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Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1515520
50 B C B U S I N E S S . C A M A R C H 2 0 24 Last November, the tech company announced both a funding round of $17.5 million and a name change to 4AG (pro- nounced "Forage") Robotics. The latter marked the first direct investment into a company from InBC, a public fund with $500 million to invest. According to the company, the mush- room sector is in urgent need of auto- mated solutions, given the complex logistical and labour challenges posed by a highly perishable product. 4AG Robotics has 37 employees and has already secured purchase orders with farms in Canada and Europe. "We'll continue growing the team, likely hitting 60 or 70 employees over the next year," said 4AG Robotics CEO Sean O'Connor when asked what the fund- ing will go toward. "We'll also be using a portion of the capital to start buying larger orders of inventory in anticipation of big orders from mushroom farms around the world." O'Connor is adamant that the company can build a global operation out of Salmon Arm: "Our town has an exceptionally strong manufacturing sector, which means there's a pool of great companies we can work with for various components of our robots. More- over, there's a healthy base of talent in the area that can help with building robots, but we're a bit light when it comes to finding people in software and AI." To that end, O'Connor has linked up with leaders at Okanagan College (which has a Salmon Arm campus) who are exploring ways to create more mecha- tronics talent. "There's also a distinct draw for people living in large centres like Vancouver that are excited by the prospect of living in a town where they can afford a proper house, have a short commute and have endless outdoor activities at their pink eye. Here's a prescription,'" says Morehouse. "If you are trying to get mental health help, you end up lost in the abyss." HiBoop! is building an algorithm to bridge that gap further. It will connect to other online health providers—Telus Health, Cog- nito Health, Maple—and use automation and machine learning to better understand disorders and symptoms. The startup, which is scheduled to fully launch this year and has plans to become a certified B Corp, also boasts an all-star assembly of advisors to support certain facets, such as the digital health land- scape, specific mental health diagnoses and legal intricacies. The market it'll serve is already there. According to the World Health Organiza- tion, some 264 million people worldwide suffer from depression while an estimated 284 million suffer from anxiety. Considering HiBoop!'s market and mis- sion, it doesn't seem like Morehouse will be retiring again any time soon. —J.M. FunGI town Salmon Arm-based mushroom tech firm 4AG Robotics has big growth plans There aren't a ton of communities under 20,000 people where you can find world-changing technology being developed. But that's the case in Salmon Arm, where the company for- merly known as TechBrew Robotics is accelerating the development and deployment of cutting-edge robotic solutions for mushroom harvesting. MUSH ADO 4AG Robotics' mushroom harvesting technology is among the most advanced in the world