Ten months ago, Mishel Wong thought her sustainable packaging startup was going to fold. Fundraising efforts for Bo (sometimes referred to as Bopaq) appeared to be stagnating as Investissement Québec paused the Impulsion PME (IPME) program meant to back young startups.
“I didn’t know that stress could feel so physical,” Wong told BetaKit at the time.
“This is such a validation of our business model as something not only viable, but [one that others] see a future in replicating.”
This week, that stress turned to elation as Wong told BetaKit that Bo has been acquired by Québec’s largest recycling cooperative, Tricentris. Wong did not disclose the purchase price, saying only that Tricentris met its asking price in the “seven-figure” range. The deal does come with a non-monetary bonus: Wong said she doesn’t have to deal with “pitying looks” and questions about her startup’s financial situation at networking events anymore.
“This is such a validation of our business model as something not only viable, but [one that others] see a future in replicating,” Wong said.
Launched in 2021, Montréal-based Bo offers food service operators a turn-key, reusable container platform for customers to use in place of single-use alternatives. Customers can ask participating restaurants to prepare their order in a Bo container and then return the used container at a designated drop-off point to be cleaned and reused elsewhere.
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Bo was one of many Québec early-stage startups impacted by IPME’s quiet suspension in November 2024. The program helped de-risk seed investments, and its sudden pause left many in the lurch before it was refreshed in Québec’s spring 2025 budget. When IPME initially shuttered, Bo was navigating a roadmap to profitability alongside debt commitments: although the company doubled its revenue year-over-year, it laid off three-quarters of its staff. Wong secured $75,000 in SAFEs to bridge her through the new year as all options, including an acquisition, were on the table.
Wong told BetaKit that Bo managed to achieve profitability this year despite “all the distractions around raising and the potential acquisitions.” She said this was achieved by ditching unscalable models and becoming “less skittish” about charging appropriately.
“At the beginning, you do a lot of unscalable things that cost a lot of money, and if you continue down that route, clients come to expect that those things are free,” Wong said. “We just need to remind ourselves that we’re setting the industry standard.”
Bo is one of a few Canadian companies tackling single-use food waste with a turn-key solution. In April, Vancouver-based Reusables raised a $3.6-million seed round to expand a similar offering across North America. Meanwhile, Guelph, Ont.-based Friendlier raised $4.5 million for its solution last month. While Bo faced troubles over the past year, Wong said it’s a “no-brainer” to marry into Tricentris’ pipeline and leverage its existing infrastructure.
“We talked to these VCs, but even at that point I suspected it wasn’t the best fit for continued growth,” Wong said. “Otherwise, we’re just going to continually be chasing the next round.”
Bo will become a division of Tricentris. Wong and the executive team will join the cooperative, which opens the reusable container platform’s reach up to Tricentris’ 190 member municipalities. Wong has been appointed Tricentris’ director of business development, while CTO Noboru Yoshida and director of operations Shaun Bazinet will hold the same roles at Tricentris. Wong did not say how many Bo employees will join the new division.
“Even in the best of times, [this] would have been an ideal outcome,” Wong said. “We’re not focused on a pilot project and survival [anymore], we can make optimal decisions for impact rather than just always compromising because we don’t have enough money.”
Feature image courtesy Bopaq.