Export Development Canada (EDC) announced today that it has provided a $1.5 million loan to Vancouver’s Mio Global, which makes wearable tech for fitness (here’s a video of Mio CEO Liz Dickinson demonstrating the company’s Alpha heart rate wearable to BetaKit).
“It’s very hard to get credit for a company that is growing as fast as ours.”
Mio Global ships its products throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, and has licensing deals with adidas, TomTom, and Garmin. The company says it will use the financing for additional shipping inventory to help double revenue.
“This loan is an absolute game-changer for us,” said Antonio Arciniega, Mio’s CFO and vice-president of operations, in a statement. “It’s very hard to get credit for a company that is growing as fast as ours. Traditional credit is tough and rarely available.”
EDC is Canada’s trade finance agency, and the leading provider of financing, insurance, and bonding for Canadian companies of all sizes that do business outside of Canada.
“Mio Global has an impressive product that required significant research and development to commercialize,” said Bruce Dunlop, EDC vice-president of Commercial Markets and Small Business. “This is a Canadian SME that is constantly innovating to remain competitive in their industry and EDC is excited to play a supportive role in their international growth.”
