Drug discovery runs on information, but that alone is not enough. Pharmaceutical companies are under pressure to move faster while sorting through enormous amounts of scientific research, clinical trial data, and emerging AI tools. Missing one key detail can send years of research and millions of dollars in the wrong direction.
That challenge shaped one of many conversations at this year’s Upper Bound — Canada’s leading AI-focused conference hosted by Amii (Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute), which brings together global researchers, founders, investors, and industry leaders exploring the future of artificial intelligence. As part of the event, Edmonton Unlimited proudly sponsored the Startups theme to spotlight the companies and innovators building world-changing technology from right here in Edmonton.
One story we knew deserved that stage was DrugBank, an Edmonton-born company helping researchers and pharmaceutical leaders around the globe make faster, smarter decisions in drug discovery. What started as a University of Alberta research project has evolved into a globally trusted platform at the intersection of health, data, and AI, earning tens of thousands of citations in academic literature. This is exactly the kind of ambition, commercialization, and global reach Edmonton’s innovation ecosystem is capable of producing.
The panel featured Mike Wilson (Chief Product Officer and Co-founder of DrugBank), Shay Barker (Director of People Operations at DrugBank), Jacob Grainger (Pender Ventures), and moderator Arden Tse (Yaletown Partners). Together, they unpacked the realities of scaling a deep-tech company over nearly two decades.
What emerged was not a story about one dramatic pivot or breakthrough moment. It was a conversation about gradual evolution, constant experimentation, and learning how to grow without becoming static.
What we heard from the panel
Mike Wilson
DrugBank’s core purpose has remained consistent since the beginning. The platform helps pharmaceutical companies organize and interpret massive amounts of scientific information so researchers can make better decisions and avoid costly blind spots.
What started as a University of Alberta research project quickly gained attention from researchers around the world. So much attention, in fact, that servers reportedly crashed after launch. That early demand revealed something bigger: the team was not just building a research tool; they were building infrastructure for modern drug discovery.
As it matured, the commercial opportunity became impossible to ignore. Companies kept approaching the team, asking to use the data in different ways, eventually pushing DrugBank toward becoming a business.
The company evolved by continuously refining things like the:
- customer segments they focused on
- problems the product solved best
- ways researchers accessed and used the data
- tools layered on top of the knowledge base
Wilson also reflected on the personal side of scaling a company. Early on, he found himself defaulting to agreeing with every idea and filtering decisions through his own perspective. Over time, growth meant trusting others to own problems and approach solutions differently than he would.
Shay Barker
When she joined DrugBank in 2019, the company was still operating with the kind of all-hands-on-deck energy familiar to many startups. Barker’s early responsibilities could include recruitment, operations, grants, or marketing. Stepping outside your job title was not the exception. It was how the team kept moving forward.
That flexibility became part of DrugBank’s culture. People who thrive in startup environments, Barker explained, are usually comfortable with ambiguity, rapid change, evolving responsibilities, and learning new skills in real time.
As the company grew, so did the structure around it. Today, roughly half the company remains based in Edmonton, and the rest of the team is scattered across Canada.
Growth changes the way early employees work inside a company. As DrugBank expanded and brought in more specialized team members, people who once handled many responsibilities themselves had to learn to trust others to take ownership of the systems and processes they originally built.
Maintaining clarity across the organization has only become more important as AI continues accelerating the pace of change across the industry.
Jacob Grainger
Grainger brought a unique perspective because he first encountered DrugBank as a user long before becoming an investor through Pender Ventures. Before entering venture capital, he worked in biotech using DrugBank data to support molecular simulations and early-stage drug discovery work. That experience gave him firsthand experience with the product before ever seeing the business side of it.
From the investment side, Grainger argued there is no single formula for what makes a strong investor, but operational experience can create empathy for the realities founders face while building companies.
That perspective becomes valuable when helping founders navigate challenges like:
- product-market fit
- commercialization decisions
- organizational growth
- changing customer behaviour
Building global companies from Edmonton
The conversation also touched on what it means to build a globally relevant company from Edmonton. Wilson reflected on the early pressure to relocate to larger tech hubs like San Francisco or Boston to scale. While markets like Boston remain important for pharmaceutical relationships, the rise of remote work and distributed teams has shifted how companies think about growth and geography.
Building a globally relevant company rarely happens through one perfect strategy or breakthrough moment. More often, it comes from continuously adapting while staying connected to the original problem worth solving.
For founders building in Edmonton’s growing tech and innovation ecosystem, that kind of honesty may be more useful than any polished startup success story.