SDTC Celebrates its Biggest Seed Fund Round 

Partnering with over 60 accelerators across Canada, Sustainable Development Technology Canada announced funding of $3.8M for 38 promising new cleantech companies across Canada – its biggest seed fund round to date.  

With funding for companies in every corner of the country – this round showcases the regional diversity of Canadian entrepreneurs. Today’s funding also includes the largest cohort of women-led firms approved in a single Seed Fund round, representing 32% of the funded companies.  

SDTC’s seed funding will allow today’s entrepreneurs to launch their innovations to the next level. The Seed Fund Program supports promising early-stage Canadian cleantech entrepreneurs by providing grants of $50,000 to $100,000 to innovative technology projects with the potential for important environmental sustainability. Seed Fund applicants are nominated by SDTC’s partnership of Canadian accelerators, incubators and entrepreneurial service organizations. To learn more, click here.  

The high-potential early-stage firms receiving funds today are developing technologies that span a variety of sectors, from data-enabled technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT) to producing lab-cultivated meat, to sustainably launching satellites into space, these companies are bringing ground-breaking sustainability solutions to Canadians. 

“In their early stages of growth, businesses have the biggest challenges ahead of them,” said Leah Lawrence, President and CEO of SDTC. “At SDTC we are proud to support and invest in small Canadian cleantech businesses to help them reach their full potential. Congratulations to the successful recipients of this round, your dedication to sustainability will continue to inspire more Canadians to innovate and discover solutions for a greener planet.”  

“We congratulate each of these entrepreneurs as they realize their visionary cleantech ideas, which will create well-paying jobs across the country and contribute to the fight against climate change,” said the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry. “These SDTC Seed Fund investments will further position Canada as a global cleantech leader and help build a cleaner, more resilient and sustainable future for all Canadians.”  

SDTC is also working in partnership with the Innovation Asset Collective (IAC) on supporting these new companies to develop intellectual property (IP) knowledge and strengthen their strategic positions and IP portfolios. As Canada’s IP leader, the role of IAC is to empower the sustained success of Canadian SMEs in the data driven cleantech through leadership in IP strategy and its use to create global business advantage. SDTC’s new Seed Fund cohort will be offered complimentary Associate Membership with IAC. 

Companies approved for funding: 

Below are 38 Canadian companies approved by SDTC for seed funding during the first round of the 2021/22 fiscal year. The accelerator partner that nominated each company is also listed. 

