Participated · Equity · Nov 2024

Pibox provides an audio collaboration platform that combines content collaboration, messaging, and file management features in a single place. The system lets teams customize and go deep via metadata fields and management, playlists, custom integrations, and reports. Customers include Sony Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group, Epidemic Sound, and Bleeding Fingers by Hans Zimmer. Led by CEO Ivan Talaichuk, the company serves use cases across music, broadcasting, and advertising. Pibox raised $1.2M in funding and also received support from Google for Startups. The company intends to use the funds to expand into the US market and to serve more use cases and customers. Pibox is a SaaS platform that centralizes team collaboration with media files and structured workflows. The application allows users to leave comments, draw on video, select moments with millisecond accuracy, and includes chat and fixed storage structures. It aims to replace multiple tools used by creative teams, customers, and contractors such as mail, messenger, file hosting services, and task managers. Pibox's clients include Universal, Epidemic Sound, Sony, Red Bull, the National Gallery of Art, and Michigan Technological University. Founded in 2017 in Ukraine by brothers Ivan and Pavel Talaychuk, the company recently closed a $400,000 pre-seed raise and joined the Techstars Toronto cohort. With the new funding Pibox plans to expand its team, develop go-to-market across creative verticals, and continue building product capabilities and brand positioning for video and podcast productions, branding agencies, and media industry specialists. Pibox is a centralized all‑in‑one remote collaboration solution developed for creative collaboration around audio content. Its features include visualized waveforms with commenting and highlighting, mix version history, team chat, cloud storage, project management and rich content collaboration. The product is used daily by heads of production, music producers, managers and sound engineers, and has partnerships with Universal Music and Epidemic Sound. While currently geared toward audio collaboration, Pibox has attracted interest from video content creators. The company was launched in 2018 and maintains teams in Helsinki and Ukraine; the founders are brothers Ivan and Pavlo Talaychuk. Pibox previously participated in the Startup Wise Guys and Accelerace Soundtech acceleration programs and has recently raised new funding.

Participated · Seed · Jul 2023

3DBioFibR develops scalable biopolymer fibers using a patented dry‑spinning platform that can process over six biopolymers. Its fibers report performance metrics two to three times the strength of natural tissue and are produced at over 3,600× the scale of conventional wet spinning and electrospinning, with improved uniformity and cost‑efficiency. The company has signed paid development agreements and partnerships across tissue engineering, medical devices, defense, cosmetics, and apparel, including several multinational corporations. The recently closed financing will fund ISO 13485 certification, construction of a clean room, and manufacturing scale‑up to meet rising global demand for medical‑grade and performance biomaterials. 3DBioFibR positions itself as a supplier for regulated clinical and therapeutic applications and plans to expand commercial and clinical partnerships. The company is based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. 3D BioFibR develops patented, fully automated collagen-fiber manufacturing technology to produce biofibres that mimic natural materials such as spider silk and collagen. The company is focused on producing recombinant human collagen for the medical research market and launched two products in June: μCollaFibR and CollaFibR, a three-dimensional cell-culture scaffold. To scale production the firm is collaborating with PlantForm Corporation and plans to use PlantForm’s vivoXPRESS plant-based biologics platform rather than mammalian-cell systems. A recent collaborative project funded by Next Generation Manufacturing Canada aims to improve collagen expression scale, increase fiber manufacturing capacity, and validate methods for incorporating recombinant collagen feedstock. 3D BioFibR was founded in 2020 by Sullivan and CSO John Frampton, a biomedical engineering professor at Dalhousie University, and operates with a 12-person team. Financially, the company previously raised $550,000 in 2020 and $700,000 of equity in 2021, and closed an equity and debt round worth $3.52 million in July of this year. 3D BioFibR develops and produces high-value collagen fibers at commercial scale using a proprietary, fully automated dry-spinning process. The company says its process is the only one that produces diameter-controlled collagen fibers at commercial scale and is at least 3,600x faster than competing manufacturing methods. Its collagen fibers are positioned for use in 3D cell culture and tissue engineering, recreating the natural appearance, structure, and function of collagen. 3D BioFibR plans to expand facilities to include a climate-controlled biomanufacturing cleanroom and a new wet lab and cell culture facility to bring its premium collagen fiber products to market. The company is backed by seed financing and receiving government support, including a repayable contribution and NRC IRAP advisory and R&D funding to support development of an automated collagen fiber manufacturing system. Management emphasizes accelerating capacity to meet growing demand from tissue engineers. 3D BioFibR produces naturally sourced, high-value biofibers including collagen (CollaFibR™) and spider silk for use in biomedical engineering, 3D tissue culture, tissue engineering, green textiles, defense, and aerospace. The company uses a proprietary dry-spinning manufacturing process that the team says is faster than current methods and preserves the natural properties of the proteins. Recent messaging emphasizes transition from a lab-based process to an automated production system to deliver consistent, high-quality products at commercial scale. Management plans to scale up and automate manufacturing to be ready for first market sales in the second half of 2022. The company is prioritizing engagement with industry to secure commercial partnerships, with an initial focus on tissue culture and tissue engineering applications. 3D BioFibR was incorporated in July 2020 and is operating from Halifax, Nova Scotia. 3D BioFibR is an advanced biofibre materials company based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It manufactures naturally sourced, high-value biofibres including spider silk, collagen and chitosan. The company targets applications across biomedical engineering, green textiles, defense and aerospace. Leadership includes CEO Kevin Sullivan and Chief Scientific Officer Dr. John Frampton. 3D BioFibR plans to use new capital to develop and commercialize its tissue engineering and biomedical device products and to scale up manufacturing of its biofibre platform. The firm raised external funding to support those development and commercialization efforts.

