Funding Roundup: Blue J Legal, Feldan, HYAS, Acuva Technologies

Another week goes by and more Canadian companies are closing big funding rounds. Check out some of the latest investments in the country’s leading tech firms.

Blue J Legal

Blue J Legal, a Toronto provider of artificial intelligence solutions for tax and legal professionals, has closed $9.3 million in Series A funding led by Relay Ventures, with participation from US-based LDV Partners, and returning investors BDC Capital and Mistral Venture Partners.

“Bringing clarity to the law, everywhere and on-demand, is the foundation for the next generation of legal research,” said Blue J Legal’s CEO Benjamin Alarie. “Our rapid expansion and success in the Canadian market is testament to this. With the ongoing support and confidence of our investors, we will grow our team, bring our proven technology to the U.S. market, and expand our product portfolio.”

Blue J Legal will use the investments to support its expansion into the US, growing its business and product offerings in the process.

Feldan

Quebec-based biotechnology company Feldan Therapeutics, has added a $1.3 million investment to its Series A funding round, for a total of $13.8 million. The additional investment was from Asahi Kasei Corporate Venture Capital (AKCVC), with the previous investments coming from GC, Stonebridge Ventures, Anges Québec, and Ages Québec Capital.

“We are delighted to welcome Asahi Kasei to our series A syndicate and we are grateful for its participation, which further validates our business model and the potential of our technology,” said Feldan CEO and Co-founder, Francois-Thomas Michaud. “Our team looks forward to working with this new group of investors and [benefitting] from their expertise and guidance as we progress towards preclinical testing.”

Feldan Therapeutics will use the funding to continue work to bring their peptide-based technology platform to clinical trials. Feldan Shuttle is a platform that safely enables intracellular delivery of proteins and peptides.

AKCVC General Manager Takashi Morishita is confident that Feldan will be able to expand their technology. “Because of its broad applicability, safety, and ease of use, the Feldan Shuttle is very promising technology that has the potential to bring a whole new class of human therapeutics to clinical trial.”

HYAS 

HYAS, a Victoria-based attribution intelligence solutions provider has announced a $2 million debt financing agreement with Silicon Valley Bank.

The additional capital will be used to elevate its existing platform into a service that enables cybersecurity professionals and enterprises to address and eliminate security threats, tracking the threat directly to the source.

“Silicon Valley Bank’s support builds on our successful Series A and allows us to aggressively expand the Comox platform through our incredibly talented pool of developers,” said Jeff Spencer, HYAS COO.

“Over the past quarter alone, we’ve hit the critical development milestones that will allow organizations to predictively block bad actor infrastructure before it’s had the chance to do bad things. They’ll be able to prepare for and mitigate the biggest threats to their operations.”

This agreement will enable HYAS to continue its innovation in the Canadian cybersecurity technology landscape.

Acuva Technologies

Vancouver’s Acuva Technologies received a $2.1 million investment from the Government of Canada as part of the government’s Western Innovation Initiative (WINN).

The WINN funding will support the further development and testing of Acuva’s UV-LED disinfection technology, which combines UV disinfection power with the efficiency of LEDs. This technology has the potential to make large changes in the world-wide shortage of safe drinking water.

“We are honoured to receive WINN support through the federal government. This milestone recognizes Acuva’s potential, enables us to hire more local talent, and provides us with the resources we need to support Acuva’s rapid growth,” said Acuva’s CEO, Manoj Singh. “We are proud that our innovative UV-LED water treatment technology, developed here in Western Canada, will help solve the global need for safe drinking water.”