St. John’s-based CoLab Software has raised $72 million USD ($101 million CAD) in Series C funding as demand balloons for its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered engineering collaboration tool.
The round was led by Intrepid Growth Partners, with participation from returning investors Y Combinator, Pelorus VC, Killick Capital, as well as three-time investor Spider Capital, and Insight Partners, which increased its position with a super pro rata investment. Intrepid co-founder and partner Mark Shulgan is joining CoLab’s board as a result of the round.
CoLab plans to make several major product and partnership announcements before the end of the year.
While the lion’s share went to CoLab through roughly $77 million CAD of primary investment, approximately one-third of the round is made up of shares purchased from early investors, according to The Globe and Mail. The round reportedly valued CoLab at around $500 million USD. When reached for comment, CoLab chief marketing officer MJ Smith described the round as “all-equity” and did not disclose its valuation.
Co-founded in 2017 by CEO Adam Keating and CTO Jeremy Andrews, CoLab’s tool enables multi-user cloud uploads and editing for 2D and 3D computer-aided design files. Engineering teams can submit their designs for review, including feedback and comments. That knowledge is captured by CoLab to be applied throughout a company.
“Engineers will only share what they know if the process feels natural and valuable—and that’s the breakthrough CoLab has made,” Andrews said in a statement. “Without that, expert design knowledge stays locked in people’s heads.”
The tool also captures analytics on the average time taken to complete reviews, address feedback, and respond to common issues in the review process.
In March, CoLab announced $5.6 million CAD in financial support through an industry partnership with ExxonMobil to expedite the development of new AI products. The funding supported around 60,000 hours of labour and brought its headcount up to 131, a number that has since increased to 165, according to Smith.
The company claims that, since the June launch of its new AI peer checker AutoReview, the product has amassed a waitlist of more than 47,000 engineers. The tool, trained on internal standards and guidelines, annotates drawings and 3D models to identify errors and non-conformances.
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CoLab said the demand is bolstering its revenue growth. It claims that it’s on pace to nearly triple its revenue in 2025. The company counts Ford, Lockheed Martin, GE Appliances, and Schneider Electric among its customers.
“We’ve had executive teams—not just engineering leadership, but CEOs, CFOs, and cross functional leadership—asking us to build their AI strategies with them,” Keating said in a statement. “Many are already making seven-figure bets with CoLab.”
The Globe and Mail reported CoLab has recurring annual revenues somewhere between $15-million and $30-million USD, which Smith did not confirm. CoLab placed 19th on this year’s Deloitte Technology Fast 50 list, sporting a 1,730 percent three-year revenue growth rate.
The Series C funding will be used to develop new AI agents, build integrations with other engineering and AI applications, expand partnerships, and scale go-to-market teams, CoLab said in a statement. The company added that it plans to make several major product and partnership announcements before the end of the year.
CoLab was the first company from Atlantic Canada to be accepted into the Y Combinator accelerator program. Following the accelerator’s Demo Day in 2019, it raised a $2.7-million-CAD seed round, followed by a $17-million USD Series A round in October 2021 and a $21 million USD Series B round last year.
Feature image courtesy of CoLab.