joining Proactive, he worked as a freelance reporter contributing to the Financial Times Group, ITV, Press Association, Reuters and several other high-profile publishers.
Image credit: Shutterstock
Metaguest.AI
Leading hotel brands look to Canadian AI for better stays, operating efficiency, and incremental revenue
By Peter Murray
Anyone who stays in hotels, be it on vacation or for business, knows one thing: the experience from one hotel to another is never the same. Multiple factors influence satisfaction for hotel guests, but oftentimes it’s little conveniences and the perception of a hotel team all pulling in the same direction that add up to a great stay.
Metaguest.AI (CSE:METG; OTCQB: MGSTF) Chief Executive Officer Tony Comparelli sees this dynamic from an insider’s perspective, as his company’s AI-based systems help hotels to operate more efficiently, enhance the guest experience, and maximize opportunities to generate revenue beyond room fees. The performance of their initial platform has won the confidence of some of the world’s top hotel brands, confirmed by a long list of new locations ready to come on board.
Comparelli spoke with Canadian Securities Exchange Magazine in early April about the technology behind Metaguest.AI’s rapid growth, his expectations for continued expansion, and how major hotels helped the
young company refine its products early on.
Metaguest.AI uses advanced AI to improve the experience people have when staying at hotels. What aspects of the hotel industry guide the development of your products?
Through our journey of discovery in this industry, we learned that hotel operators face a number of issues. A combination of staffing challenges and finding appropriate team members so that you can operate efficiently is one.
But more importantly, hotels are pretty technology deficient. They use a variety of systems to run their operations, including different booking systems, property management systems, hospitality systems, and room service systems. Some are integrated but most are fragmented – they don’t talk to each other. It makes it difficult to operate efficiently.
What does Metaguest.AI do for hotels to make them run better?
Every business has a driver at the heart of what it does, and with hospitality
Tony Comparelli Chief Executive Officer
Listing Date
September 29, 2021 Website
the driver is always the guest. At the core of everything Metaguest.AI does is improving and enhancing the guest experience, from check-in to check-out. Ultimately, if a hotel continually delivers a positive guest experience, it influences booking rates and frequency.
Metaguest.AI installs an AI framework in every hotel we work with. It is unique to that hotel, and it learns the behaviour and habits of its guests, such as requests and responses and the things needed to make the guest’s stay more enjoyable.
As with any AI model, our technology self-learns and becomes more efficient in dealing with guest requests.
For example, I need towels in my room. What Metaguest.AI does for a hotel, using the platform at that level, is to take the request by answering the phone or through the guest interface. How many towels do you need, and what is your room number? The system will then communicate with the hotel inventory system and might determine that there are towels on the fifth floor. It will log the request, dispatch the housekeeper, and give them instructions, all without any human interaction.
It can also do everything from booking an event for you to booking a restaurant reservation and your transportation. It will connect all of the dots and as a guest you can interact with it in 31 languages. It will ask questions to learn about your request and then take care of it on your behalf.
Are you consistently improving the product? If so, how does that work? Is it in reaction to customer feedback?
When we install a framework in a hotel, we put in a language model that we call a “data set” that is unique to that hotel. We first have to monitor the system to make sure that it is not providing information that is not relevant to the hotel. We tweak the algorithms, and it will self-correct. In other words, every time there is an interaction with the system by a guest or employee, it will remember everything that happened – how it delivered and what the response was. And it will get better at doing things. It even generates code to fix the algorithm in order to be more efficient – it is that intelligent. There has not been an innovation in hospitality that is so game-changing since LodgeNet 25 years ago.
You have many partners using the product now. Can you share some names with us?
In 2022, we were looking for hotels that would pilot the technology and test the product. We went to Manhattan and identified eight properties, and these were brands that you would know within the Marriott and Hilton families that worked with us to refine it.
In April 2023, the platform was ready for general use. We spoke with groups in the Manhattan area and quickly were able to sign a number of hotels across all brands. Any brand you can think of, we have at least one property using our platform: Hyatt, Hilton, Holiday Inn, Marriott, Radisson – you name it.
