Participated · Equity · Sep 2024

Mosaic Manufacturing is a Canadian 3D printing hardware company founded in 2014 that builds the Array 3D printing ecosystem and Element HT printers for automated, high-volume FDM production. The Array pairs four Element HT printers with Palette X material handling to enable up to eight filaments mid-print and includes automatic part removal to keep systems running with under 10% downtime. Mosaic says its systems can print engineering materials such as PEEK and Ultem and has shipped over 15,000 hardware products to customers in logistics, consumer apparel, defense, education, and contract manufacturing. The company raised C$28 million in a financing round to expand global adoption and operational growth of its automated FDM printers on the factory floor. Proceeds will be used to develop partnerships, deepen factory presence, and accelerate supply chain resilience amid economic and geopolitical challenges. Mosaic previously received backing from Techstars, Real Ventures, and SOAN and support from organizations including DDQIC, NGen, IRAP, MaRS, OCE, Venture Lab, CTA, and Canada Makes. Mosaic Manufacturing's core product is the Palette, an add-on that produces multi-colored 3D prints by cutting colored filament snippets from multiple spools and melting them together inside the device. A sensor tracks filament position to place colors accurately, allowing layered color, gradients, and melded transitions though it is not true full-color printing. The company demonstrated the device at TechCrunch Disrupt and invited coverage at its Montreal offices. Mosaic sold the Palette via a Kickstarter campaign that significantly exceeded its goal and offered an early-bird price of $850. The team planned to ship units in January 2016. The article does not report other financial metrics or additional funding rounds.

Participated · Seed · Apr 2023

Vivid Machines has built the Vivid XV, a real-time spectral sensor and computer-vision system that mounts on farm equipment to capture plant-level data below the canopy and deliver fruit-level insights. The system targets growers, pack houses, and fruit marketers to increase yield forecasting accuracy and optimize the fruit supply chain. Early trials with Algoma Orchards produced average yield prediction accuracy of about 90%, which helped secure initial customer commitments. The company plans to use the seed funding to accelerate development of additional system applications and to expand capabilities to a wider variety of fruit crops. Vivid Machines was founded in 2020 and is developing tools intended to boost fruit quality on existing acreage while lowering operational costs and reducing waste.

Participated · Equity · Feb 2019

Sampler operates an end-to-end digital platform that enables consumer packaged goods brands to target, distribute, track, and measure online product sampling campaigns. The platform is used by over 300 brands across more than 24 countries and has reached over 50 million consumers globally. Notable clients cited include Unilever, Henkel, Kimberly‑Clark, L'Oréal, and Nestlé. Sampler is headquartered in Toronto with offices in New York and Chicago. The company is positioning to expand across North America and Europe and to accelerate growth through non‑dilutive financing. Recent financing activity indicates the company is leveraging its revenue to fund expansion rather than relying solely on equity rounds. Sampler is a digital product-sampling platform that enables consumer packaged goods companies to create and manage sampling programs that drive consumer trials, online reviews, and CRM opt-ins. Its customers include major brands such as L’Oréal, Unilever, Nestlé, and Henkel. Headquartered in Toronto with offices in New York and Chicago, Sampler positions itself as the world’s leading direct-to-consumer product sampling platform. The company says demand for its platform has surged as brands pair sampling with modern digital marketing; it noted Amazon is piloting a similar offering. Sampler recently expanded its team with hires from Foursquare, Nielsen, and Amobee and plans to use the new funding to grow its sales, marketing, and product teams. The announcement follows the company’s participation in accelerators including The DMZ, 500 Startups, and Founders Factory. Sampler operates a SaaS platform that helps consumer packaged goods companies distribute promotional offers and product samples digitally. Brands integrate Sampler into remarketing channels like social media pages, websites, and digital or print ads to target specific audiences and gather feedback. The company positions its service to avoid attracting "Freebie Hunters," instead encouraging brands to reach existing fans or use samples as targeted calls to action. At the time of reporting Sampler had 89 clients and 250,000 customers had used the app to pick up samples. The company raised $1 million from Canadian investors including Bank Development Canada, MaRs IAF, and David Perkins. Sampler also participated in TechCrunch's TC Radio pitch-off, where it impressed judges with its traction and mission. Sampler is a Toronto-based startup that produces a brand-marketing SaaS designed to turn Facebook fans into brand ambassadors. Its product targets consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies by helping convert social followers into experiential brand advocates. The company announced it secured $645,000 in funding led by The MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund, with Export Development Canada and Ryerson Futures also participating. No revenue or user metrics were disclosed in the article. The MaRS IAF said it believed Sampler had identified a solution to a big challenge for CPGs and is excited to help build out the company’s vision. Sampler is notable for winning the 2014 Startup Next powered by Google for Entrepreneurs competition.

