Montréal-based Sollum has secured a $2.5 million grant from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) for its second phase of funding from the government agency.
Cleantech company Sollum was created by François Roy-Moisan, Gabriel Dupras and Jacques Poirier in 2014 while they were students at the École de technologie supérieure in Montréal. There, they assembled a lighting system designed for painting restoration that recreates the lighting environment at the time the piece was painted so that its appearance was as close to the original colouring as possible.
Sollum previously received $5.25 million from SDTC and $3.15 million from the Québec government through Technoclimat in 2020.
Sollum’s LED grow light solution is designed to recreate the sun’s natural light. Its “Sun-as-a-Service” cloud platform enables multi-zone light management so growers can grow different types of food in the same greenhouse. The platform also automatically adapts the lighting of each zone to the ambient light to match recipe targets.
By 2015, Sollum was incorporated. A year later the company joined Centech’s incubator and appointed Louis Brun as CEO. Solemn is currently headquartered in Montréal, where its design, development, and manufacturing activities are concentrated.
Using its fresh $2.5 million capital, Sollum intends to jumpstart a $14 million demonstration project to highlight Sollum’s lighting solution for the benefits of producing greenhouse tomatoes with partners SAVOURA Group, Prism Farms and Agriculture, and Agri-Food Canada’s Harrow Research and Development Centre (Harrow RDC).
Each of the greenhouse operating partners will demonstrate dynamic lighting on one hectare of growing space while Harrow RDC will be expanding its collection of Sollum light fixtures for research in addition to what it implemented during the SDTC phase one funding.
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Sollum previously received $5.25 million from SDTC and $3.15 million from the Québec government through Technoclimat in 2020 to begin testing its smart LED grow light solution for greenhouse pepper production. The company also received $50,000 in funding from the federal government as part of a cumulative $13 million CAD that was invested into 30 projects by Quebéc entrepreneurs that aim to reduce pollution, build healthy communities, and create jobs.
Feature image from Zoe Schaeffer via Unsplash