We didn’t expect it, but our early expansion came through one hotel operator talking to another hotel operator, and it just started to spread. Currently, we don’t have an outbound hotel marketing team. We have 310 hotels on the platform right now and over 700 on the waitlist. So, it has been an amazing journey from eight hotels in the spring of 2024 to now 300 hotels. And we are looking to grow to 3,000 hotels by the end of 2026.
Of the 300 hotels we have, not one has come back and said our system was not for them. Attrition has been zero. We
“
Currently, we are generating about $6,000 per hotel per year based on the business subscribers that support their local hotels. Comparelli
attribute that to working with hotels that are forward-thinking, want to innovate and want to provide the best service to the guest.
What is your model from a sales perspective? This sounds like a perfect business for generating recurring revenue.
We have a three-phase revenue approach. Phase 1 is what we are in today, and it is called Digital Concierge. All of the revenue is generated through businesses that are local to the hotel and generate revenue through the hotel. So, if a hotel does not have a gym, it has a partnership with a gym or a spa or restaurants in the area. We work with those local businesses, and the businesses pay to access the guests at the hotel during their stay.
We share part of that revenue with our hotel partners.
Phase 2 is linked to automating the enterprise, where the hotel itself will pay a fee to automate within its environment. It ranges from $1 per room per month up to $20 per room per month, depending on all the enterprise systems they want to connect.
Phase 3 is the supply chain. We have 80 hotels in Manhattan right now, for example, and we will then allow the supply chain – the food companies, the linen companies, the service companies – to pay a fee to access information to make their operations more efficient.
Currently, we are generating about $6,000 per hotel per year based on the business subscribers that support their local hotels.
What does the future hold for Metaguest.AI?
The hospitality industry is not unique in the markets we go into. The U.S. market is no different from the Canadian market or the South American market or the global market for that matter. We see a global expansion strategy that allows us to license our technology in markets all over the world and become a major player in the hospitality industry.
In the next two years, our focus is to grow in the U.S. and have a dominant position in our markets, like we have in New York City and South Florida. Then we can look at expansion across the world. We already have hotel partners with international presence that are European or Dubai-based and are eager to welcome our technology to their markets.
About the Author
Peter Murray oversees a national editorial and broadcasting team as President of Proactive Canada. He spent several years managing the English news desk at Nikkei’s head office in Tokyo and has worked with research teams at Asian and European investment banks. Peter is based in Vancouver.
BioMark Diagnostics
Early cancer detection using biomarkers could save lives and healthcare system resources
By Angela Harmantas
Early detection is critical to improving survival rates and treatment outcomes for cancer patients, but traditional approaches such as mammograms, lowdose CT scans, and biopsies, while effective, come with challenges. High costs, accessibility, invasiveness, and the potential for false positives are some of the factors that can lead to delays in diagnosis or unnecessary treatments.
To help overcome these hurdles, BioMark Diagnostics (CSE:BUX; OTCQB:BMKDF) is exploring metabolomics leveraging AI and other complementary technologies with the potential to revolutionize early cancer detection.
Metabolomics studies the byproducts of metabolic processes in the body. Its application in cancer research means a non-invasive and highly sensitive method of early detection could be on the horizon. By identifying the distinct metabolic fingerprints left behind by cancer cells, this technology can detect the disease at much earlier stages, even before physical symptoms emerge.
As BioMark Chief Executive Officer Rashid Bux explained recently to Canadian Securities Exchange Magazine, the company’s
innovative work could pave the way to a future where early cancer detection is reliable, economical, accessible, and patient-friendly.
The idea of detecting cancer early using a simple fluid test sounds like a holy grail. What set BioMark on this path?
For me, it was a deeply personal journey. My sister was diagnosed with late-stage cervical cancer, and she passed away two years later. I found a technology that was based on using a drug approved for Parkinson's and influenza to regulate an enzyme called spermidine/spermine N-1-acetyltransferase (SSAT), which is highly expressed in certain cancers. The idea of repurposing this drug to regulate this enzyme for cancer detection was novel and had never been explored before.
