Amaruq Foundation

A dog’s life is too short — and we treat that as a solvable problem.

We exist to give us more time with the dogs we love, and less pain when we lose them.

“Dogs’ lives are short, too short. But you know that going in. You know the pain is coming — and you do it anyway. Because they’re worth it.”
— Dean Koontz

Inspired by Amaruq. April 2014 – November 2025.

Amaruq, a white husky in a blue harness, running through a snowy forest

In Memory of Amaruq — “Ruq” — April 2014 – November 3, 2025

Because Ruq survived, and gave a family his love, the Amaruq Foundation was born.

He was supposed to be temporary.

In June 2014, James and Elisabeth Drage’s daughter was volunteering in Salluit, a remote fly-in community in northern Québec, when she encountered a litter of newborn puppies. She was told that many of the dogs in Salluit faced uncertain fates — the community had limited veterinary resources, and dog populations were difficult to manage. She was permitted to bring one puppy home on the plane.

He was grey and white, with mismatched blue eyes and the look of a dog who already understood more than he should. His name — Amaruq — had been given to him in Salluit. It means wolf in Inuktitut.

The plan was to find him a home. That plan lasted approximately five minutes after he arrived. Amaruq — Ruq, as the family called him — was a husky with traces of wolf, a dog of the north placed improbably and permanently into the heart of a southern Canadian family. For eleven years, he was a presence of uncomplicated joy.

On November 3, 2025, Ruq died of osteosarcoma. He was eleven years old.

Look at those eyes. If you have loved a dog, you understand.

The grief that followed surprised James in its intensity — weeks of it, the kind that doesn’t respond to logic or time on any schedule you choose. Out of that grief came a question: What is the most meaningful thing I can do in his memory?

The answer became the Amaruq Foundation.

“The love you have for an animal is real. The grief when you lose them is real. We think the response should be real too.”
— James Drage, Founder
2014

Amaruq, 2014 – 2025. Photographs by the Drage family.

Mission & Vision

More time with the dogs we love. Better ways to face the grief when we lose them.

The Amaruq Foundation exists to extend the healthy years of dogs, to improve outcomes for the animals and communities that need it most, and to build real support for the profound grief that follows the loss of a companion animal.

Reliable global figures don’t exist, but best estimates suggest that millions of families — and a significant number of children — experience the loss of a pet every year. For many, it is the first serious encounter with death, and the response our societies offer is thin at best.

We think the love is real. The grief is real. The response should be too.

Our Model

Venture and collaborative philanthropy.

As a foundation we have a conservative case. As founders from the venture capital and Exponential Organizations worlds, we also have — and are building for — an exponential case. The Foundation’s model is simple: when a venture we back succeeds, we retain enough ownership that a single success can fund the entire mission for years.

The Foundation advances its mission not only through grants, but through program- and mission-related investments — backing ventures whose success feeds directly back into our charitable purpose.

Today the Foundation is the sole shareholder of Senespan. As the company grows, outside investors, partners, and team members will earn equity — the venture-philanthropy model in action.

Because we’re a foundation, we can run studies we might fail, publish results that don’t sell anything, and give the outputs away.

Column A

The Conservative Case

Starting from an initial $1M CAD commitment, the Foundation backs its ventures patiently. Most projects — the grief game, the children’s book, the work with dogs from Canada’s north — are never intended to “exit.” They’re built to become a lasting part of dog ownership, sustained by the Foundation and mission-aligned collaborators, sponsors and partners. A single venture like Senespan reaching even a modest outcome would return multiples of our founding capital — enough to fund the giveaway projects indefinitely, as well as expanding our work in cancer and other diseases affecting dogs, plus new projects we have yet to imagine. The reason we have chosen the venture and collaborative philanthropy model is because success looks like durability: programs that quietly keep running, funded by one or two wins.

Column B

Illustrative — the once-in-ten-thousand case

The Exponential Promise

In a world of exponential technology, a breakthrough like a genuine canine longevity therapy could become a category-defining company. As sole founding shareholder, the Foundation would capture enough of that value to fund every project on this page many times over — and seed dozens more. This is the once-in-ten-thousand case. We don’t expect it, but we won’t be at all surprised if we achieve it. We build so that if it happens, the mission is the beneficiary.