Participated · Seed · Mar 2022

Curv Health offers a full‑stack digital clinic platform that connects members from employers and insurance carriers to independent providers (physiotherapists, psychotherapists, counselors, dietitians, certified diabetes educators) via a suite of digital tools and a dedicated health concierge. Its remote monitoring suite includes computer vision, surveys, photo submissions, and integrations with Apple Health Kit sleep and heart‑rate data to support at‑home treatments. Curv reports its remote monitoring drives over 50% patient compliance to at‑home treatments (about 2x the industry norm), and the platform pays providers nearly 2x higher percentage per session than traditional clinics. The company emphasizes automation and new care pathways to reduce resource needs, lower costs, and improve long‑term health outcomes across physical, nutritional, and mental health. The recent CAD$5.1M seed financing will fund continued product development and hiring as part of an aggressive growth strategy. Curv is expanding partnerships with large insurance carriers, group benefits brokers, and employers and plans to launch into key U.S. markets in 2022. Curv Health's platform extracts physical health and performance metrics and biomechanical features from two-dimensional mobile video using computer vision and machine learning. The tool is targeted at athletes, coaches, trainers and health professionals to help diagnose and predict movement pathologies and inform preventative and rehabilitative care. The company plans to expand its SaaS offering directly to health and educational institutions across North America. Curv was founded in 2017 and had been bootstrapped through licensing its technology via API prior to this raise. The company has signed a deal with ASICS (also an investor) and has reported early revenue and partnerships, with past reports noting engagements with NBA teams and more than 500 universities and colleges. Curv is an alumnus of Next AI and ASICS Tenkan Ten, has opened an office in Halifax, and won the NFL’s "1st & Future" competition.

Participated · Series A · Aug 2021

Insight Terra provides a fully integrated, end-to-end data management solution for mining built around three core elements: edge-based data ingestion/validation, Inmarsat’s global L-band satellite connectivity for reliable real-time transfer, and the cloud-based Insight Platform that curates and visualizes validated data on customizable dashboards. The company builds on Tailings Insight, an integrated solution for monitoring mine tailings facilities in real time, and the Insight Platform developed through a two-year collaboration between Inmarsat and Civic Connect. While tailings monitoring is the initial focus, Insight Terra plans to expand its offerings to water management, pit wall stability and broader environmental and infrastructure monitoring use cases across mining. Adjacent-sector applications mentioned include freshwater reservoirs, hydroelectric dams, landslide monitoring and other critical infrastructure risk management. The company is positioned as a specialized Platform-as-a-Service provider targeting ESG-driven demand for enterprise-grade risk management. Civic Connect is the initial majority owner and Inmarsat retains an equity stake and a board seat.

Participated · Equity · Jun 2021

Plantiga offers a movement health platform that combines sensor insoles, artificial intelligence and human coaching to measure, analyze and optimize movement. The platform serves over 60 elite organizations across North America, Europe, Asia and Oceania and a roster of individual athletes. Customers include teams in the NBA, NFL, MLB, MLS and NHL, high-end sports medicine and physiotherapy clinics, and both the US and Canadian militaries. Led by founder and CEO Quin Sandler, the company has launched a closed beta program for individuals that provides insoles, the software platform and a personal movement coach. Plantiga intends to use recent funding to accelerate marketing and sales and to support the build-out of self-monitoring capabilities. The product focus is on integrating hardware, AI and coaching to deliver movement-health insights to teams and individuals.