When I discovered the potential of this technology, it resonated with me emotionally. I had just lost my sister, and this was an innovative solution being developed right here in Canada. I licensed the technology 14 years ago.
Over the years, we’ve adapted this technology to track tumour burden, including brain cancer. We’ve focused a lot of effort on glioblastoma (GBM), where patients typically
only survive for about 15 months once diagnosed. Over the past four years, we received $1.5 million in funding from the Government of Canada’s Canadian Institutes of Health Research Program and Research Manitoba to explore tumour activity in the brain and potential therapeutic targets that can be helpful in treating GBM patients.
How did you come to focus on liquid biopsy as a tool for early cancer detection?
In 2015 to 2016, while studying lung cancer, we found that we could identify cancer signatures, both of late- and early-stage cancer, using metabolomics. We presented strong data at the Annual International Conference of the Metabolomics Society which led us to assess it for clinical applications.
Metabolomics involves studying small molecules that are byproducts of metabolic reactions. Cancer reprograms the body’s metabolic pathways, leaving behind distinct signatures that can appear early on. This approach is effective because, like an income statement for your cells, it gives us a snapshot of
pathological cell functioning, allowing for early cancer detection, which is crucial for survival.
You’ve flipped the script on traditional cancer diagnostics by targeting metabolites instead of imaging. Why is metabolomics the future of cancer detection?
One key advantage is that metabolomics only requires a small sample size – around 20 milligrams of blood – making the process less invasive. Take lung cancer as an example. Current detection methods, such as mammograms for breast cancer or CT scans for lung cancer, are expensive and have limitations. The result is a cumbersome, complex diagnostic process. Our approach complements existing methods such as these.
Our goal is to offer a test with high sensitivity and accuracy that can act as a risk predictor. For instance, the test could flag individuals at high risk, directing them to undergo a CT scan. This could reduce unnecessary tests and make diagnoses more efficient for radiologists, who often see benign nodules in CT scans but can’t differentiate them
Rashid Bux Chief Executive Officer
BioMark Diagnostics
CSE Symbol
BUX
Listing Date November 3, 2014
Website biomarkdiagnostics.com
from malignant ones. By identifying benign nodules with confidence, we would help avoid unnecessary biopsies.
How is your approach to metabolomics being integrated into current clinical practices? Where is it being applied, and could you share some notable success stories or key findings from your recent studies?
Currently, there hasn’t been a large-scale clinical trial in this area, but we recently completed one of the largest metabolomics trials, involving 6,000 patients. Supported by AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec (IUCPQ), this trial began in April 2022. We successfully completed the trial in two years across seven hospitals in Québec.
We’re now analyzing the data from these patients, and we’ve already received results from one group whose diagnoses have been confirmed. The second group includes about 3,000 prospective patients who will be monitored over the next one to two years. The effects of screening programs take time to show, as it involves following
up with patients using CT scans and other methods.
This trial is significant because we are combining metabolomics with other technologies, including genomics (which studies genetic mutations) and polygenic risk scores (which assess cancer risk based on family history). We’re also integrating radiomics, which uses imaging data and AI. By blending these technologies, we’re creating a versatile diagnostic platform.
In addition, we’ve conducted retrospective studies from 2019 to 2021, validating a panel of biomarkers for lung cancer. These studies produced promising results and piqued AstraZeneca’s interest, leading to the expansion of our study from 260 to 900 patients. We even included patients with other lung diseases, such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and COVID-19, because these conditions share many pathways with lung cancer. Our test was able to distinguish between lung
With its scalable design, high throughput capacity, and rapid turnaround, our soon-to-beoperational lab is poised for rapid growth to meet market demand. — Bux “
disease and lung cancer, which we presented at the American Society for Clinical Oncology.
We’ve maintained a sensitivity of 91% to 92% in our assay for early-stage lung cancer, although specificity dropped slightly, which is expected, when including both lung diseases and cancers. Nonetheless, the data remains strong.
You’ve mentioned democratizing cancer detection and putting these tools in the hands of those who can help make early diagnoses and improve infrastructure. What does that look like in practical terms, especially regarding licensing and commercialization?
