Saskatoon-based Rayhawk Technologies has closed a $3-million CAD seed round for its autonomous rail car loading technology.
The all-equity round was led by Emmertech, an AgTech fund created by Conexus Venture Capital in 2021, with participation from an undisclosed number of individuals connected to the founders and the company, Rayhawk CFO Matt Petrow told BetaKit in an email statement. The company said it will use the funding to further the commercialization of its technology.
Petrow told BetaKit the company’s board was restructured as part of the round, and will be composed of himself, CEO Tom Boehm, Emmertech managing partner Kyle Scott, and two independent seats yet to be filled.
Founded in 2020, Rayhawk’s proprietary technology uses sensors on a crane-like structure to automate the opening, inspecting, closing, and sealing of cargo railcar lids. The company says its technology can run all day, every day and prevents people from having to work in hazardous environments on top of railcars, averting the risks of falls, crush points, and extreme weather.
Railways carry a large amount of Canada’s raw goods like grains, ores, and food across the country. According to Statistics Canada, railcars carried more than 30.7 million metric tonnes of goods in the country in November 2024, 7.5 million of which were iron ores, concentrates, and coal.
RELATED: Emmertech closes $60 million to grow “dominant” Canadian AgTech companies
According to Petrow, Rayhawk has installations deployed with two different customers in Saskatchewan – one in the mining sector and another in grain handling. The company said it would use its new funding to scale its operations to meet customer demand, with a focus on grain terminals, food processing plants, port facilities, and mining sites.
“We see great potential for Rayhawk to redefine industry standards and, based on my own personal experience flipping rail car lids at a grain terminal, to make a real, positive impact in the industry,” Emmertech managing partner Scott said in a statement.
Petrow said that the round is Rayhawk’s first-ever external equity round, with the company receiving $350,000 in debt financing from BDC in 2023 and a $450,000 grant in 2022 from Innovation Saskatchewan’s SAIF. In a statement, Warren Kaeding, the minister responsible for the provincial agency, said Rayhawk proves that the province can be a leader in developing and producing solutions that transform key industries like agriculture and mining.
Innovation Saskatchewan is an anchor investor in Rayhawk’s lead investor Emmertech, having contributed $15 million to its AgTech fund. The fund closed in 2021 with the aim of fuelling early-stage investment in the AgTech sector and making Canada a “dominant” player on the global stage.
In early 2024, Conexus transitioned the fund’s leadership to a new entity created by Emmertech’s management team to oversee its day-to-day operations, but remained the fund’s general partner. Emmertech has invested in companies such as Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont. farm management software startup IntelliCulture and mushroom-picking robot startup 4AG Robotics.
UPDATE (02/06/2024): This story has been updated with information and commentary from Rayhawk CFO Matt Petrow.
Feature image courtesy Rayhawk Technologies.