Montréal-based Rithmik Solutions, which offers an AI-powered platform providing analytics for mobile mining equipment, has closed $2 million CAD in funding.
Since 2021, CEO Amanda Truscott says Rithmik has grown its staff by 300 percent and expanded into South America.
The round, consisting of simple agreements for future equity (SAFEs), saw participation from existing investors Ecofuel and Chrysalix Venture Capital. The round included new investors Sprout Fund, Cycle Momentum, recently launched Developer Capital (DevCap), as well as angel investors from AngelOne, the Golden Triangle Angel Network, and Archangel’s Adrenaline Fund and Phoenix Fund.
Rithmik CEO Amanda Truscott told BetaKit that the funding will be used to increase the startup’s global footprint, with a particular focus on the Americas, by expanding to more sites with its existing customers, landing new customers, and solidifying partnerships with original equipment manufacturers, equipment dealers, and data collection companies.
Rithmik is once again classifying this latest funding as a seed round, despite raising a $1.5-million CAD seed round in 2021. According to Truscott, Rithmik has raised $7 million in equity and non-dilutive funding to date.
Truscott, COO Kevin Urbanski, and CTO Kris Isfeld launched Rithmik in 2018 to solve problems associated with mobile mining equipment. Truscott said the movement of materials accounts for about 40 percent of direct greenhouse gas emissions from mines, adding that it is common for a single site to waste millions of litres of fuel per year.
The startup’s flagship Asset Health Analyzer uses machine learning to increase mobile equipment efficiency as well as reduce maintenance costs and greenhouse gas emission. Truscott claims Rithmik reduces fuel burn by up to 15 percent and the firm projects an annual return on investment per heavy haul truck of $358,000 USD.
Since its 2021 raise, Truscott said Rithmik has moved through its technology roadmap faster than planned. It has grown its team by 300 percent, according to the CEO, moved from first pilots to site-wide deployments, and expanded into South America.
“Previously our primary focus had been on improving equipment reliability and availability,” Truscott said. “We’re now bridging the gap between operations and maintenance to reduce fuel burn even more while further increasing productivity and enhancing actionability.”
Rithmik plans to continue automating the insights capabilites of its platform, Truscott said, as well as work with customers that may be less “digitally-mature.”
Truscott told BetaKit last week she was excited to count DevCap among Rithmik’s investors because of its deep expertise and strategic focus on AI technologies.
DevCap was recently born out of Monadical, a full-stack software development consultancy, and in three months closed $2.5 million CAD in funding and began investing in pre-seed and seed-stage AI startups, a group that includes Rithmik.
“That expertise not only allows them to profoundly ‘get’ us and what we do at Rithmik; it also positions them to help us in unique ways,” Truscott said. “We’re really looking forward to being able to bounce ideas off their team.”
Feature image courtesy Dominik Vanyi via Unsplash.
