BDC Capital
Canvas Category Consultancy : Company : Private Equity
Established in 1953, BDC Capital is a private, mission driven economic development company that provides financing and investment capital for growing companies in New England. We have been recognized locally and nationally as a leader and innovator in business lending and investment. BDC Capital provides “gap financing” – supplemental assistance that bridges conventional lending and the greater needs of business and industry. For nearly 70 years, our programs have assisted thousands of New England based companies with over $1 billion of financial assistance.
Assembly Line
Ayrton Energy Raises $6.8 Million
Ayrton Energy, a developer of liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC) technology, secured USD $6.8 million in seed financing to advance its low-cost, scalable approach to safe, efficient delivery of clean hydrogen. The round was led by Clean Energy Ventures and the Business Development Bank of Canada’s investment arm, BDC Capital, with participation from Antares Ventures, EPS Ventures, SOSV, the51, and UCeed Investment Funds. Ayrton Energy will leverage the financing to scale its proprietary technology, double the size of its team, and expand operations into energy hubs in the U.S.
Miru closes $27.4-million CAD Series A as smart windows startup prepares to launch in 2025
Vancouver-based startup Miru has announced $27.4 million CAD ($20 million USD) in Series A financing as it looks to accelerate the commercialization of its electronically tintable window technology.
The all-equity round, which closed July 2024, was co-led by BDC Capital, the investment arm of Crown corporation the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), and Angelo Paletta, president and CEO of Ontario-based TNG Capital Corp. The deal also saw participation from Toronto cleantech-focused venture capital firm Greensoil. Miru’s spokesperson noted there were other participants in the Series A round, but declined to disclose names.
Miru is led by CEO and co-founder Curtis Berlinguette, a professor of chemistry and biological engineering at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Berlinguette’s research group at UBC focuses on exploring and discovering advanced materials for high-performance, low-cost alternative energy technologies. He was inducted into the Royal Society of Canada for his work in 2021.
Miru is designing three demonstration plants in North America and Europe, with two additional plants currently in development. The new funding will be allocated to invest in Miru’s automotive glass roofs and support the construction of new pilot lines in North America and Europe. Pilot lines refer to small-scale industrial setups used to test and refine manufacturing processes before they are implemented on a full production scale.
New Funding Fuels Tracktile’s Vision for Smart Manufacturing Software
Tracktile, an innovative technology SaaS startup, is excited to announce the successful closing of its pre-seed financing round. This $575,000 investment will fuel the company’s mission to empower manufacturers with complete visibility into their operations. Tracktile offers cloud-based manufacturing software tailored specifically for the food and beverage industry with plans to move to other manufacturing verticals.
The pre-seed funding round was led by BDC Capital’s Seed Venture Fund and Island Capital Partners, with participation from the New Brunswick Innovation Fund. This round of funding will enable Tracktile to accelerate its product development, expand its team, and scale its operations to meet growing market demand.
Maxa secures Series A funding led by Framework and BDC Capital
Montréal-based startup Maxa has raised $28.7 million CAD ($21 million USD) in Series A funding for its data automation and analytics platform for enterprise resource planning (ERP). The all-equity round was co-led by Framework Venture Partners and BDC Capital’s Industrial Innovation Venture Fund, with participation from third-time return backers AQC Capital and Graphite Ventures. The round also saw participation from new investors Snowflake Ventures, Amiral Ventures, and NAventures, the venture arm of National Bank of Canada.
Maxa said the new funding will fuel its product development, go-to-market, and customer self-serve capabilities. Alexis Steinman told BetaKit that Maxa had raised around $5 million prior to this round, and that Framework partner Jim Texier and a representative from BDC Capital gained seats on Maxa’s board of directors as a result of the round.
Forcen closes $8.35 Million to Develop its Touch-tech for Robots
Toronto-based robotics sensing company Forcen has closed an $8.35 million CAD funding round as it looks to scale up its prototype production facilities.
The all-equity round closed in February and was co-led by Brightspark Ventures and BDC Capital’s Deep Tech Venture Fund with participation from Garage Capital, MaRS IAF, and returning investors including EmergingVC. Founder and CEO Robert Brooks told BetaKit that undisclosed existing venture capital and angel investors, as well as new angel investors, also participated in the round.
Forcen said it will use the investment to support more customers and continue developing its force sensing technology for robots. With this round, which Brooks classified as “pre-A,” the startup has raised $12.95 million CAD in equity funding to date.
MarineLabs Raises Largest Seed Round in Canadian Ocean Technology History
MarineLabs, a leader in cutting edge maritime weather intelligence technology, proudly announces the successful completion of a historic $4.5 million seed funding round, marking the largest investment of its kind in Canadian history for an ocean tech company, which will directly benefit Canada’s marine industry. The funding was led by BDC Capital’s Sustainability Venture Fund with participation from Seaspan Shipyards, a leader in Canada’s ship design, engineering, building and ship repair industry.
This substantial investment will propel MarineLabs’ forward as it continues to revolutionize the maritime industry with its flagship product, CoastAware. CoastAware is a real-time weather intelligence solution that enhances safety, efficiency, and sustainability in maritime operations by providing users with detailed, actionable, real-time, and historical weather conditions data for informed decision-making.
