Toronto’s Whirlscape Raises $500K from BDC VC and Others to Make Typing on Smartwatches Easy

Whirlscape has raised a seed round.

The Toronto-based startup has raised $500,000 in funding. The capital injection comes from Y Combinator, FundersClub, and BDC Venture Capital, among other unnamed investors.

Whirlscape is the Canadian company behind Minuum, a software keyboard that minimizes the screen real estate in takes up, making it ideal for small-screen applications such as smartwatches. The company last year hoped to raise $10,000 on Indiegogo but ended up raising nearly $90,000.

“We’re working with a number of wearable device partners to try and really demonstrate the potential that Minuum has on their devices,” explained cofounder and CEO Will Walmsley in an interview with TechCrunch. “I can’t get much more specific, but definitely there are a couple of smartwatches that we’re working with, and a couple of devices beyond smartwatches, too.”

Whirlscape’s team is currently sized at 10. The startup is preparing for demo day at YC in March.