U of T Mississauga and Merck expand collaboration to support early-stage startups via SpinUp’s 2025 Blue Ticket competition

Mississauga, ON – May 22, 2025

SpinUp – U of T’s first wet lab startup incubator – extends collaboration with Merck to provide a free one-year membership, access to mentorship, and more to the winning startup.

The University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) has announced it has extended its collaboration with international biopharmaceutical leader Merck to host the 2025 Blue Ticket Competition, supporting breakthrough innovation in life sciences.  

Early-stage startups are invited to enter the competition for:

• A free one-year membership at SpinUp, U of T’s first web lab startup incubator
• Mentorship opportunities with Merck scientists and business leaders
• Access and support from U of T’s research talent and network

Apply today through the SpinUp website. Applications close on July 14, 2025 at 11:59 p.m.

Helping innovation thrive

“Following the success of last year’s Blue Ticket, SpinUp and Merck are excited to bring the competition back for another year, offering a startup in life sciences a unique opportunity to take their innovation to the next level,” said France Gagnon, Vice-Principal Research and Innovation at UTM. “Access to wet lab space and supports can be challenging for early-stage startups. The winner will be able to accelerate their venture through subsidized access to a brand new, state-of-the-art research facility, robust entrepreneurship programming, and world-leading research talent at the university.” 

“We are thrilled to expand our collaboration with the University of Toronto Mississauga through the Blue Ticket program,” said Christopher Tan, Executive Director, Search & Evaluation, Business Development & Licensing, Infectious Diseases, Vaccines, Oncology at Merck.

“The SpinUp initiative exemplifies one of our commitments to nurturing innovation in the Canadian life sciences sector. We are excited to see how this collaboration will continue to empower startups and foster an environment where groundbreaking ideas can flourish.”

Participation in the program supports entrepreneurship, health innovation, and Canada’s life sciences ecosystem. One of the main goals of the Blue Ticket program is to foster mutually beneficial relationships between supporter and startup, such as the one which Merck and the Atorvia team developed this past year.

2024 Blue Ticket winner

In 2024, Atorvia, an emerging woman-led biotech company, was selected as the winner of the first Blue Ticket at SpinUp.

“Working with Merck has been transformational,” said Atorvia founder Jane Lapon, who looks forward to maintaining the relationship. “Merck is incredibly engaged and that effectively makes them an extension of the team. Their support, coupled with SpinUp’s game-changing resources, has made this a phenomenal year for us.”

“I can’t wait to see who the next Blue Ticket winner will be,” she added. “The winning startup will not only be held accountable but will have a lot of fun along the way.”

To learn more about the competition, visit the SpinUp website.

About SpinUp and U of T Entrepreneurship

• SpinUp is the first wet lab startup incubator at the University of Toronto, Canada’s leading centre for learning and discovery and one of the world’s top-two universities for health science productivity.
• SpinUp is purpose built to drive lab-based innovation. It offers early-stage startups access to outstanding subsidized wet lab space, equipment, entrepreneurship programming and expertise in a new, state-of-the-art facility at University of Toronto’s Mississauga campus. The building where SpinUp is located is one of the greenest and most comprehensive wet lab facilities in North America.
• SpinUp is proudly part of U of T Entrepreneurship, a network of 12 innovation accelerators across three campuses. Over the past ten years, this network has supported more than 1,200 capital-backed companies, which have created 17,000 jobs and raised $12 billion in external investment. U of T is #1 in Canada for research-based startups, and a top 5 in the world for university startup incubators. The University now launches more research-based start-ups than any university in North America outside of MIT.
• Learn more about SpinUp and U of T Entrepreneurship.

About Merck

At Merck, known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, we are unified around our purpose: We use the power of leading-edge science to save and improve lives around the world. For more than 130 years, we have brought hope to humanity through the development of important medicines and vaccines. We aspire to be the premier research-intensive biopharmaceutical company in the world – and today, we are at the forefront of research to deliver innovative health solutions that advance the prevention and treatment of diseases in people and animals. We foster a diverse and inclusive global workforce and operate responsibly every day to enable a safe, sustainable and healthy future for all people and communities.

For more information about our operations in Canada, visit www.merck.ca and connect with us on LinkedIn @MerckCanada.

Media Inquiries:

Julia Le

University of Toronto Mississauga

(437) 833-2897

juliaivy.le@utoronto.ca

For Merck media inquiries, please contact us via email

mediacanada@merck.com or by phone at 1-833-90MERCK (1-833-906-3725).