Xaba Closes $2 Million Seed Extension to Deliver Intelligent, Self-programming Robotic Systems for Manufacturing
Xaba, developer of the first AI-powered cognitive software solution to automate programming and deployment of robotics and CNC machines, announced it has raised US$2 million in a seed extension round of funding to bring to market AI-driven fabrication processes and intelligent autonomous machines. The funding round was led by BDC Capital’s Deep Tech Venture Fund with participation from Hitachi Ventures and existing investor Hazelview Ventures. The investment will be used to establish and staff a new robotics lab and accelerate the delivery of two Xaba manufacturing platforms.
Xaba is augmenting industrial robots and cobots with xCognition, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered software solution. xCognition leverages innovative proprietary machine learning algorithms to model the elasto-mechanical-dynamic behavior of industrial robotics and cobots, as well as workpiece variances. This includes variances in location and shape, using proprietary rule-based language models to eliminate coding of robotics programs. xCognition solves the challenges of deploying industrial robots by completely automating how they are programmed and adopted. This solution not only increases accuracy, consistency, and throughput, but also significantly reduces the time and costs of robotics deployments.
Ambyint Secures Capital to Accelerate Sustained Customer Growth
Ambyint, the leading provider of AI-powered production and artificial lift optimization software for the energy industry, is pleased to announce the successful closure of its latest capital round and relocation of its head office to Calgary, Alberta. The round was led by existing investors Mercury and Montrose Lane, plus new investors BDC Capital and Accelerate Fund III. This capital will be focused on accelerating customer growth, increasing our sophisticated energy and tech talent, and optimizing product enhancements including expansion of the company’s proven emissions mitigation capabilities.
Construction Tech Innovator, Brickeye, Completes Significant Investment Round
Brickeye, a leading construction IoT and data analytics technology company, announces the successful first closing of a $10 million investment round. The company welcomed new investors BDC Capital’s IP-backed Financing Fund and Graphite Ventures, with additional funding from existing investors GreenSky Ventures, Brightspark, EDC, and MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund. Brickeye intends to use the funds for continued growth of its risk mitigation and productivity platform for the construction and insurance industries.
Harnessing the power of Internet of Things (IoT) technology, Brickeye’s suite of solutions enable job site monitoring, intelligent alerts and analytics, and smart automations. This empowers general contractors, owners, developers, and insurance providers to effectively mitigate risk, boost productivity, and safeguard margins of high-rise building and infrastructure construction projects. Brickeye is transforming how insurance providers place, underwrite, and protect policies by helping insureds de-risk projects in pre-construction and mitigate risk during construction.
HZG Group Backs AIM3D’s Bound Metal 3D Printing Tech
AIM3D, a developer of a unique metal and ceramics 3D printing technology, has just secured further funding from 3D printing investor HZG Group and the High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), who backed the Rockstock, Germany startup in 2021. AIM3D will use the money to support the launch of its ExAM 510 3D printer and develop software for the machine.
Fabless Semiconductor Innovator Stathera Announces US $15M Series A Funding Round
Stathera Inc., a leading provider of MEMS (Micro-electromechanical Systems) timing solutions, announced today that the company has raised $15 Million in a Series A funding round. The round was co-led by BDC Capital’s Deep Tech Venture Fund and Celesta Capital, with additional participation from strategic investors including MediaTek, Seiko Epson, and TXC.
“Technology scaling using conventional timing architectures has hit a wall when it comes to synchronizing next-generation electronics. Stathera’s technology introduces a new approach to integrating and manufacturing timing devices,” said George Xereas, Stathera’s CEO and Co-founder. “We are excited to be the only company with state-of-the-art DualModeTM frequency technology, which has the potential to re-architect the entire $9.4 Billion electronics timing industry. We are grateful to our investors for recognizing and investing in this potential, which will allow us to expand our world class team and drive commercialization.”
Summit Nanotech Secures US$50M for Lithium Extraction Technology to Support the Energy Transition to Net Zero
Summit Nanotech Corporation (“Summit”), a company sustainably solving lithium supply chain challenges, today announced the closing of a US$50 million Series A2. The Series A2 round was led by Evok Innovations and BDC Capital’s Climate Tech Fund alongside participation from previous investors including Xora Innovation and Capricorn Investment Group. Summit also welcomes a consortium of new climate-focused funds; Volta Energy Technologies, NGP, Helios Climate Ventures, and The Grantham Foundation.
Acerta Analytics secures $7.82M Series B financing
Acerta Analytics Solutions Inc. has raised US $7.82 million in Series B funding led by BDC Capital Industrial Innovation Venture Fund and Thrive Venture Fund and Lab for Women, with participation of OMERS Ventures and StandUp Ventures.
North Vancouver-Based Robotics Company Novarc Technologies Raises $2.6 Million Growth Financing From BDC Capital
BDC Capital has provided $2.6 million in growth capital to North Vancouver-based robotics company Novarc Technologies through its new intellectual property (IP) Backed Financing Fund. Their cutting-edge Spool Welding Robot (SWR) allows pipe fabrication companies serving the oil & gas, building construction, and shipbuilding industries to be more competitive when bidding on projects by dramatically increasing the productivity and quality of their pipe welding operations.
They will use the proceeds of this transaction to increase the company’s technical capabilities, expand their team with strategic hires across sales, marketing, finance and R&D, as well as support their growth plans.