Whether they’re changing the world of medicine or mobile, Canadian startups raised impressive rounds in this week’s roundup of funding. Here’s the latest on who raised how much, and from whom.
Mobify raises $10 million in funding
Mobify, a Vancouver-based mobile shopping platform, announced $10 million in funding in a round led by Munich-based Acton Capital Partners. The company will use the funding to accelerate the delivery of its new technologies and the adoption of its mobile customer engagement platform. It currently has 150 enterprise customers using its services.
“Our goal is to revolutionize the way people and brands interact using the power of mobile. The new, mobile-first shopper demands excellence online and in-store,” said Mobify CEO Igor Faletski. “With the new financing, Mobify can bring its expertise to new markets where mobile customer engagement can make shopping better and more personal.”
At the same time, Mobify announced that Hannes Blum, venture partner with Acton Capital Partners, and Mark Organ, founder and CEO of Influitive, have joined the board of directors.
“Mobify is building the e-commerce marketing automation platform of the future, driven by the engaging power of smart mobile messaging,” said Organ, who was previously the founding CEO of Eloqua.
“I am thrilled to join Igor on the board, drawing on my experience creating categories in marketing automation at Eloqua and advocate marketing at Influitive, as he and his team build out the next great marketing software category in mobile e-commerce.”
ScarX Therapeutics raises $2 million Series A
ScarX Therapeutics, a Canadian biotechnology company working on commercializing innovative treatments for dermal scarring (fibrosis), announced the closing of a $2 million Series A.
ScarX was spun off as a company by MaRS Innovation and SickKids. The company is using the funding to finish a phase I clinical trial of its lead drug candidate, called SCX-001, in human volunteers to establish a safety profile.
SCX-001 is a nefopam topical cream the company designed to reduce post-surgical scarring and improve wound healing after surgical wound closure.
“While many factors play a role in excessive scarring, our work in the lab found that beta-catenin activation is a common mechanism for hypertrophic scars,” said Dr. Benjamin Alman, who discovered the benefits of the nefopam molecule in excessive scarring. “We screened over 2,000 compounds to identify SCX-001 as the one effective therapeutic approach to this problem. Targeting beta-catenin with SCX-001 will prevent excessive scar formation in the vast majority of individuals, resulting in better cosmetic and functional outcomes from injury or surgery.”
Montreal-based Chronogolf raises $1.5 million
Chronogolf, a cloud-based golf management software, announced $1.5 million in funding in a round led by iNovia Capital. Telegraph Hill Capital, Anges Québec, and BDC also participated in the round.
According to a report from Les Affaires, Chronogolf, which has so far raised a total of $2.9 million, will use the funding to accelerate its expansion. Currently, Chronogolf has 220,000 users that have booked 2.5 million rounds of golf using the website.
Chronogolf’s end-to-end solutions platform is targeted to golf course owners, and provides data analytics, point-of-sale, event organizing, and tee sheets.