The Venture Codex

Led · Equity · Aug 2025

Fireweed Metals is a mineral developer centered on the Macmillan Pass district (zinc, lead, silver, copper) and the adjacent high‑grade Mactung tungsten project. Macpass spans about 985 km² and includes the Tom, Jason, Boundary and End Zone deposits; an updated calculation (four deposits) reported 56 million tonnes indicated at 5.49% zinc, 1.58% lead and 24.2 g/t silver, plus 48.49 million tonnes inferred at 5.15% zinc, 2.08% lead and 25.3 g/t silver. Mactung was reported in 2023 to host 41.5 million tonnes indicated averaging 0.73% WO3 and 12.3 million tonnes inferred averaging 0.59% WO3. The company is advancing planning and early engineering for infrastructure upgrades (road and transmission) to enable long‑term development of both Macpass and Mactung. Financially, Fireweed has secured government support including a C$12.9M contribution from Natural Resources Canada and a prior U.S. Department of Defense Title III award of $15.8M to support feasibility and development work at Mactung. Planned work funded by the Canadian contribution includes preliminary engineering for ~250 km of road upgrades, transmission line upgrades and new 138 kV transmission planning, plus environmental and socio‑economic assessments and government/Indigenous negotiations. Construction funding for the infrastructure upgrades has not been determined and is expected to involve multiple sources.

Led · Equity · Jul 2024

Aurora Hydrogen develops a patented microwave-driven methane pyrolysis process that produces low-cost hydrogen and a valuable solid carbon co-product while avoiding CO₂ capture and storage. Its modular, scalable systems are designed for distributed deployment within ports, vessels, industrial hubs and logistics centers to supply low-carbon hydrogen where it is needed. The company has demonstrated technical performance—achieving 99% microwave absorption and over 85% natural gas-to-hydrogen conversion in multiple campaigns—and is optimizing a demonstration plant for continuous production. Aurora is targeting commercial operations in 2027 and plans to use recent funding to advance maritime applications and commercialization. Financially, Aurora has raised $14 million to date from investors including Oldendorff Overseas Investments, EIC Rose Rock, Energy Innovation Capital, Williams, Chevron Technology Ventures and Shell Ventures, and has received roughly $10 million from Canadian government and grant programs.

Led · Equity · Jul 2024

Ekona Power Inc. develops a pulsed methane pyrolysis (PMP) reactor, branded xCaliber™, that dissociates methane into hydrogen and solid carbon using combustion and high‑speed gas dynamics. Its system is catalyst‑free, uses minimal electricity and no water, requires no carbon‑dioxide sequestration, and is designed to be low‑cost, scalable and compatible with existing natural‑gas infrastructure. Ekona states the process can reduce greenhouse‑gas emissions by up to 90% compared with conventional hydrogen production methods. The company is expanding its Burnaby test facility and will build and test a pilot Customer Demonstration Plant called Ekona Gold Creek, a 1‑tonne‑per‑day unit to be deployed at Arc Resources' Gold Creek gas plant. That plant is planned to be built, commissioned and tested in 2025 for operations in 2026. NRCan has supported Ekona since 2020 and the current project is intended to validate performance against commercial targets and explore decarbonization of British Columbia's natural gas network. Ekona Power is a Vancouver-based venture developing a novel methane pyrolysis platform that disassociates feedstock methane into hydrogen and solid carbon, substantially reducing CO2 emissions. The technology is built on principles of combustion and high-speed gas dynamics and is designed to be low-cost, scalable, and flexibly sited wherever natural gas infrastructure exists. Ekona says its solution can produce hydrogen at costs on par with conventional steam methane reformers while considerably reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The company plans to use the recently raised capital to advance commercial readiness and commercialization of the technology. Ekona was selected by Breakthrough Energy Solutions Canada in 2020 and was named to the 2022 Global Cleantech 100. Fort Capital Partners acted as financial advisors and Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP served as legal counsel on the transaction.

Led · Grant · Mar 2023

Prairie Lithium develops lithium brine resources and a proprietary direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology called Prairie Lithium Ion Exchange (PLIX). The company holds more than 362,000 acres of mineral holdings in the Williston Basin of Southeast Saskatchewan and reports a 4.1MT LCE total inferred resource at 111 mg/L Li. Prairie Lithium is optimizing its most advanced DLE pilot unit to be fully automated and capable of continuous operation, processing brine from its lithium brine well—the first of its kind drilled in Canada. The pilot unit upgrades will be completed and undergo third-party performance verification prior to field deployment. The company intends for PLIX to have global application and is testing the process on resources from other jurisdictions. Prairie Lithium was incorporated in 2019 and plans to use recent funding to accelerate development toward commercial-scale lithium production. Prairie Lithium is a dual-stream developer of lithium resources and lithium extraction technology, based in the Williston Basin in Saskatchewan, Canada. The company says it employs a rapid lithium extraction process (referenced as Lithium Ion Exchange / Plix) and aims to produce battery-grade lithium chemicals including lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide from extracted brine. Prairie plans to leverage existing regional oil, gas and potash infrastructure and skilled labour to apply its extraction technology. Management cites strong market fundamentals—battery-grade lithium prices surged in 2021, with potential supply shortages by 2025 and projected demand growth up to 5X by 2030. The company completed an oversubscribed private placement and will use proceeds to fund exploration and development, advance its extraction and refining process, and for general corporate and working capital purposes.

Participated · Series A · Jul 2022

Intelligent City designs and manufactures prefabricated mass timber buildings using automation, robotics and proprietary parametric software. Its Platforms for Life (P4L) solution combines mass timber, Passive House energy-efficiency standards, automated manufacturing, and software for design, cost estimation, carbon confirmation and precision manufacturing. The company says its vertically integrated approach delivers nearly 100 percent cost certainty, can yield 1.5x the number of residential units on the same site versus traditional methods, and can reduce life-cycle costs per home by up to 50 percent. Intelligent City is verified to work within the new mass timber high-rise building codes in Canada and the US and reports a pipeline of more than 2,300 homes with projects in Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa and the United States. It plans to use the recent financing to scale operations, commercialize P4L, grow factory automation, and expand its footprint across and beyond Canada. The firm emphasizes pre-construction lifecycle and performance data to speed construction and improve sustainability, and claims up to 90 percent carbon emissions reductions in its buildings using Passive House and mass timber strategies.