Feds investing $474K in biotech product aimed at battling bed bugs
by Canadian Manufacturing Daily Staff
semiosBIO Technologies Inc. developing world's first pheromone-based bedbug management product
VINELAND STATION, Ont.—A British Columbia biotech firm is receiving as much as $474,000 from the federal government as it continues to develop a pest control product to help battle bed bugs.
Announced at its Vineland Station, Ont., location in the province’s Niagara Region, B.C.-based semiosBIO Technologies Inc. is getting the cash injection to complete product development and pre-commercialization of its SemiosGUARD pest control management system.
The world’s first pheromone-based bedbug management product, SemiosGUARD uses natural semio-chemicals to help control bedbugs.
The company is receiving the money in the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) and its Investing in Business Innovation initiative.
“Our government is investing in the ideas and the people of southern Ontario to create jobs, growth and long-term prosperity,” Niagara West-Glanbrook MP Dean Allison said in a statement.
“By supporting the innovative ideas here in southern Ontario, we are helping start-up companies and investors work together, and equipping businesses with the tools they need to succeed.”
According to FedDev Ontario, the company was also able to attract as much as $948,000 from a group of an angel investors from the Niagara Angel Network, registered with the Network of Angel Organizations—Ontario.
SemiosGUARD is expected to have a significant impact on the hospitality sector and for emergency responders, including fire fighters and paramedics.
The company anticipates creating 21 positions during the implementation of the project activities, and an additional 35 jobs in southern Ontario by 2017 as a result of the project.
“FedDev Ontario’s contribution to our project is essential to our goal of further developing and commercializing the world’s first pheromone-based bedbug management product,” semiosBIO founder and president Dr. Michael Gilbert said.
“We have the right innovative biotech expertise to take advantage of this market opportunity. This investment, and our own commitment along with the angel investment it has helped us to obtain, will position semiosBIO to bring a great new product to the world and to create local jobs in the process.”