We are focusing on collaborating with key opinion leaders and patient advocates to accelerate the adoption of this technology. A crucial part of this journey is patient navigation. Early detection is only effective if patients have access to further diagnostic steps and treatment. Many communities lack access to advanced cancer detection tools, so we’re partnering with National Cancer Institute-designated centres of excellence, which have active screening programs across the U.S. There are 33 such centres of excellence.
We’re collaborating with major centres like the James Cancer Center in Columbus, which services around 90 community hospitals. By collaborating with these institutions, we can help absorb the demand for cancer detection, especially in areas lacking infrastructure.
We’re also working internationally with European key opinion leaders to raise awareness and have been in discussions with biopharma companies to see
how our technology can complement their early cancer detection efforts. This is a complex process, but we’re making progress.
How far are we from seeing this technology in everyday use, particularly in the lab?
We are focused on getting our lab certified. We’ve built significant infrastructure in Québec City, collaborating with IUCPQ, which is one of the top centres for lung disease and cardiology. By August of this year, we expect our lab to be ISO 15189 certified, which would allow us to accept samples from around the world. We’re also working toward obtaining Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) certification for lab-developed tests for the U.S. market.
Our strategy for entering the U.S. market is to acquire a lab, partner with existing centres, or license our technology. However, our primary goal is to establish our own labs, as the U.S. market holds immense potential. With 16 million patients requiring annual screening and a current market penetration of just 5%, even capturing a small share of this market would generate substantial revenue.
With its scalable design, high throughput capacity, and rapid turnaround, our soon-to-be-operational lab is poised for rapid growth to meet market demand. BioMark's versatile technology platform offers promising solutions for breast cancer, including early detection and key biomarker assessment (subtype, receptor status) vital for clinical decisions. These results have been presented at several leading breast cancer symposiums.
Angela Harmantas is a senior financial journalist with Proactive. She has 10 years’ experience covering the equity markets in North America, with a particular focus on junior resource stocks. Angela has reported from multiple countries, including Canada, the U.S., Australia, Brazil, Ghana and South Africa. Prior to joining Proactive, she worked in investor relations and led the foreign direct investment program in Canada for the Swedish government. Angela currently resides in Toronto.
Image credit: Pexels
Railtown AI Technologies
Advanced AI platform helps software developers tackle a trillion-dollar problem
By Emily Jarvie
Demand for software continues to rise in our increasingly digitized world as companies across all industrial sectors look to make their operations more efficient. Little do most people know that software developers themselves rely on other technologies to help them be more effective in the development, building, and maintenance of software applications.
Railtown AI Technologies (CSE:RAIL; OTCQB:RLAIF) is one of the companies tackling the inefficiencies in how software applications are developed, built, scaled, managed, and maintained. Using innovative artificial intelligence developed in-house, Railtown's suite of technology will identify problems within the software development and deployment process, providing knowledge and insight that includes suggested fixes and tests to increase the velocity of resolution.
Chief Executive Officer Cory Brandolini co-founded Railtown with a clear goal: to create an AI solution that transforms and elevates the end-to-end software development process.
“My co-founders and I have been building software applications for 30 years,
and as a result, we have built applications across many verticals and have used most development methodologies in doing so,” Brandolini tells Canadian Securities Exchange Magazine
“We have experienced the best and worst of those methods, and it was from that experience that we knew we wanted to build the tools and frameworks to tackle all of the negative and inefficient software engineering and maintenance processes. Our Conductr AI model is the result of that work and is now positioned to be a big player in the AI-driven conversion of traditional methodologies of software development into a more efficient approach.”
“We wanted to create a very intelligent agent that not only understood the design aspects of what you were trying to build but also the running and the maintenance of what you built as well.”
Brandolini explains that all of the work that goes into software development still relies on talented developers. “Human beings make up the bulk of the workload that goes into designing, building, training, deploying, managing, and maintaining a software application,” he says. “It’s a
“ Railtown and AIP’s goal, along with the Canadian government’s AI program initiatives, is to build a strong Canadian ecosystem for Canadian companies [...].
