Vive Crop Protection has raised $11.2 million CAD ($8.4 million USD) in an extension to its Series C financing round.
The Mississauga-based AgTech startup secured nearly $34 million CAD ($26 million USD) in the first close of its Series C funding round in August 2022. This extension brings the round’s total to $45.9 million CAD ($34.4 million USD).
Proceeds will be used for Vive’s laboratory expansion and headcount growth.
Current investors in Vive who contributed to the extension include the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), Export Development Canada (EDC), Urbana Corporation, Co-operators, Emmertech, Lex Capital, and iSelect. Vive did not disclose who led the round or when it closed.
The $11.2 million that Vive secured in this extension falls short of its previous plans to add another $18 million CAD to its Series C financing, however. Vive CEO Darren Anderson told BetaKit in August that fundraising in this fashion was a “prudent decision” given present macroeconomic conditions.
Speaking to this round, Anderson said the continued support of Vive’s investors in a “challenging equity market” is a demonstration of their belief in the startup’s potential as it plans for expansion throughout North America.
Vive said it will use the Series C financing to invest in its research and development efforts, which includes a laboratory expansion and headcount growth. The startup said it also plans to expand into “underserved markets in North America” as well as scale its marketing capabilities and brand awareness strategies.
Founded in 2006 and spun out of technology developed at the University of Toronto, Vive develops crop protection solutions to make agricultural chemicals like pesticides and fungicides more efficient.
RELATED: Vive Crop Protection secures $34 million CAD Series C to drive AgTech R&D
Vive’s Allosperse delivery system uses patented polymer “shuttles” to carry an active ingredient where it needs to go. This technology creates mixing products for agricultural chemicals with improved penetration and targeting, according to the startup.
When it raised the first close of its Series C last year, Vive’s focus up to that point had been on the United States, which Anderson said has “shorter regulatory timelines than Canada.”
Vive has since expanded to Canada, with its first Canadian product registration in March. It now offers its AZteroid fungicide in the country, which helps Canadian potato growers combat soilborne diseases like Black scurf, and Rhizoctonia.
Featured image courtesy Unsplash.