AVIDBOTS

HEADQUARTERS: Kitchener, Ontario FOUNDERS: Pablo Molina, Faizan Sheikh (CEO) EMPLOYEES: 170

Molina and Sheikh, graduates of the University of Waterloo, founded Avidbots to make floor-scrubbing robots. Before the pandemic, its Neo machines toiled away at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris and Toronto’s Eaton Centre shopping mall, among other locations. Now revenue is on track to double to $10 million as it expands business with customers like DHL shipping and works with school districts as they reopen; New Jersey’s Southern Regional School District is one customer. Next up: a new disinfecting module that can attach to its latest robot and scrub not only floors but touch points like tables and door handles. “We were solving this problem for years, and all of a sudden the world cares about it more,” says Sheikh, 32.