— Brandolini
manpower-heavy load to run large, scalable software applications. The goal is to alleviate the non-productive tasks from the developer workload and to free them up and assist them in the creation of great new game-changing applications.”
With reams of data to examine, Railtown has been able to determine that its technology can save over eight hours of a human developer’s time per week. Apply that metric across a developer team and a full work year, and the potential to recapture incredible amounts of corporate value becomes obvious.
Railtown operates in a high-growth space where more than 30 million software developers work globally, with that number climbing by 3% to 4% every year. Not surprisingly, the developer tools market is projected to expand from US$6.6 billion in 2024 to US$22.6 billion by 2033, according to Business Research Insights.
For Railtown, the opportunity lies in reducing losses caused by inefficient software development. “It works out to be about 40% of your resources in non-productive tasks,” Brandolini explains.
“Our goal was to be able to create a very intelligent, agentic solution that could do a significant amount of the non-productive tasks in order to keep developers building and running new products, as opposed to fixing and maintaining and constantly reviewing historical technical debt.”
In the United States alone, the cost of inferior software was estimated to be US$2.4 trillion in 2022 by the Consortium for Information & Software Quality (CISQ). Related losses due to cybercrime and problems in software supply chains were cited, as was the term “technical debt,” which is the implied cost of future work to fix sub-optimal software.
At scale, software bugs can lead to extremely costly problems, with the millions of automobiles being recalled in 2024 due to software issues being just one example.
A flawed software update by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike in July 2024 disrupted everything from personal laptops to enterprise infrastructure. One estimate put the resulting losses for Fortune 500 companies at over US$5 billion.
Railtown is helping to address these types of problems with its proprietary Application General Intelligence (AGI) platform, Conductr.
The system is designed to support the entire software development lifecycle. It ingests a wide range of data sources, including developer tickets, code repositories, deployment logs, and documentation, and uses the information to understand how a software application works.
From there, Conductr can automate many of the repetitive, time-consuming tasks developers typically manage. This includes generating reports and release notes, identifying root causes of bugs, writing code fixes, creating documentation, and deploying tests.
As the platform learns more about an application’s architecture and workflows, it can begin to predict issues before they arise and recommend fixes, helping software development teams to reduce technical debt and maintain code quality at scale.
Unlike other developer tools that are often fragmented and domain-specific, Conductr serves as a unified platform that connects all aspects of software development, automating tasks across teams and workflows to improve productivity and collaboration. The platform evolves with the application it supports to help ensure that development goes as smoothly as possible from start to finish.
Importantly, Railtown’s platform integrates seamlessly with popular integrated development environment (IDE) and continuous integration and continuous delivery/deployment (CI/ CD) tools, such as Visual Studio, VS Code, Azure DevOps, Jira, GitHub, Microsoft Teams, Slack, Zapier, and many more, enabling smooth workflow automation.
The company’s revenue model is based on recurring software as a service (SaaS) subscriptions, which can support predictable cash flow and scalability as more organizations adopt the platform.
Railtown recently announced that it has entered into a memorandum of understanding to acquire AI Partnerships Corporation (AIP). AIP has a network of over 160 AI-SaaS–based Affiliate companies, the majority of them in Canada, that provide AI-driven vertical market solutions and development tools.
Toronto-based AIP’s Affiliates operate in 13 countries and serve over 5,000 clients in industries such as fintech, healthcare, manufacturing, and supply chain management. The company’s “AIP Central” platform connects the Affiliates, allowing them to subscribe to each other’s services and pursue opportunities together in a shared environment.
Railtown sees significant value in leveraging the AIP Affiliate sales network and also in the opportunity to add a common platform layer for all Affiliates and their end-user clients to utilize.
According to Brandolini, bringing AIP and Railtown together will offer clients not just a marketplace but also access to the core infrastructure and tools needed to build and deploy AI applications through the frameworks and services that Railtown has created. The approach is similar to how Microsoft offers both a partner network and access to its technical services, such as Azure Cloud, Azure DevOps, Visual Studio, GitHub, and more.
