Participated · Seed · Apr 2026

Carbonyx commercializes a process developed at the University of British Columbia that treats waste rock and other industrial wastes to recover valuable materials such as carbonates and silica while enhancing the materials' natural ability to capture CO2 via electrically induced reactions with water. The company was born in UBC’s Curtis P. Berlinguette Research Group and is led by co-founder and CEO Doug Pimlott, with Berlinguette as co-founder and advisor and a team that includes head of engineering Adrien Noble and PhD chemist Mia Stankovic. Carbonyx is building a shipping-container-sized demonstration unit intended to move production from kilograms per year to multi-tonnes, with an anticipated commercial-scale-like deployment in two to three years and a goal of megatonne-scale extraction within 10 years. The startup plans to broaden its recovered- materials portfolio over time to include critical minerals and rare earth elements while generating revenue from the materials it sells to make carbon removal economically viable.

Led · Seed · Apr 2026

Tydra Labs develops a biology-driven process to transform crustacean shell waste into high-performance chitin-based biomaterials. The company emphasizes local, biodegradable, and cost-competitive materials as alternatives to conventional, carbon-intensive supply chains. Tydra is commercially active and plans to use the $1.2M pre-seed raise to scale its proprietary process. Founders include Jaiya Varshney, Thanos Kritharis, and Vikramaditya G. Yadav, Ph.D., P.Eng., and the company operates out of Vancouver. Coverage frames Tydra’s approach as a potential model for industrial materials manufacturing, though no revenue, user, or valuation metrics were disclosed in the articles.

Participated · Seed · Feb 2026

JetScale AI develops an artificial-intelligence platform that delivers instant diagnostics, prescriptive action plans, and automated remediations to cut cloud spending, improve reliability, and lessen the environmental footprint of over-provisioned resources. By replacing weeks of manual FinOps work with minutes of automated analysis, the product targets enterprises whose cloud bills are surging, especially as AI workloads grow. Initial customer adoption and an oversubscribed seed round validate market demand, and the company plans to accelerate innovation, expand its team, and scale deployment across North America and Europe. Co-founders Mehdi Merai and Gabriel De Lisi previously built and exited machine-learning company Dataperformers, bringing seasoned AI and go-to-market expertise. JetScale AI was co-created with Diagram’s venture studio and is headquartered in Montréal. Financially, the company has secured $5.4 million in seed capital to fund its near-term growth initiatives; no revenue or user metrics were disclosed in the article.

Led · Equity · Mar 2025

RetinaLogik is a Calgary-based startup that has developed a VR-AI-powered platform and portable headset for eye care. The system enables essential tests, including visual field exams, while streamlining the testing process to improve patient comfort and clinic efficiency. The device is ISO-13485 and MDSAP certified and is FDA registered; it has received Health Canada Class II medical device approval. RetinaLogik says the system can reduce upfront equipment costs by up to 90% compared with traditional equipment and includes multilingual support to bridge clinic communication gaps. The company completed a $1.1M funding round and received support from investors and community partners. RetinaLogik plans to expand adoption across North America and beyond to close critical gaps in eye care, enable earlier detection and treatment, and prevent irreversible vision loss. RetinaLogik’s core product is a portable eye-test platform that uses a virtual reality headset and AI-driven analytics to collect and analyze visual field data. While wearing the headset, patients are guided through a tutorial in their own language and perform vision tests whose results can be reviewed remotely by specialists. The device is already deployed in clinics across Canada and has been used in partnerships to deliver testing in senior homes. Co‑founders Abdullah Sarhan and Julia St.Amand began work on the project in 2018 and built the first prototype in 2019 after years of iteration and clinic testing. With new funding, the company plans to scale its team, add new vision tests, support device sales, and pursue Class 2 certification from Health Canada. To date RetinaLogik has raised CA$1.7M in total funding, including the recent CA$783,000 pre‑seed round.

Participated · Seed · May 2024

Ginger Desk offers on-demand, trained virtual assistants to allied health practitioners, managing appointments, patient communications, billing, and EMR workflows. The company was launched by naturopathic doctor Julie Durnan and is based in Vancouver, serving clients across Canada and the United States. It began as a service-first business, proved product-market fit through a pilot, and scaled to hundreds of customers while bootstrapping to profitability. Ginger Desk reports 100% year-over-year growth and operates a 40-person team that includes 30 permanent VAs. The seed funding will finance a move from “cobbled-together” off-the-shelf software to a custom tech platform scheduled to launch this summer. The company plans to layer artificial intelligence onto the platform in the fall while remaining a tech-enabled service that preserves human, concierge-style VAs.