Meeting the Moment with the Right Partners in the Right Platform
As 2025 comes to a close, R-LABS (Our Labs) reflects with gratitude and excitement on a year shaped by a new trend in choices. Through its unique partnership platform, we have witnessed and helped enable bold decisions made in response to Canada’s growing housing and infrastructure challenges.
While those challenges reached crisis levels in 2025, crisis itself did not define the year. What defined 2025 were the courageous, innovative responses of corporations, institutions, entrepreneurs, and governments choosing to meet the moment together.
These responses have become a uniting force and have put in place the conditions for the early-stage formation of a global cluster of innovation.
Addressing the needs before us requires doing a great many things that have not been done before. As the African proverb reminds us: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” This sits at our core beliefs.
R-LABS is a unique partnership of innovative corporations, institutions, entrepreneurs, and government agencies dedicated to delivering industry-level innovation – together.
Companies
Assembly
As a leader in the industrialization of housing in Canada, Assembly achieved several significant milestones in 2025. These included a factory partnership with Lindbäcks, a global leader from Sweden, funding support from the Government of Canada, PaceZero Capital Partners and The Atmospheric Fund (TAF), as well as the formation of the Canadian Industrialized Housing Coalition.
The Coalition brought together peers and partners from over 100 organizations across Canada and collectively delivered 19 recommendations to the federal government, many of which were accepted and incorporated into the November federal budget. This marked an important step forward in advancing industrialized housing at a national scale.
NOAH
Launched in March 2025, NOAH made rapid progress working with clients across the insurance and commercial real estate sectors. The company developed its game-changing HydroSim™ platform delivering property-level Flood Hazard Scores across more than a quarter million properties as well as ClimateGuard™, a suite of annual, property-specific services designed to strengthen defenses against flooding and other climate hazards.
HomePorter
HomePorter made substantial progress in 2025 on its computer-vision-based AI property inspection platform, developed with the support of Mila, Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute. Several significant corporate and client announcements are scheduled for early 2026, marking an important next phase for the company.
Platform
Partners
The R-LABS partnership continued to grow in 2025 with the addition of Hatch as a Limited Partner and the appointment of Amar Singh from Infrastructure Ontario to the R-LABS Industry Issue + Transformation (I+T) Council.
Bringing a global network of more than 10,000 professionals tackling complex urban systems, infrastructure, and environmental challenges, Hatch’s engagement has advanced R-LABS progress across multiple focus areas including resiliency & sustainability and infrastructure & housing.
Entrepreneurs
The REALFounders Program was launched in 2025 bringing entrepreneurial talent, operators, and emerging leaders into the LAB to explore early-stage opportunities and assess and validate where new ideas could make a measurable industry impact.
The program quickly became a catalyst for sharper thinking, deeper collaboration, and clearer insight into where the strongest opportunities lie. Each cohort played a critical role in shaping and testing concepts, challenging assumptions, and engaging directly with the industry to help transform early ideas into structured, venture-grade opportunities with clear pathways toward future company formation with global-scale potential.
The insights generated through REALFounders in its inaugural year have already seeded several promising opportunities and program improvements for 2026.
Kristen Ede, CEO & Co-Founder of BlueChip Enable, reflected on her REALFounders experience: “Inside the LAB, ‘business at the speed of trust’ came alive—sharp, humble innovators built to #GSD.”
R-LABS Team
We expanded the LAB’s capabilities to support early-stage company growth with the addition of Jason Lo to the LAB’s leadership team as Managing Director of Revenue & Growth, strengthening support for commercialization, revenue strategy, and scaling.
Athena AI Platform
Athena AI, R-LABS’ internal AI platform developed over the past two years to support the LAB’s internal functions was extended to a select group of industry partners in 2025, setting the foundation for future innovation and collaboration opportunities across the industry.
Community
Since 2018, R-LABS has served as Canada’s convening platform for real estate and housing innovation bringing together industry leaders, institutions, entrepreneurs, and governments to do what no single organization can do alone. More than a network, R-LABS operates as a partnership-driven community designed to translate shared challenges into industry-level solutions. By aligning capital, capability, policy insight, and innovation under one platform, R-LABS accelerates the path from idea to impact across Canada’s real estate and housing ecosystem.
Throughout 2025, R-LABS participated in partner and industry events across the country, including the LTSA Industry Symposium (Vancouver), CAGBC Housing Workshop (Toronto), Building Lasting Change Conference (Vancouver), TRBOT Housing Symposiums (Toronto), Nextfor Forestry Innovation Conference (Toronto), ULI Curtner Urban Leadership Program (Toronto), Toronto Real Estate Forum, and more.
R-LABS partners also hosted our Toronto-based annual event in October aligning innovation in housing and infrastructure, with participation from Hatch, Infrastructure Ontario, Dorsay Developments, and PwC.
Looking Ahead to 2026
Building on the momentum of 2025 and a growing commitment to innovation as a response to Canada’s housing and real estate challenges, as the industry’s innovation platform, we will focus on venture building and industry innovation efforts across four priority areas:
- Industrialization of Housing
Innovations from modular construction, prefabrication, advanced building techniques and business models to transform everything from trees to keys. - Market Housing
New financing and delivery models that drive accessible and affordable housing supply. - Social Impact
New approaches to supportive, community, and affordable housing with a focus on improving outcomes for Canadians. - Resiliency & Sustainability
Innovations and business models that position resiliency and sustainability as a Canadian advantage, advancing climate adaptation, energy efficiency, and resilient infrastructure.
If you are an entrepreneur, corporate innovator, government problem-solver, or social impact leader committed to shaping what comes next for real estate, housing and infrastructure in Canada, we invite you to learn more about R-LABS. The Real Estate Venture Builder | R-LABS