Read more — How the model works, stage by stage+

We do this the way a venture fund backs a startup, not the way a charity writes a cheque. We provide early, catalytic capital and hands-on support to help promising ideas become credible, fundable ventures — the same discipline our founders have applied throughout thirty-five years working on and with start-ups and in venture capital.

None of this works alone. We actively bring in scientific partners, corporate sponsors, game studios, publishers, veterinary institutions and anyone who can help — collaborators who can carry each initiative further than the Foundation could on its own. We believe fully in the idea of “Who, Not How”.

Every dollar of income, exit proceeds, or ownership value the Foundation ever realizes is reinvested into the mission. We don’t answer to shareholders. We answer to the mission itself. Where possible, we structure our involvement so that the initiatives we build remain free, accessible, or non-profit for the people who need them.

Illustrating the Model

Here’s how this could work in practice, using illustrative numbers — one venture, five stages, from seed capital to exit.

  1. 01100%

    Seed

    Foundation invests $1M

    $1M

    Proof of concept, complete the founding team, secure early grants and partnerships.

  2. 0280%

    Series A

    Raise $5M at $25M valuation

    $20M

    Outside investors take 20%. Foundation retains majority ownership.

  3. 0364%

    Series B

    Raise $50M at $250M valuation

    $160M

    Another 20% dilution. Company hits meaningful scale.

  4. 0451.2%

    Series C

    Raise $100M at $500M post-money

    ~$256M

    Foundation still holds a majority stake.

  5. 0551.2%

    Exit

    $1B sale or IPO

    ~$512M

    Every dollar flows back into the mission — funding the next initiative at a scale no single donation could achieve.

This is an extreme illustrative scenario, not a forecast, projection, or guarantee of any outcome.

OUR FOUNDING PROGRAMS

A dog’s life is too short — and we treat that as a solvable problem, across biology, environment, disease, access, and grief.

Six initiatives. One mission.

The Amaruq Foundation is currently supporting six program-related investments and initiatives, each addressing a different dimension of animal health, welfare, and the human-animal bond. More investments will follow.

  1. 01Community Welfare

    Supporting dogs from Canada's North

    Amaruq came from Salluit, Québec — a remote, fly-in community above the 62nd parallel with no road access and no resident veterinarian. Dogs in communities like Salluit face significant welfare challenges, and the distance from southern resources makes even basic care difficult to access.

    The Amaruq Foundation is working with northern communities — respectfully, collaboratively, and on their terms — to improve outcomes for dogs and the people who care for them. Our initial focus is on Salluit, the community that gave us Ruq, and we are approaching this work as partners, not saviours.

    We are committed to working in partnership with northern communities, led by their needs and priorities.

  2. 02Veterinary Biotech · Program-Related Investment

    Senespan

    Extending the healthy years of every dog

    Dogs don't live long enough. Senespan is the Amaruq Foundation's first program-related investment — a veterinary biotech company developing senolytic therapies to address the accumulation of damaged “zombie” cells that drive aging, cancer, and decline in older dogs.

    Our goal is not just a longer life. It is a better one. More good years. More walks. More time.

    Senespan is currently in the early development and drug candidate identification phase. We are adapting proven human senolytic and oncology science specifically for dogs, and building toward a study design supported by the FDA pathway — following a model pioneered by Loyal Animal Health.

    Visit senespan.com→

  3. 03Digital Therapeutic · Program-Related Investment

    grief.game

    The first serious game for pet loss grief

    Reliable global figures don’t exist, but best estimates suggest that millions of pets die every year in North America alone, with the vast majority passing from cancer, heart failure, and old age.  For many families — particularly those living alone, or those for whom a pet was a primary companion — the grief is profound, prolonged, and clinically significant. Yet dedicated support resources for pet loss grief are virtually nonexistent.

    The Amaruq Foundation is developing a Digital Therapeutic (DTx) grief game: a clinically-grounded, evidence-based serious game designed to support individuals navigating the loss of a companion animal. Built on our team's prior experience developing DTx games for depression, anger, and behavioural health, this project combines therapeutic design, game mechanics, and clinical validation to create something genuinely new.

    Designed initially for mobile and tablet, the game is currently in pre-development. We are developing the game design document, engaging world-class game studios, and seeking development, distribution, and sponsorship partners.

    Visit grief.game→

  4. 04Veterinary Oncology · In Development

    Canine Cancer Initiative — Osteosarcoma

    Tackling the cancer that took Ruq

    Osteosarcoma — a type of bone cancer — is one of the most aggressive and heartbreaking diagnoses in veterinary medicine. It is the disease that took Amaruq, and it is the form of cancer that the Amaruq Foundation is determined to address first.

