Six Canadian startups have recently announced fresh funding rounds to fuel their growth. Here’s the latest on who raised, how much, from whom, and what they’ll be putting the new funds toward.
Botpress lands $15 million Series A
Botpress, a Québec City-based startup that aims to help developers build conversational-based apps, has raised a $15 million Series A round of funding.
The round was led by venture firm Decibel with participation of Inovia Capital, Panache Ventures, Real Ventures, Hike Ventures, One Way Ventures, Fonds Innovexport, and Boxone Ventures. Decibel’s Jon Sakoda will join Botpress’s board of directors as part of the deal.
Founded in 2016 by Sylvain Perron and Justin Watson, Botpress provides a software platform that allows developers and companies to build, deploy, and manage chatbots. The startup’s platform is targeted toward enterprise-level clients that want to create conversational experiences for customers.
Sherpa raises $8.5 million in funding
Toronto-based travel tech company Sherpa has raised $8.5 million in funding. The investment was led by Narrative Fund and True Ventures, with participation from Relay Ventures, TSVC, Globalive Capital, N49P, Plug and Play Ventures, and Golden Ventures.
Stuart MacDonald, founder of Expedia.ca, and LP Maurice, founder and CEO of Busbud, also invested in the raise. Sherpa will use this new funding to expand its travel rules platform.
Founded in 2015 by Max Tremaine and Ivan Sharko, Sherpa has developed an API that helps large travel companies give travellers up-to-date information about travel restrictions at their destination. Sherpa also automates visa applications so travellers can add a visa to their cart when buying flights or other travel products.
A spokesperson for the company told BetaKit Sherpa and the round’s investors chose to not assign a specific stage to the funding round. According to Crunchbase, the startup’s last financing was a seed round in October 2020.
Kinetyx secures $3.8 million CAD in seed funding
Sensor technology startup Kinetyx has closed a $3.8 million CAD ($3.1 million USD) seed round. The investment was led by NEXT VENTŪRES with participation from Paddock Capital, Thuja Ventures, and other investors that Kinetyx did not disclose.
Last year, Calgary-based Kinetyx spun out from parent company Orpyx Medical Technologies in order to commercialize Orpyx’s intellectual property in non-medical applications. Kinetyx is currently developing a kinesomic sensor to measure athlete performance, by mapping and sequencing how a person moves.
The new funding will be used for research and development as Kinetyx moves closer to the commercialization of its kinesomic sensor products that are expected to enter the market this year.
Realize Medical reportedly closes $1 million seed round
Ottawa-based healthtech and virtual reality startup Realize Medical has reportedly raised $1 million in seed funding, led by the Capital Angel Network with participation from Maple Leaf Angels and York Angels.
According to a report from the Ottawa Business Journal, the new funds will be used to grow Realize Medical’s sales and marketing team and hire more software developers and engineers.
Founded in 2019, Realize Medical offers a medical image viewing, modeling, and communication platform aimed to help healthcare professionals to view and interact with medical images and improve patient care.
G2V Optics secures $2.6 million
Edmonton-based smart lighting startup G2V Optics has raised $2.6 million CAD in growth funding, led by Accelerate Fund II, with participation from existing investors DJI Capital, ThresholdImpact, Bluesky Equities, and Ashif Mawji.
The latest financing also includes a $1.34 million federal government loan from Western Economic Diversification Canada, which will help G2V Optics increase manufacturing and grow the export capacity of its solar simulation technology. Including G2V Optics’ previously-announced seed round and non-dilutive grants, the startup has raised $5 million CAD since the start of 2019.
G2V Optics develops smart lighting, monitoring, and data science solutions for advanced cultivation and solar research applications. One of the company’s products includes a sunlight replication technology that has applications in the cleantech and AgTech sectors.
Solvera Solutions raises $3.75 million
Solvera Solutions, a Regina-based IT services and software integration firm, has raised $3.75 million in non-dilutive financing from BDC Capital’s Growth and Transition Capital division.
These funds, which come in the form of a subordinated mezzanine loan, will be used by Solvera to continue its growth strategy, which includes the fulfillment of a contract it recently won with an undisclosed company.
Solvera Solutions was founded in 2005 by co-CEOs Reg Robinson and Jim Ostertag. The company offers application solutions, ServiceNow solutions, SAP solutions, and modern workplace services, in addition to consulting services.
Image source Unsplash. Photo by Kaitlyn Baker.