Participated · Series A · May 2018

#paid is a creator marketing platform that connects brands and creators and offers end-to-end workflow management for creator campaigns. The platform matches brands with creators, handles content approvals, automates payments and legal agreements, and reports on sales impact and ROI. It serves direct-to-consumer and Fortune 500 clients including Philips Hue, Everlywell, Unilever, and Sephora. The company recently launched a Creator Licensing Tool that allows brands to license creator content and gain advertising access to creators’ social profiles for whitelisted ads. #paid plans to use new funding to continue developing its platform offerings and expand into new digital channels to help brands scale creator marketing and enable creators to monetize more channels. Founded in 2014, the company positions itself as a leader in the creator marketing space. #paid operates an AI-driven platform that matches marketers with social media creators for integrated influencer marketing, content creation, and native amplification. The company plans to expand its platform with a SaaS offering that enables marketers to run influencer programs directly and to scale into new markets across North America and Europe. #paid will accelerate development of its Affinity Score™ matching algorithm, which uses image recognition, past campaign performance, and creator relationships to recommend authentic creator-brand fits. The company touts a network of over 15,000 creators and relationships with Fortune 500 advertisers such as Toyota, Coca-Cola, and Canon. Leadership includes co-founders Bryan Gold and Adam Rivietz; James Aitken is joining the board. #paid was founded in 2014 and has offices in New York and Toronto. The article notes the company has achieved traction and revenue growth, and it cites a global influencer ad-spend market exceeding $6 billion annually.

Participated · Equity · Feb 2016

Borrowell is a Toronto-based credit education company that offers free credit scores, educational content, weekly credit monitoring, personalized credit coaching and AI-powered financial product recommendations. The company raised $25M in a funding round that brings its total equity financing to $55M. Proceeds will be used to acquire Refresh Financial, a provider of credit to underserved Canadians, and to support future growth. The acquisition of Refresh Financial doubles Borrowell's revenue and employee base. Borrowell is led by co-founder and CEO Andrew Graham. The company combines consumer credit tools with digital product recommendations to expand its reach in underserved markets. Borrowell offers free credit score and report monitoring, automated credit coaching tools, and AI-driven financial product recommendations. Its AI credit coaching tool, Molly, gives users actions and insights to help improve their credit score and aggregates score, report and personalized recommendations in one place. The company recently released its AI-powered free credit monitoring app to the public after a soft launch; Molly’s beta recorded more than 36,000 downloads. Borrowell generates revenue through a loan service and referral fees when customers use its recommended products. It has partnered with 50 financial services, including major Canadian banks like CIBC, and reports more than one million users, calling itself Canada’s largest consumer fintech by user reach. Following the recent raise, the company plans to continue investing heavily in AI and machine learning. Based in Toronto, Borrowell offers free credit score monitoring, personal loans and tailored product recommendations to help Canadians make better credit decisions. The company has more than 300,000 account holders, with thousands signing up each week. Borrowell plans to use its new funding to expand credit education and scale lending, including ‘one click’ loans to prime consumers. It is making significant investments in data science and artificial intelligence to better predict needs and build financial tools. The business has expanded distribution through partnerships (including with CIBC) and focuses on improving consumer financial well‑being. The new capital will support growth of both its free information services and its loan offerings. Borrowell operates a wholly online platform that offers fast, fixed‑interest personal loans to Canadians as an alternative to high‑interest credit card debt. The company emphasizes a simple, online application that instantly provides personalized loan options to consumers with good credit. Since launching in March 2015, Borrowell has processed over $500 million in loan applications from thousands of Canadians. Borrowell positions itself as technology‑driven marketplace lender and is partnering with strategic investors to accelerate growth and adoption in the Canadian market. The company has attracted capital from financial and technology investors to expand its lending platform and market traction.