Spark Centre‘s Landing Pad Accelerator Program brings together a diverse group of early-stage ventures, each tackling real-world challenges with bold ideas and innovative solutions.
From advanced materials to emerging technologies, this spring’s cohort reflects a new wave of founders working across industries to build meaningful and impactful innovations. Over the coming months, with the support of our experts, ecosystem strategists, and community, these ventures will refine their strategies, build momentum, and accelerate toward commercialization.
The Landing-Pad Accelerator Program is proud to support female-led as well as newcomer-founded ventures. Get to know some of them:
NanoRock
Traditional coating surfaces face a fundamental trade-off: either glass-like hardness that is prone to cracking under stress, or polymer-like flexibility that sacrifices scratch resistance. NanoRock is rethinking how we protect the surfaces we use every day.
If you’ve ever scratched a soft coating on a foldable phone or cracked a traditional smartphone screen, you’ve likely seen this problem firsthand. Existing solutions tend to fall into two extremes: either too soft and prone to rapid wear, or too hard and vulnerable to cracking from a single drop.
NanoRock’s patented coating technology eliminates this compromise. Its unique coating architecture combines glass-like hardness, polymer-like flexibility, high optical clarity, and self-cleaning functionality in a single system.
This breakthrough enables surfaces that better resist scratches, maintain structural integrity under repeated bending, and stay cleaner for longer. The technology has already attracted early interest from major industry players, particularly in the foldable smartphone sector.
Founded by a team of experienced researchers and inventors from Queen’s University, NanoRock is focused on bringing a high-performance, commercially viable surface protection solution to market.
Founders
Kaka Zhang | Shuaishuai Huang
HOLA!
Hispanic Open Language Academy (HOLA), a Spark Centre and PARO client, is rethinking how Spanish is learned by moving beyond traditional classroom methods toward more immersive and engaging experiences. Blending education with technology and cultural elements, the initiative focuses on making language learning feel more natural, interactive, and relevant to everyday life.
As it evolves, HOLA is exploring ways to expand its reach through digital experiences that support flexible and learner-centered approaches. This shift reflects a broader effort to meet learners in more dynamic environments while maintaining strong engagement.
The team is working through key growth priorities, including product refinement and go-to-market strategies. Through participation in the LPAP, HOLA gains access to the mentorship and advisory required to guide them through developing their emerging technology and taking their product to market.
Founder
Patricia Dominguez
Baby Stop App
BabyStop is a location discovery app designed for parents of young children in the Greater Toronto Area (and expanding rapidly). It helps families find vetted, family-friendly spots such as restaurants, indoor play areas, malls, events, and more. The app filters by amenities that matter most when you’re out with a baby or toddler, such as change tables, kids’ menus, nursing rooms, and stroller accessibility. Instead of scrolling through parenting groups and hoping for the best, parents get a curated, reliable resource built around their real needs.
The app was built by parents who experienced firsthand how hard it is to plan a simple outing with a young child or multiple children. BabyStop does the research for you, so you can stop second guessing and just go make memories. It’s part local guide, part community tool, and it’s on a mission to make every outing feel a little less stressful for the families who need it most.
Founder
Mehreen Akhter
Signavite
Signavite is a Brockville, Ontario–based healthcare technology initiative focused on improving how patients are connected to care. By addressing inefficiencies in the referral process, the company is developing an AI-enabled approach that helps bring greater clarity and structure to how care pathways are identified and navigated.
As an early-stage venture, the team is working through their product development, validation, and commercialization. At the same time, it has made meaningful progress in shaping its solution and demonstrating its potential within the healthcare landscape.
Through its involvement in the LPAP program, Signavite is gaining access to the guidance and resources needed to refine its model and strengthen its path forward. With this support, the company is positioning itself to contribute to a more coordinated and navigable healthcare system.
Founder
Dr. Lydia Lo
SharpEZ
SharpEZ is an innovative dental instrument sharpening system designed to simplify and standardize the sharpening process for dental professionals. Developed from over 30 years of clinical experience, the system aims to improve sharpening consistency, extend instrument life, reduce replacement costs, and save valuable clinical time.
SharpEZ joined the LPAP to refine and test its prototype while validating the solution with dental professionals. Throughout the program, the company will focus on securing grant and other non-dilutive funding opportunities, establishing manufacturing and supply chain partnerships, advancing its intellectual property strategy, completing commercialization planning, and preparing for a pilot launch and market introduction.
Founder
Roz Godin
Preemptor AI
Preemptor AI is developing a secure AI-powered dating platform designed to protect users from romance scams and malicious actors. By leveraging five layers of AI security, the platform aims to create a safer online dating experience while helping users build genuine connections with confidence.
Through the Landing Pad Accelerator Program (LPAP), Preemptor AI will focus on strengthening its product through quality assurance and DevOps improvements while advancing its digital marketing strategy ahead of launch. The company also plans to validate the platform with early users and officially launch its flagship product in the coming months, with plans for market entry in Canada, Brazil, and the European Union.
Founder
Midierson Maia
Zera Eco Inc.
ZeraEco is a Canadian company developing innovative adaptive care products designed to improve the daily lives of children and youth with continence care needs. Their products focus on comfort, reliability, dignity, and quality while addressing an underserved market with thoughtful, user-centred design. ZeraEco is committed to creating practical solutions that support children, caregivers, and families through products that combine functionality with a premium user experience. During the LPAP, ZeraEco will focus on strengthening its go-to-market strategy, sales and business development, and customer acquisition.
Founders
Madhuri Ellandula
iBeautyfi
iBeautyfi is a health technology platform building the trust infrastructure for medical aesthetics like Botox, lasers, facials and fillers. They combine provider verification, proprietary clinic accreditation, consumer education, marketplace discovery, and booking into a single platform that helps consumers confidently find trusted aesthetic providers while enabling clinics to demonstrate quality, safety, and regulatory compliance. Their long-term vision is to become the operating layer connecting consumers, clinics, practitioners, manufacturers, educators, and regulators across North America.
During the LPAP, iBeautyfi will focus on strengthening its commercialization strategy, customer acquisition, and enterprise sales approach, while scaling its operations.
Founders
Era Saraci
Kylin AI
Kylin AI is developing the next generation of AI-powered scheduling intelligence for healthcare. The platform helps clinics predict patient behavior, automate personalized outreach, and optimize appointment capacity — reducing missed appointments while improving operational efficiency and the overall patient experience.
As an early-stage health technology company, Kylin AI is focused on validating its platform through pilot deployments, refining its go-to-market strategy, and building strategic partnerships across Canada’s healthcare ecosystem.
Through the LPAP, Kylin AI is receiving support in commercialization, enterprise partnerships, and customer acquisition. The program is helping the company accelerate market readiness and lay the foundation for scalable growth.
Founders
Trang Bui
About Spark Centre
Spark Centre is Durham Region’s leading technology and innovation business incubator. We offer accessible entrepreneurship support to early-stage and growing technology and innovation ventures through advisory services, mentorship, funding connections, co-working space, educational programs, and ecosystem-building activities. Click here to learn more about our various program options!
