Medtech Startups Off the Beaten Path: Plantiga

Quinn Sandler is the company's CEO.

Q: Why did you choose to locate in Vancouver?

A: We are from Vancouver, so really there wasn't a choice per se. Now, that said, we are very happy to be based here, as the amount of government support we receive has been instrumental in growing our business—whether direct grants, project funding contributions, PhD worker programs, and more. We do have an office/base in San Francisco, which allows us to leverage that network and those opportunities. We feel we have the best of both worlds in that sense.  

Q: What are the pros and cons of being outside of traditional medtech hubs?

A: The advantages are the government support and initiatives, which are diverse and far reaching in some instances. There are so many programs a company like ours can take advantage of. 

The disadvantages are real for Canadian companies: lack of access to big markets, big customers, and so on. Our Canadian dollar does hurt on several fronts. As well, there is a serious lack of risk in deploying and supporting new medtech technologies. So far, all of our early customers and pilot projects have been with U.S.-based organizations. I think that speaks for itself in illustrating the differences.