Brandolini also emphasizes that the acquisition enhances Railtown’s strategic positioning in the Canadian AI ecosystem.
“Railtown and AIP’s goal, along with the Canadian government’s AI program initiatives, is to build a strong Canadian ecosystem for Canadian companies to build and deploy AIbased technologies in Canada first, so they don’t immediately need to look south of the border, as well as being able to address data sovereignty concerns,” states Brandolini.
“So, this was very much a sovereign AI ideology that we have here at Railtown and AIP as Canadian companies, to be able to provide as many of the most important services, tools, and frameworks that Canadian AI companies need and want.”
With its AI-powered platform and expanding network, Railtown is not only addressing the costly inefficiencies of software development today but shaping how AI tools will support the next generation of work in this vitally important industry.
Cory Brandolini Chief Executive Officer
Company
Railtown AI Technologies
CSE Symbol
RAIL
Listing Date
November 29, 2021
Website
railtown.ai
Emily Jarvie began her career as a political journalist in Australia. After she relocated to Canada, she worked as a psychedelics journalist, reporting on business, legal and scientific developments before joining Proactive in 2022. Emily has worked as a reporter in Australia, Europe and Canada.
Emily Jarvie began her career as a political journalist in Australia. After she relocated to Canada, she worked as a psychedelics journalist, reporting on business, legal and scientific developments before joining Proactive in 2022. Emily has worked as a reporter in Australia, Europe and Canada. About the Author
FendX Technologies
Developing nanotech-based surface treatments to fend off harmful pathogens and save lives
By Angela Harmantas
The COVID-19 pandemic shined a powerful spotlight on the need to reduce pathogen transmission, particularly in high-risk settings such as hospitals, long-term care facilities, and busy public spaces. Studies indicating that most common infections are spread through direct contact with surfaces such as doors and handrails point to an area where innovation could make a big difference.
While cleaning undeniably enhances safety in high-traffic environments, it often can’t keep up with the flow of pathogens being transferred from people’s fingertips. Ontario-based FendX Technologies (CSE:FNDX; OTCQB: FDXTF) is looking to quite literally add a new layer of protection by using nanotechnology to help prevent disease-causing agents from adhering to surfaces in the first place.
FendX’s flagship product, a specially coated film called REPELWRAP film, is currently undergoing real-world testing to determine its effectiveness. Successful completion of the testing would mark a critical step toward the start of large-scale production.
In addition to REPELWRAP film, FendX is developing a sustainable, eco-friendly sponge designed to meet the demand for effective surface cleaning.
In this interview with Canadian Securities Exchange Magazine, FendX Chief Executive Officer Dr. Carolyn Myers shares insight into the technology behind the product line, the company's growth trajectory, and what can be done to better manage future global pandemics.
FendX is a leader in developing nanotechnology solutions to mitigate pathogen transmission. How do you foresee your technologies addressing the increasing demand for advanced contamination control, especially in high-risk industries?
About 80% of common infections are transmitted through touch, including some very dangerous pathogens. High-touch surfaces like railings, doorknobs, hospital equipment, and other surfaces can be major transmission sources. Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs), for example, are a huge issue. We anticipate that our products will be useful in many environments to reduce transmission.
Our focus is on building IP and a portfolio of products that can protect surfaces from contamination and the spread of potentially lethal pathogens. REPELWRAP film is our most advanced coating currently in real-world
testing. Our film is created by applying our nanotechnology to a plastic surface – kind of like Saran Wrap – to form a thin film coating. When applied to hightouch surfaces, the film prevents pathogens from sticking. So, if someone has contamination on their hands, it tends to stay on their hands rather than transferring to the surface, which in turn reduces person-to-person transmission.
In addition, we are in the formulation phase of developing a spray version of the film with the same properties, and we expect it to allow for broader use on a wider variety of surfaces.
We are very excited about the eco-friendly sponge. We recently signed a supply agreement and entered into a licence agreement for additional IP. The sponge is different from traditional sponges as it does not promote bacterial growth, is biodegradable, and does not contain any toxic plasticizers.
