Kirk Falconer

Fellow.app, an Ottawa-based software toolkit for managers, has closed its seed-stage financing, raising about $8.5 million (US$6.5 million). Canadian growth equity and venture capital firm Inovia Capital led the round, with participation from Felicis Ventures, Garage Capital and several angel investors. Fellow.app, launched last year by CEO Aydin Mirzaee, CTO Sam Cormier-Iijima and CPO Amin Mirzaee, has developed a cloud-based tool to help managers and their teams organize meetings, feedback and priorities. Along with the seed round, Fellow.app announced its first customer, Canadian e-commerce giant Shopify.

C2RO, a Montréal-based cloud robotics software platform, has raised $2.25 million in follow-on financing. Québec early-stage venture capital firm Fonds Innovexport led the round. It was joined by GCI Capital, Harbor Street Ventures, Tandemlaunch, which incubated C2RO, Ministere de Economie et L’Innovation and angel investors. C2RO provides cloud artificial intelligence for smart devices to help businesses improve the experience of customers. It will use the funds raised to commercialize its product offerings. C2RO was founded in 2016 by CTO Soodeh Farokhi and is led by President and CEO Riccardo Badalone.

Bird Canada, a licensed affiliate of U.S. electric scooter provider Bird, has launched to bring the micro-mobility solution to Canadians. Bird Canada is backed by undisclosed financing from Obelysk, the investment arm of Canadian entrepreneur John Bitove, Canadian mobile venture capital firm Relay Ventures, and Alate Partners, a Toronto-based property technology platform. Stewart Lyons, a SiriusXM Canada co-founder, will serve as CEO. Bird Canada will begin operations in Alberta in July and eventually grow its fleet of electric scooters and other commuter solutions across Canada. Santa Monica, California-based Bird last year raised a US$300 million Series C financing led by Sequoia Capital.

Dfuse, a Montréal-based blockchain application programming interface (API) platform, has closed a seed-stage financing, raising about $4.6 million (US$3.5 million). U.S. cryptofund Multicoin Capital and Intel Capital, the venture capital arm of U.S. chip maker Intel Corp, led the round. Diagram Ventures, which co-founded dfuse, BoxOne Ventures, Panache Ventures and White Star Capital also invested. Launched in 2018 by Marc-Antoine Ross, Richard Reiner, Alexandre Bourget and Mathieu Boulianne, dfuse has created a range of products to help developers build effective blockchain applications. The funds raised will be used to expand the platform and grow engineering and customer teams.

Montréal-based cybersecurity software company Delve Labs has raised undisclosed follow-on financing. The round was led by 3dot6 Ventures, a U.S. cybersecurity venture capital firm, and Desjardins Capital, an investment arm of Desjardins Group. They were joined by BDC Capital. Delve Labs in 2016 closed a $1.5 million seed deal backed by Real Ventures and other investors. Founded in 2014, Delve Labs provides an artificial intelligence-enabled vulnerability management and prioritization solution to help businesses identify security issues, reduce risks and protect key assets. Led by CEO Gabriel Tremblay, the company will use the funds raised for go-to-market activities and further innovation.

MicroSintesis, a Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island-based developer of novel anti-infectives, has raised $16.4 million in financing. The investor was Northern Private Capital (NPC), an investment arm of CFFI Ventures, the holding company of Canadian billionaire John Risley. The deal gave NPC a minority stake. MicroSintesis has created a microbiome platform for developing products that support animal and human health and wellness. Last year, it launched its first commercial brands, Ygia and Nuvio, for Canada's pet and livestock markets. The company will use the funds raised for scaling-up production, increasing research capabilities, and global growth. Founded in 2011, MicroSintesis is led by President and CEO Hannah McIver.

BenchSci, a Toronto-based biomedical artificial intelligence (AI) technology company, has raised an undisclosed investment from Gradient Ventures, Google’s AI fund. The deal brings total funding to $27.2 million. BenchSci last year closed a Series A financing led by Inovia Capital and joined by Gradient, Golden Ventures, Afore Capital, Real Ventures and Radical Ventures. Founded in 2015, BenchSci develops technology that enables scientists to run more successful experiments to accelerate drug discovery. Its first product is an AI-assisted antibody selection platform. BenchSci will use the funds raised to expand its Toronto team and global sales force to meet demand from pharmaceutical companies.

Supreme Cannabis Co Inc said it will launch a new platform for investing in Europe's cannabidiol (CBD) health and wellness sector. Supreme Heights will make strategic investments in and lend support to U.K. and European health and wellness businesses with focused brands and CBD offerings, including vaporizers, edibles and beverages, topicals and ancillary services. Based in London, Supreme Heights will be led by CEO Patrick Morton, co-founder of Cannabis Invest UK. Toronto-based Supreme Cannabis is a provider of cannabis products for commercial and medical use.

BDC Capital has supplied $1.25 million of mezzanine financing to TickTrade, a Toronto-based provider of a software-as-a-service foreign exchange (FX) trading platform. BDC invested through its Growth and Transition Capital division. The deal was led by Director Kyle Feucht. Founded in 2013 by CEO Baha Ohcebol and COO Alexander Culiniac, TickTrade provides its FX trading and payments solutions to the global financial services industry. The proceeds of the financing, TickTrade's first from an institutional source, will be used to hire additional sales and marketing personnel as the company begins further U.S. and European market penetration.