In 2005, Alexis Bilodeau and Christian Thiffault, two engineers from Trois-Rivières fresh out of university, had an idea: a connected thermostat, controlled from an app.
The device did reach the market. It even became a standard in homes six years later… built by someone else.
Alexis and Christian quickly realized they lacked the resources to develop and commercialize a product on their own. So they thought it through, and they made a decision that changed everything. Instead of betting on a product, they would bet on their know-how. They would help other companies turn their ideas into products.
That is how CLEIO was born.
Since then, more than 300 clients have entrusted us with more than 2,500 projects, and more than half of them are based in the United States.
Getting there took two co-founders and their first employee making the right calls at the right time. Here is a look back at twenty years, milestone by milestone.
The Decisions That Made CLEIO What It Is
Betting on Product Development
In its early years, CLEIO explored manufacturing. Everything was done by hand: the assembly and the infrastructure around it.
Jean-François Lemire
VP of Engineering at CLEIO
The team quickly learned what production really demands: buying materials, forecasting orders, managing outbound flow, paying for an ERP. With thin margins and strong competition, the question came into focus: invest heavily in this second business, or concentrate everything on the first? CLEIO chose product development, and refined its way of working until it had a method of its own.
Its name? IDEAL: five phases, from immersion to launch, that every project follows. Each one has its own objectives and deliverables, so clients always know where their product stands.
Bringing Every Discipline Under One Roof
Two years later, in 2013, both came in-house. The integrated model stopped being an intention and became real: design, mechanical, electronics and software now sat under one roof.
Today, CLEIO offers eight distinct areas of expertise, enough to cover every aspect of product development. On a project, they run in parallel under the coordination of a systems engineer. Each team brings its own perspective on the same problem. That 360 degree view lets us anticipate obstacles and explore bolder solutions together.
Committing to Medtech
A choice had to be made. Which markets are the most innovative? Where does outsourcing happen? What aligns with our values? Medtech won out, for its positive impact and for how stimulating the work is.
“We chose medtech because we were having fun on the project we were working on, and because it aligned with our values of positive impact.”
Alexis Bilodeau
CEO and Co-Founder
The bet proved to be the right one. By 2020, medical device development already accounted for the majority of our revenue. That same year, our quality management system earned its ISO 13485 certification, confirming that we meet the sector’s regulatory requirements.
Today, medtech shapes the way we work. We build risk management, applicable standards and regulatory expectations, from the FDA to Health Canada, into every project from the first decisions.
Investing in Structure Before Growing Further
At the peak of that curve, the team made an unexpected choice. It put growth on hold to build the organization that could carry it. Who is responsible for what? How does everything fit together? Those questions deserved real answers before going any further.
Alexis Bilodeau
CEO and Co-Founder
That reflex stayed with us. In late 2022, CLEIO invested $300,000 in continuous improvement. The result? A project management office, a systems engineering team, a clear roles and responsibilities matrix, and long term capacity planning. Those foundations are what let us run several large projects at the same time today.
What Has Not Changed Since Day One
Keeping Commitments From Start to Finish
Product development is hard technically, and just as hard on the human side. It involves many stakeholders and many relationships to maintain. And what we deliver is often tied directly to what happens to the client next. At a startup, that is obvious. In a large company, careers and jobs depend on the project’s success. Either way, someone is counting on us.
Alexis Bilodeau
CEO and Co-Founder
Taking Care of Our People
Beyond those gatherings, other measures matter to us: helping people balance work and personal life, and encouraging them to disconnect. They earned CLEIO the Concilivi seal in 2024, a Quebec certification awarded to employers who make that balance possible.
Put together, these practices make our culture one of our greatest strengths. It is what makes people want to join CLEIO, and stay.
Showcasing Quebec Know-How
Christian Thiffault
Continuous Improvement Director and Co-Founder
The know-how is built here, and clients from across North America come looking for it.
Where CLEIO Stands Today, and What Comes Next
CLEIO’s story does not stop at its early years. Since 2005, clients have changed and so have the sector’s requirements. The company had to adapt, choosing where to put its resources and how fast to grow.
More Than Half Our Projects in the United States
By 2018, CLEIO had covered the Quebec market about as well as it could. “We had penetrated the local market as much as we could, here in Quebec. We were at saturation. If we wanted to keep growing as a company, that had to come through another market,” explains Alexis Bilodeau. The United States won out, for its size, its opportunities and a favourable exchange rate.
More Demanding Clients, More Complex Projects
In the United States, our clients have a great deal of expertise around them, and their expectations are high as a result. We keep adapting our methods and our expertise to meet them. That is good news, because a demanding client pulls the whole organization upward.
Alexis Bilodeau
CEO and Co-Founder
What the Next Five Years Look Like
For the next five years, the objectives are clear and unpretentious. Grow our expertise. Master the technologies that tomorrow’s medical devices will call for. Grow, but under control, so we can take on bigger and more complex projects.
We owe all of this to the 300 clients who trusted us with more than 2,500 projects, and to our whole team, which has thrown itself into the work with the same drive since the very beginning, designing what matters, together.
CLEIO's Timeline, From 2005 to Today
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 2005 | Alexis and Christian founded BT Solution. |
| 2007 | Incorporation, first office in Trois-Rivières, first hire, and first brand identity under the name NOVO Électronique. |
| 2010 | The team grows from 8 to 16 people. |
| 2011 | Medtech becomes the primary market. |
| 2013 | Industrial design and mechanical engineering are brought in house, and a second office opens in Laval, in the Montreal area. The team reaches 30 people. |
| 2015 | NOVO ranks 8th on L'actualité's list of the 20 fastest growing companies in Quebec, with 1,465% growth over five years. |
| 2017 | Regional award from the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec for the OxyNov project. |
| 2018 | Development of the American market begins. |
| 2019 | The Maison de NOVO opens in Trois-Rivières, later renamed the Maison de CLEIO. |
| 2020 | Our quality management system is certified ISO 13485 for medical device development. |
| 2021 | A third office opens in Montreal. |
| 2023 | A full rebranding: NOVO changes its name and becomes CLEIO. |
| 2025 | The Laval and Montreal teams come together under one roof. |