Let’s talk about the film first. Are you able to produce at scale now?
Yes, we have successfully automated the manufacturing process to coat thousands of feet of plastic in minutes. Between early 2021 and August 2024, we reformulated the coating for intermediate-scale production. We worked with Dunmore, a globally recognized film manufacturing company, along with
“ Our focus is on building IP and a portfolio of products that can protect surfaces from contamination and the spread of potentially lethal pathogens. Myers
McMaster University and consultants to make this possible.
With the production challenge met, you are now in the testing phase, is that correct?
That’s right. We are testing the film produced at Dunmore in real-world environments to confirm that it maintains its surface protection properties. We completed our first field test late last year, and the results, which we analyzed in early 2025, were positive. Based on those results, we plan to conduct more pilot tests, including locations like a fitness centre, a memory clinic, and a long-term care facility. We’re targeting multiple verticals, not just healthcare, to see where REPELWRAP film may have the most impact.
What’s the timeline for launching REPELWRAP film into the market?
After successful completion of the real-world testing, we will work toward finalizing full-scale manufacturing and establish our supply chain, including partnering with distributors for getting the final product to market.
Our plan calls for introducing the film in the Canadian market first. We plan to partner with manufacturers to produce the film, cut, and package it, and then we would enter partnerships to distribute through various channels. We’ve already signed a letter of intent with Sinelabs, a distributor that sells unique products to reduce microbial contamination in water systems. It could be a great synergy as they are focused on similar verticals. We anticipate the final film product will be available for distribution in the first half of 2026, followed by a launch in the U.S.
What about the eco-friendly sponge? How do you see this product enhancing FendX’s market position, and what differentiates it from traditional alternatives in terms of both functionality and sustainability?
The sponge is an exciting product for us. It effectively attracts and traps microbes when used with common surface cleaning agents. It is made using proprietary methods. It is synthetic, yet unlike traditional synthetic sponges, which don’t break down, our sponge is biodegradable. Also, it does not contain toxic plasticizers like phthalates.
Cellulose sponges tend to stain and smell because they promote bacterial growth, but ours doesn’t have those issues. I’ve been using one for months and it still looks and feels like new. It hasn’t discoloured or developed any odour. Our sponge can be washed and reused, offering a sustainable alternative for cleaning surfaces in consumer and commercial markets.
The eco-friendly sponge has unique properties that we anticipate will play an important role in the various markets we plan to target. Together with the North American household sponge market alone, currently valued at US$1.96 billion, we believe our sponge offers a potentially significant opportunity for FendX.
Additionally, our sponge material has FDA 510(k) approval in combination with a lotion used to neutralize chemical warfare skin exposure – an FDA application that was submitted by the U.S. Army. This approval offers additional opportunities to develop the sponge as a drug delivery device for the treatment of various skin conditions, including wound care.
It sounds like FendX has multiple paths to commercialization. How close are you to generating revenue from these products?
With the sponge, we expect to launch for use in the consumer market by the fourth quarter of this year, with the expectation of becoming revenue generating soon thereafter. The sponge’s eco-friendly aspect and its ability to work effectively with common cleaning agents give it a significant edge.
In addition, we continue to seek and evaluate additional products for acquisition or licensing to complement our current portfolio of products, including eco-friendly cleaning agents. We’re also exploring partnerships in the cleaning industry to maximize our reach.
With everything you’ve mentioned, it seems FendX is building a solid foundation for growth. Looking at the bigger picture, what do you think businesses need to do to better prepare for future pandemics or health crises?
It’s a tough question. I believe we’re in a world of self-denial, and as much as institutions like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization stress hygiene and prevention, many people believe COVID is a thing of the past. But it’s not. The next pandemic will likely be something new again, and I believe we’ll be in the same situation.
Then there’s antimicrobial resistance (AMR). It’s often referred to as the “silent pandemic” and has been a growing concern for decades. AMR occurs when bacteria, viruses, and fungi evolve to resist the medications used to kill them. As a result, infections that were once easy to treat are now becoming life-threatening. The impact of AMR is profound, with millions of deaths
Dr. Carolyn Myers Chief Executive Officer
Company
FendX Technologies
CSE Symbol
FNDX
Listing Date
March 20, 2023
Website fendxtech.com
annually, and projections indicate over 39 million deaths by 2050.
