Participated · Series B · Jan 2025

Aspect Biosystems develops bioengineered cellular medicines and bioprinted tissue therapeutics aimed at restoring or supplementing biological functions, targeting serious metabolic and endocrine diseases including diabetes. Its platform integrates AI-powered bioprinting technology, stem cells, hypoimmune cell engineering and advanced biomaterials. The company has announced a partnership with Novo Nordisk to develop curative medicines for diabetes. Recent government funding (CA$79M federal and CA$23.8M provincial) is intended to support expansion, clinical development and biomanufacturing scale-up and to accelerate a path to commercialization. Aspect is positioning to deepen its platform capabilities and move its therapies toward patient impact.

Led · Series A · Dec 2023

Ionomr Innovations develops and manufactures foundational ion-exchange membranes and polymers—Aemion® and Pemion®—for hydrogen and clean‑energy applications. The company’s technologies target hydrogen production via electrolysis, fuel-cell efficiency, and carbon capture, use and conversion. Ionomr leverages technology developed at Simon Fraser University and is led by CEO Bill Haberlin. The company was founded in 2018 and operates from Vancouver, Canada and Rochester, USA. It employs 51 professionals. Ionomr says its materials provide cost, performance and sustainability advantages and plans to use new funding to further scale its membranes and polymers to accelerate the hydrogen economy. Ionomr is a technology company recognized as a World Economic Forum Top 100 Technology Pioneer. The company has raised a $15M Series A funding round. The Series A was led by Shell Ventures and Finindus. The funding was reported by Vancouver Tech Journal. The article is behind a premium subscription that requires payment to read additional details.

Participated · Seed · Jul 2022

Oncoustics develops ultrasound-based tissue characterization solutions that apply AI to raw ultrasound signals for noninvasive surveillance, diagnostics, and treatment monitoring. Its first product, the OnX Liver Assessment Solution, focuses on detecting structural liver diseases including fibrosis and steatosis. The company intends to advance its SaMD (software as a medical device) technology to enable low-cost assessment of structural diseases at point of care. Oncoustics plans regulatory submissions for the OnX solution in the United States (FDA 510(k)), Canada (Health Canada medical device license), and the European Union (CE Mark). The OnX Liver Assessment Solution has not been cleared for clinical use and is For Investigational Use Only. The company is led by CEO Beth Rogozinski.

Participated · Seed · Nov 2019

CTO.ai offers a platform and a service for building, sharing, and running DevOps shortcuts that integrate with tools like GitHub, AWS and Slack to automate long sequences of engineering steps. The product can reduce complex tasks (for example, setting up a Kubernetes cluster) from days to minutes and exposes shortcuts through a flexible JavaScript environment and pre-made libraries. The company also sells DevOps-as-a-Service and reliability offerings to build custom shortcuts for larger customers. CTO.ai emerged from stealth with a 60-person team and says it bootstrapped to profitability over the past two years, with revenue up 400% in 18 months. Future plans in the articles include deeper Slack integrations, a possible self-service tier and an enterprise complexity pricing model, plus ramping up community outreach, conferences, and creator pages to drive virality. The company notes competitive risk from players like Google Cloud Composer and GitHub Actions, and intends to remain neutral in integrations to turn potential competitors into partners. CTO.ai is a Vancouver, Canada-based startup that provides solutions for chief technology officers and their software engineering teams to connect. Led by CEO Kyle Campbell, the company offers a collection of products and services tailored to help startups scale using a mixed platform, advisory and hands-on approach. The company aims to deliver engineering insights and productivity to the marketplace using blockchain technology. Following the investment, CTO.ai will collaborate with Etherparty, a company of the Vanbex group focused on an easy-to-use smart contract creation tool. The company raised $250K in funding from Vanbex Capital. The funds are intended to support its blockchain-based initiatives and the partnership with Etherparty.

Participated · Seed · Jun 2019

Damon Motors builds high-performance electric motorcycles anchored by its proprietary HyperDrive™ monocoque electric powertrain. Its flagship HyperSport all-electric superbike has more than $45M in orders and the company plans factory production and deliveries beginning in 2022. The company is preparing to open a Vancouver factory and will use recent funding to scale production and manufacturing. Damon develops rider-focused technologies including CoPilot™ and Shift™ and is introducing a limited-edition HyperFighter Colossus at CES 2022. To meet demand it plans to hire roughly 150 staff across engineering and other departments. Damon builds Hypersport electric motorcycles with a focus on rider safety through low-cost connectivity networks, sensors, and mobile computing that enable advanced warning systems tailored to motorcycle dynamics. The company is showcasing two Hypersport Premier models, Arctic Sun and Midnight Sun, available for pre-order at CAD 55,978 each; millennials comprise about half of preorders. Damon plans to use road and traffic data collected from each bike to remotely update onboard computers and improve vehicle detection over time. The startup is entering the development and test validation phase of its EV and cloud computing platform and aims to be production-ready late next year. The team includes former employees of Intel, Harley-Davidson, Polaris, Nokia, and Mojio, and the company is a Creative Destruction Lab alumni and a Techstars Mobility participant. Damon was founded in 2017 and is based in Vancouver. Damon Motorcycles develops the Advanced Warning System for Motorcycles (AWSM™), a sensor-fusion and AI platform that provides forward, side and rear detection to form a 360º view around the bike. The system leverages low-cost connectivity networks, commoditized sensors and high-power mobile computing to detect and anticipate accidents. With cellular connectivity, possible collision scenarios are recorded and sent to a dedicated cloud platform where an AI engine continually learns and creates new algorithms, and updates are pushed back to the bike. Damon positions its technology for motorcycle fleet customers and original equipment manufacturers, and manufacturers are currently evaluating factory integration. The company highlights a significant patent portfolio and a team of engineers and motorcyclists, and has set a goal to eliminate fatal accidents on Damonized vehicles by 2030. Damon is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, and recently closed a $2.5 million seed financing to advance its safety work for fleets and manufacturers.