MaRS district accelerator's new cohort is almost entirely AI-tooling startups
AI-generated image · Bay Street Wire
Eleven of the twelve companies admitted to this cycle's flagship program build infrastructure or tooling for other AI companies, not consumer AI products themselves.
The latest cohort admitted to one of the MaRS district's flagship accelerator programs skews heavily toward AI infrastructure and developer tooling, rather than consumer-facing AI products, program organizers confirmed this week.
Eleven of the twelve companies in the cycle build tools for other AI teams — evaluation platforms, fine-tuning infrastructure, and data-labeling software among them.
Organizers say the shift mirrors broader investor appetite, which has cooled somewhat on consumer AI apps in favour of picks-and-shovels infrastructure plays.