Montréal-based startup Mechasys has closed a $23-million Series A round to accelerate production of its made-in-Canada laser projector for construction sites.
The round, which closed in early August, was led by Montréal-based impact investment fund Idealist Capital. Returning investor Fondaction, the Québec pension fund, also participated. The contributions bring the startup’s total funding to over $30 million.
The funds will mainly go toward scaling production of the company’s patented XR Projector for construction firms, Mechasys CEO and co-founder William St-Pierre said in an interview with BetaKit. It will also use the capital for client onboarding and product development of its hardware and software components.
Mechasys is on track to make $2.5 million in sales this year and $13 million in 2026, St-Pierre claimed.
Mechasys claims its device projects layout plans using lasers onto construction sites with “millimetre accuracy” while its software suite allows teams to manage and modify the blueprints as needed using computer vision. Artificial intelligence (AI) integrations into customer service are in the product roadmap, St-Pierre added.
The CEO said construction teams can waste money and resources when mistakes are made on-site, and his goal is for Mechasys’s product to help “build it right the first time.”
Mechasys was founded almost “by accident” in 2018, St-Pierre said. While he and his co-founders, Charles Ha and Jonathan Lefebvre, went through Montréal’s Centech accelerator with a plan to build wall panels with 3D printers, they realized that clients were more interested in solutions for visualizing accurate construction plans. The team pivoted to a laser projector and received up-front funding from clients before developing its first prototype.
The company has now launched its third iteration of the XR Projector and touts customers at 200 construction sites globally. Samy Merry, innovation manager at the housing department of French company VINCI Construction, said in a Mechasys statement that its product “cuts layout time by half” and boosts quality control. St-Pierre’s ambitions for the tech include boosting construction efficiency, avoiding costly errors, and providing an easier-to-use tool for construction workers.
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The tech is built and assembled in Mechasys’s Montréal office—even as tariffs have dug into the company’s profit margins. Local aluminum suppliers have hiked prices in response to cross-border tariffs, St-Pierre said, and Mechasys has “decided to absorb the cost” to maintain its prices. Mechasys distributes to construction dealers, who then sell the XR Projector at a fixed rate with a yearly subscription fee for access to the software suite.
The United States (US) implemented 25-percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports (later raising the rates to 50 percent), and Canada responded with 25-percent countertariffs. Prime Minister Mark Carney announced he was dropping some reciprocal tariffs on Friday, but the ones on steel and aluminum remained in place.
Beyond specific tariffs, the ongoing Canada-US trade war has created strife for Canadian tech companies facing difficulties with long-term planning and dampened investor interest in hardware.
St-Pierre is not deterred from manufacturing at home, especially with the new capital infusion. Mechasys is on track to make $2.5 million in sales this year and $13 million in 2026, he claimed. Currently at 25 employees, Mechasys plans to triple its team over the next 12 to 16 months, particularly in sales and customer service roles.
The hiring spree is partly meant to support international go-to-market efforts in regions such as Australia, East Asia, and the Middle East, St-Pierre said. Ninety-five percent of the startup’s revenue comes from international sales, he added. The team has tested the projector in conditions ranging from Québec’s freezing winters to Dubai’s sweltering heat.
The company was selected in April to participate in non-profit Québec Tech’s scaleup support program, Stage V. Each company gains access to a budget of up to $100,000, covering up to 65 percent of the professional fees to connect with local or international experts, plus up to $10,000 for international travel expenses. St-Pierre said it was “too early to tell” what other benefits the company will see from the program.
Feature image courtesy Mechasys.