These are the reasons why technologies like the ones we’re developing are so important. I believe there needs to be a coordinated effort to develop solutions to contain the spread of pathogens. While we’ll never fully eliminate their spread, the potential exists to manage them with innovative solutions so that fewer people get infected in the first place.
That’s what drives my passion. Surfaces matter. You can clean them, but they’re only as clean as the method of your cleaning. That’s where solutions, like what we’re working on, may contribute to making a difference.
Angela Harmantas is a senior financial journalist with Proactive. She has 10 years’ experience covering the equity markets in North America, with a particular focus on junior resource stocks. Angela has reported from multiple countries, including Canada, the U.S., Australia, Brazil, Ghana and South Africa. Prior to joining Proactive, she worked in investor relations and led the foreign direct investment program in Canada for the Swedish government. Angela currently resides in Toronto.
SPOTLIGHT ON Melissa Robertson
CSE Event & Content
Manager Melissa Robertson
shares her journey to the capital markets and insights into the CSE’s thoughtfully curated content mix and events calendar
By Libby Shabada
How did your journey bring you to the CSE?
It really began as a long-time trip director for a Toronto-based event planning company, servicing a broad sector of corporate clients specializing in incentive trips, meetings and conferences, and major sporting events. I learned to think on my feet, navigating the challenges and thrills of executing top-tier experiences in locations around the world. A CSE contact suggested my skill set could
be a good fit for the forwardfacing initiatives being built by the Listings Development Group, and after a few ad hoc projects with the CSE, we made it official.
You’ve been at the CSE for a few years now. What do you like most about your role? Is there a particularly memorable moment at an event that you can share?
Everyone says this, but it really is the people – especially at the CSE. The capital markets community is relatively small in Canada, so you get to know the network quickly. I think because they are entrepreneurially minded, they are supportive of “newbies” on the block and appreciate varied backgrounds of expertise. I also love the pace and creativity in my role; juggling events and content demand entirely different aspects of my focus but are also very much synergetic in their goals. While there have been many memorable moments, one legendary example was the perfectly cooked standing rib roast dinner prepared and served by the CSE team to a group of clients at the 2023 Precious Metals Summit in Beaver Creek.
The CSE creates a lot of content. How is the CSE’s content mix evolving, and what trends have you noticed?
The CSE currently has several streams of video content (including two podcasts), two monthly newsletters, a blog, and, of course, its quarterly magazine. We aim to create original, thought-provoking, and educational content, showcasing the CSE’s many strengths as well as our clients. The “mix” evolves as we better understand the use of social media, improve accessibility and inclusivity standards, and make use of AI. Content trends are constantly changing, but I’ve
seen how our audience responds to some basic tenets: relevant subject matter (relatability), engaging speakers, timing, and branding. I’m proud to say the CSE is consistently a relied-upon source for quality media.
From your vantage point, what can people expect from the CSE in terms of upcoming event participation, both domestically and internationally?
We never stop moving! Members of our team will be in the U.S., Europe, and Australia in the next few months. On the home front, we are gearing up for Web Summit Vancouver, THE Mining Investment EVENT in Québec City, the Summit on Responsible Investment (SoRI) in Kelowna, the F1 Canadian Grand Prix in Montréal, the Calgary Stampede, and summer golf events in various locations, to name a few. The events section on the CSE website is a great way to stay up to date on where we’re headed next.
What technology trends are you most excited about in 2025 and beyond?
With the efforts we’ve put into almost three years of SoRI, I’ve come away with a passion for technology that not only solves business challenges in the resource sector and other industries but also transforms outdated models into more sustainable, responsible systems. From innovative consumer products and textile recycling to smart water management systems and renewable energy, I look forward to seeing how these examples become the baseline, rather than the outlier. Investors are tuning in, and the world is watching, so being able to platform these companies and experts with the Summit has been deeply rewarding.
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