    Our approach follows the model we have applied to Senespan: identify an existing human drug or molecule with animal health potential, secure the veterinary rights, design a rigorous clinical program, and build a company capable of attracting serious investment.

    We are currently in the target identification and licensing investigation phase — actively evaluating candidates and scientific approaches. We will share more as this program develops. If you work in oncology, veterinary medicine, or drug development and believe you have a relevant candidate or opportunity, we welcome the conversation.

  5. 05PUBLISHING · PROGRAM-RELATED INVESTMENT · IN DEVELOPMENT

    “A Forever Friend” — Children's Pet Loss Book

    Helping children say goodbye

    Reliable global figures don’t exist, but best estimates suggest that millions of families — and a significant number of children — experience the loss of a pet every year. For many children, it is their first encounter with death, and they often face it without adequate tools, language, or support.

    The Amaruq Foundation is sponsoring the creation of a deeply considered children's book about pet loss — one that does not flinch from the reality of the experience, including the euthanasia decision that so many families face, while providing genuine therapeutic value for children and the adults who love them.

    The book will be distributed free of charge through veterinary clinics, supported by corporate sponsors, and integrated with our digital grief resources. We are additionally exploring an interactive digital edition and an immersive infinite-zoom illustrated experience for tablets — bringing the illustrations to life in an entirely new way.

    We recently selected the author and illustrator for the project and are currently seeking the best publishing partner to help us maximize the positive impact of the project. The book will have its own website and identity at launch.

  6. 06ENVIRONMENT · OPEN RESEARCH

    Project Calm Years

    Can a calmer life be a longer life?

    Chronic fear and anxiety are hard on dogs — think fireworks, thunder, separation — and may also be quietly shortening their lives. The evidence that sound can calm a dog is decent but short-term; the evidence that chronic stress affects canine health and longevity is separate, and largely unconnected to it. Nobody has yet tested whether the first can move the second.

    Project Calm Years asks whether sound and a calmer environment can measurably lower a dog's chronic stress — and whether that shows up in healthspan, in lifespan, and in the hardest moments, including end of life. Our working assumption is that this would be one of the lowest-cost interventions in canine longevity, which is why we intend to give it away rather than sell it.

    This is open research at its earliest stage. We will pre-register whatever we run and publish it whether or not it works. We are looking for collaborators — behavioural, longevity, shelter, and methodological — to help us shape the questions before we lock anything down.

The Founders

Built by people who know what it is to love a dog.

James Drage

Co-Founder

James Drage is a venture capitalist, entrepreneur, and co-founder of Exponential Venture Capital/The Organizational Singularity Fund alongside Salim Ismail — co-author of the landmark business text Exponential Organizations, co-founder of the global OpenExO community of more than 45,000 practitioners, and one of the most recognised voices in exponential thinking worldwide.

James has spent more than thirty-five years at the intersection of technology, innovation, and venture capital — building companies, backing founders, and applying systematic frameworks to the challenge of scaling what matters. He brings that same discipline, rigour, and network to the Amaruq Foundation.

Together, James and Salim host Exponential Promise — a podcast that explores humanity-scale problems through the lens of exponential thinking. The Grief Series, a special series of Exponential Promise, is presented in partnership with the Amaruq Foundation and explores grief as a civilisation-scale challenge: its science, its systems, and the solutions being built to address it.

Elisabeth Drage

Co-Founder

Elisabeth Drage is co-founder of the Amaruq Foundation. It was their daughter’s decision, in the summer of 2014, to bring a six-week-old husky puppy home from Salluit, Québec — a puppy who was supposed to be temporary, and who stayed for eleven extraordinary years.

Elisabeth’s steady presence shaped the family Ruq came home to, and shapes the Foundation that carries his name. Her commitment to the animals and people at the heart of this work grounds every initiative the Foundation takes on.

The Amaruq Foundation is incorporated under the Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations Act.

Get in touch

A quiet inbox, read by the founders.

We welcome partnerships and programmatic sponsorships with mission-aligned companies, institutions, and foundations. If you work in canine health, veterinary oncology, grief care, publishing, game development, or northern community welfare — we’d like to hear from you.

You can also reach us directly at hello@amaruqfoundation.org.