MaRS Discovery District

About

MaRS Discovery District is a Toronto innovation hub and registered charity that supports technology and science startups. It was founded in 2001 by Dr. John Evans and a group of 12 civic leaders, opened the MaRS Centre in 2005, and in 2023 added a waterfront space for scaling startups in partnership with the University of Toronto and Menkes. It provides startups and scale-ups with commercialisation support, accelerator programmes and connections to capital, customers and talent, with focus areas including health, climate and AI. Its structure includes the MaRS charity, the MaRS Innovation Hubs real estate division and MaRS IAF, its venture capital arm investing at seed stage. It also runs MaRS Connect, a platform that gives founders, investors and innovation buyers access to vetted ventures and market information.