Kirk Falconer

Luci.ai, a Toronto-based artificial intelligence (AI) technology startup founded this year, has raised $500,000 in a seed-stage financing. The round's investors were not disclosed. Luci.ai also announced the launch of its AI dispatch and scheduling-as-a-service platform, LuciX, which helps businesses make deliveries and manage appointments. The technology is targeted to food delivery, groceries and retail, parcel and courier, retail and delivery, third-party logistics, home services, field service, warehouse management and other sectors. Luci.ai's founding team includes scientists, engineers and industry experts from Amazon, Alibaba, DHL and Canadian Tire.

Ratio.City, a Toronto-based urban analytics platform, has raised $1 million in a seed-stage financing. U.S. early-stage venture capital firm 2048 Ventures led the round. Also investing were Riocan Real Estate Investment Trust, Tercot Developments, Rockport Capital, Smycorp Capital and Guloien Capital. Founded in 2017 by CEO Monika Jaroszonek and CTO Erin Morrow, Ratio.City provides cloud-based mapping and analysis tools to help developers and planners access data, evaluate options and make better decisions about real estate opportunities. The round's proceeds will be used to grow Ratio.City's sales team and enhance the platform by bringing on more data points and geographical locations.

Toronto-based sports team funding app FlipGive has secured $5 million in a Series A financing. The round was led by Canadian software venture capital firm Framework Venture Partners. Framework's investment is the first of its $150 million debut fund, FVP I, which held an initial close earlier this year. It was joined by iGan Partners, which invested in 2013, and FJ Labs. Launched in 2016, FlipGive provides a digital platform that helps North American youth sports teams, member organizations and clubs raise funds through everyday shopping with favourite brands. The company will use the round's proceeds for new hires, enhanced product features, additional brand partners, marketing and member acquisition.

Calgary-based workplace resilience training app headversity has raised $1 million in a seed-stage financing. The round was backed by unidentified angel investors. Founded in 2017 by CEO Ryan Todd, CPO Karen MacNeill, COO Jordan DeCoste, CFO Kameron Erker and CMO Steven Gramlich, headversity provides online and onsite resilence training programs to help organizations support employee performance and reduce mental illness-related costs. Headversity said it will use the funds raised to further develop its platform and expand its team.

Toronto-based video monetization platform Veühub has raised $2 million in a seed-stage financing. The round was backed by Bethmann Lombard Bancorp, a Canadian venture capital, merchant banking and financial advisory firm. Veühub provides technology to bring together video publishers, brands and agencies in a data-driven, content sharing and monetization platform. Since launching in 2016, the startup reports sharing millions of videos from unique content creators. Led by CEO Hainsley Guthrie, Veühub will use the round's proceeds to scale development and its sales team, as well as finish building a new omni-channel ad-serving software-as-a-service product, Slyngshot.

Horizon Blockchain Games, a Toronto-based video game studio and blockchain infrastructure company, has raised $3.75 million in a seed-stage financing. Initialized Capital, the U.S. venture capital firm of Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, led the round. It was joined by Golden Ventures, Polychain, Coinbase, Digital Currency Group and Inovia Capital. Founded in 2018 by CEO Peter Kieltyka and his team, Horizon creates games enabled by blockchain technology. The company's debut title, SkyWeaver, a digital card game, is set to enter open beta this fall, along with its crypto-arcade platform and wallet, Arcadeum.

RoadBotics, a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based infrastructure technology company, has raised US$7.5 million in a Series A financing. The round was led by Canadian artificial intelligence (AI) venture capital firm Radical Ventures, with participation from Hyperplane Venture Capital, Wharton Alumni Angels and others. Founded in 2016, RoadBotics uses AI to help governments and engineering companies make data-driven pavement management decisions. It serves more than 150 customers in 23 U.S. states and 11 countries. RoadBotics will use the funds raised to accelerate growth and develop new products. Earlier this year, Radical launched a new $458 million (US$350 million) AI-focused fund.

Vistara Capital Partners has led an undisclosed financing of BitTitan, a Bellevue, Washington-based managed services automation company. BitTitan helps information technology service professionals to deploy and manage cloud technologies through automation. Since 2009, it has moved more than 13 million users to the cloud for 36,000 customers in 187 countries. BitTitan will use the round's proceeds to invest in automation initiatives and accelerate growth through its global offices and partnerships. Last October, Vistara, a Canadian provider of debt and equity financing to growth-stage technology companies, launched its third fund at a target of $130 million (US$100 million).

Ag Growth International Inc (TSX: AFN) (AGI) has agreed to make a minority investment of US$15 million in Farmobile Inc, a Leawood, Kansas-based agriculture technology company. AGI, which also entered into a new strategic commercial agreement with Farmobile, will have the right to appoint two directors as a result of the deal. Founded in 2013, Farmobile provides hardware and software for the real-time collection, organization, analysis and storage of farm data. Its other investors include European venture capital firm Anterra Capital. Based in Winnipeg, AGI is a provider of equipment solutions for agriculture bulk commodities.