1. Audette Analytics. Inc (British Columbia), supported by Alacrity Foundation of B.C., works with commercial real estate owners and developers to improve the energy efficiency of their structures and properties. 
2. Ava Technologies Inc. (British Columbia), supported by Alacrity Foundation of B.C., has developed AI-powered smart gardens that enable customers to grow their own fresh, nutritious produce on a micro-scale indoors at home. 
3. Bioform Solutions Inc. (British Columbia), supported by Entrepreneurship @UBC, drives customers through its patented technology to replace plastic from their operations with home compostable and recyclable products.  
4. Moment Energy Inc. (British Columbia), supported by New Ventures BC, offers energy storage systems (ESS) using retired EV batteries for on grid and off-grid applications.  
5. pH7 Technologies Inc. (British Columbia), supported by New Ventures BC, extracts precious metals from landfills with a net-zero environmental footprint using a proprietary green solvent. 
6. Niricson Software Inc. (British Columbia), supported by UVic Coast Capital Innovation Centre, has developed novel drone-based data collection and damage assessment system to detect issues with civilian infrastructure. 
7. Sepura Home Ltd (British Columbia), supported by UVic Coast Capital Innovation Centre, is solving water pollution with an under the sink garbage disposal system. 
8. Solaires Enterprise Inc. (British Columbia), supported by Foresight Cleantech Accelerator Centre is developing a perovskite crystal solar cell. 
9. Sawback Technologies Inc. (Alberta), supported by Foresight Cleantech Accelerator Centre, provides a near-Surface Remote Sensing technology that doesn’t compromise on safety, time, or environmental impact in the process. 
10. Arbor (Alberta), supported by Platform Calgary, turns a proprietary set of environmental and societal data into simple and understandable tools to drive measurable change within the global consumption cycle. 
11. Prairie Robotics (Saskatchewan), supported by Cultivator powered by Conexus, makes recycling simple with an Internet of Things (IOT) solution on collection trucks. 
12. Feed Flow Limited (Manitoba), supported by Manitoba Technology Accelerator, provides the animal agriculture industry with real-time, actionable data on the feed flowing through barns. 
13. ioAirFlow Incorporated (Manitoba), supported by North Forge East, helps older commercial buildings find ways to improve their energy efficiency and internal environment.  
14. 2S Water (Ontario), supported by Climate Ventures provides data that operators  need to reduce emissions, reuse water, and make sure that water released back into the environment is clean and safe. 
15. ALT TEX Inc. (Ontario), supported by Climate Ventures, is a B2B biomaterials start-up creating sustainable textiles chemically regenerated from food waste that are biodegradable and carbon neutral. 
16. A Friendlier Company Inc. (Ontario), supported by Innovation Guelph, offers food service businesses a turnkey reusable packaging option that allows them to elevate their takeout experience, engage with customers, and reach their sustainability goals. 
17. Caro Meats (Ontario), supported by Velocity, uses tissue engineering-based technologies to develop cultivated meat with the expected features from structured animal-derived meat.  
18. Ceragen Inc. (Ontario), supported by Velocity, is developing probiotics to increase crop yields by improving the plant’s response to environmental stress. 
19. FTEX Inc. (Ontario), supported by Creative Destruction Lab, offers the world’s first Dynamic Drive for EVs, helping increase overall power output while increasing the range of EVs by as much as 30%.
20. Index Biosystems (Ontario), supported by Creative Destruction Lab, has designed BioTags, a natural, scalable and customizable on-product traceability solution that acts like a microscopic barcode to enable unprecedented quality control, anti-counterfeiting and ESG guarantees.
21. Nfinite Nanotechnology (Ontario), supported by Creative Destruction Lab, has developed an atomic layer deposition (ALD) technology for high-throughput coating of barrier layers on packaging materials. 
22. Maple Precision Inc. (Ontario), supported by Accelerator Centre, provides a mapping software called Equator that allows Architecture, Engineering & Construction (AEC) professionals to find, build, and share high-definition (HD) maps in minutes. 
23. MazLite Inc. (Ontario), supported by UTEST, provides a spray and particle Digitization Platform, an industry-leading technology that increases manufacturing consistency and first-time quality while reducing material and energy waste. 
24. REEDDI INC. (Ontario), supported by UTEST, offers a proprietary energy generation and distribution technology system that integrates smart data harvesting and analytics technology.  
25. Promise Robotics Inc. (Ontario), supported by MaRS Discovery District is developing a robotics platform to accelerate manufacturing time and remove uncertainties associated with the construction of homes and buildings. 
26. Spaceryde Inc. (Ontario), supported by RIC Centre, is building the most affordable and sustainable way to launch satellites to space. 
27. The Aggressive Good Inc. (Ontario), supported by Invest Ottawa, has developed the only fully integrated zero waste supply chain solution from supplier to retailer to consumer. 
28. RailVision (Québec), supported by Cycle Momentum, is developing solutions for transit and transportation industries.  
29. Geosapiens Inc. (Québec), supported by Cycle Momentum, specializes in managing flooding risks through technological solutions based on geospatial data.  
30. Rithmik Solutions Ltd. (Québec), supported by Cycle Momentum, increases mobile equipment uptime by leveraging AI for predictive maintenance on mobile mining equipment. 
31. AquaVerti Farms (Québec), supported by Esplanade, has developed a vertical farm plant production system without pesticides or GMOs in a controlled environment with the development of robotics, IT, big data and AI. 
32. Concept Geebee Inc. (Québec), supported by Sherbrooke Innopole, develops small electric vehicles for cities and corporations to meet their mobility challenges in an innovative, efficient, and sustainable way.  
33. infinityQ Technology Inc. (Québec), supported by Acet / Banque nationale, has developed “analog quantum” technology that uses analog electronics while exploiting certain quantum effects. 
34. Niosense (Québec), supported by Centech, improves the management of traffic lights by offering treatment adapted to each type of vehicle to optimize mobility and reduce greenhouse gas emissions linked to transportation. 
35. Technologie Genset-Synchro inc. (Québec), supported by AG-Bio Centre, is developing an innovative solution for generating electricity using fossil-combustion generators. 
36. Blue Lions Labs Ltd (Nova Scotia), supported by Innovacorp, reduces the time to analyze harmful organisms in water from weeks to hours.  
37. CoteX Technologies Inc. (Nova Scotia), supported by Verschuren Centre Inc., offers an affordable and effective bio-polymer coating technology to minimize fertilizer loss.  
38. OzoneBio Corp. (Nova Scotia), supported by Verschuren Centre Inc. provides a unique technology that improves high value products by reducing their environmental footprint in the early stages of the supply chain. 

To learn more about these companies, click here.