Province greenlights loans to pair of local AI, biotechnology firms

A couple threads connect an insurance-focused artificial intelligence company and a Type 2 diabetes research firm.

First, both are based in Manitoba. Second, both received notable loans from the provincial government.

Manitoba green-lit last month a $475,000 loan for JasperVOCAL, which is expanding its AI footprint. The province also slated $300,000 for biotech company Scimar Ltd.

It’s through a program meant to “create good jobs here at home,” Business Minister Jamie Moses said in a statement.

“It’s cool for me to see an emphasis on AI investments,” said Marco Soares, the 21-year-old president of JasperVOCAL.

The loan will go towards product development and setting up compliance measures, he said. He’s looking to grow sales in the United States.

JasperVOCAL’s network is already established south of the border: the platform has hit more than 200 insurance agencies, Soares said.

The system is meant to, in part, reduce the number of cold calls agents make. JasperVOCAL’s system calls Americans and asks insurance product-related questions, including about age and health conditions. If the customer is interested, they’ll be transferred to a live agent.

JasperVOCAL generated more than two million dials over the past 12 months, Soares said. He estimates pick-up rates vary from 10 to 20 per cent per call blast.

Discussions about a government loan began last year. JasperVOCAL had already raised US$715,000 during a 2025 funding round, Soares said.

He pitched his business as a pioneering company for voice artificial intelligence. Local investors have shown trust, he said, and JasperVOCAL can sell outside the province: “That allows us to bring back resources and reinvest back in Manitoba.”

The deal was not political, Soares added.

The New Democrat government loaned it the money, though one of the company’s early investors is now president of the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba (Peter Smith, JasperVOCAL’s former chief financial officer).

Soares’s company started in 2023 as a way for political candidates to identify supporters. It was used during a Winnipeg South Centre byelection by Damir Stipanovic, a Tory candidate.

Soares said he ultimately shifted to insurance because he could scale bigger and elections are seasonal. He called himself “non-partisan.”

He declined to share how long his loan lasts. Moses wasn’t available for an interview on Tuesday.

The two loans fall under Manitoba’s trade growth investment financing program, according to the statement from Moses. The program launched in December and offers loans in size from $250,000 to $5 million.

Individual loan terms are confidential, but they’re typically structured over five to 12 years, the province said.

“This program is part of our larger Economic Development Strategy and showcasing our commitment to helping businesses move forward,” the statement said.

JasperVOCAL — which includes five Manitoba staff — is piloting its system in Canada. It’s prevented American insurance agents from calling people that don’t want to talk, Soares said, adding he doesn’t believe AI will replace good workers.

Meantime, Dauphin-based Scimar touts itself as seeking to change “how the world prevents, detects and treats Type 2 diabetes.” Its research centres around a hormone called hepatic insulin-sensitizing substance.

Scimar didn’t respond to interview requests by end of day Tuesday. Its website shows four patented products; most are under development, a video states.

It’s normal for government to provide loans to companies in biosciences and other industries, noted Andrea Ladouceur, president of Bioscience Association Manitoba.

“They have their own processes for looking at opportunities,” she said. “(Loans are) a tool that governments have available to them, to see the economy and support the advancement of innovation.”

Still, the province must be more transparent in how it funds companies, said Kelly Fournel, Tech Manitoba’s chief executive.

“There’s a real need for a process to help local start-ups equitably engage with the province,” Fournel wrote in a statement.

The Manitoba government has issued multimillion-dollar loans to bus maker NFI Group Inc. and Palliser Furniture in recent years.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com