Two Canadian startups have 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.
Space startup SkyWatch raises $10 million CAD Series A
SkyWatch Space Applications, a space tech startup running out of Kitchener-Waterloo, has completed a $10 million CAD ($7.5 million USD) Series A round.
SkyWatch’s team has past experience building a program called Supernova, which has been awarded by NASA.
Bullpen Capital led the round, with participation from existing investors, Space Capital, Golden Ventures, Techstars Ventures, SK Ventures, and Angel Round Capital, and new investor BDC Industrial, Clean, and Energy Technology Venture Fund. SkyWatch’s team has past experience in using space data aggregation software, and building a program called Supernova, which took first place at a NASA hackathon in 2014.
“We will soon surpass 100 customers building applications across more than a dozen unique industries,” said James Slifierz, SkyWatch’s CEO and co-founder. “This new round of financing will enable us to accelerate and grow past 1,000 customers over the next 12 months while continuing to develop partnerships with the world’s leading satellite operators.”
RELATED: Canadian government investing $13 million in satellite company NorthStar Earth and Space
Founded in 2014, the company is now developing SkyWatch EarthCache, which allows application developers to programmatically integrate satellite imagery into any software application. The startup also offers TerraStream, an integrated data management solution for satellite data operators that handles all data-related operations from the ground station to customers.
Other Canadian tech startups working in the satellite space include NorthStar and UrtheCast.
Reshift Security raises $275,000 in first financing round
Reshift Security, an Ottawa-based SaaS startup addressing code vulnerabilities for software developers, has raised $275,000 in its first round of financing.
Reshift’s solution identifies code vulnerabilities in real-time and offers corrective steps to the developer.
The startup received the investment from Ottawa-based software security company, Software Secured, and the Business Development Bank of Canada. Bootstrapped until now, Reshift CEO Sherif Koussa said the new capital will allow the company to increase brand awareness.
Reshift said today’s predominant software security model depends on an “after-the-fact audit approach” to identifying weaknesses. The company called this approach slow and inefficient as it causes the need for continuous production updates. The startup is looking to tap into the market opportunity created by this inefficiency by identifying code vulnerabilities for software developers immediately.
Reshift has created a solution for developers that can integrate with modern tools, processes, and workflows. The solution identifies code vulnerabilities as the software is being created, and offers corrective suggestions to the developer. The tool uses algorithms to adapt to an organization’s codebase and steadily reduces the rate of false-positive distractions.
In September, it was announced that Reshift would be participating in L-Spark’s fall 2019 cohort.
Image source SpaceX on Unsplash