– XpertSea, a Canadian company transforming how seafood is farmed and traded, announced it has closed a $20M USD Series B funding round.
– The round was led by QED Investors and Atlantico with Investissement Quebec joining previous investors Obvious Ventures, Aqua-Spark, Tony Fadell’s Future Shape, Real Ventures and edō Capital.
– QED partner Lauren Morton will join XpertSea’s board, resulting in both an executive team and a board where women are in the majority.
– By 2050 our planet will need 70% more food production to feed 10 billion people. Aquaculture represents one of the most efficient and sustainable ways to supply that quality protein, but technology gaps and the lack of financial services to underbanked farmers are major barriers to growth.

– Algolux, a Montreal, QC, Canada-based computer vision software company, raised $18.4M in Series B funding.
– The round was led by Forte Ventures and Drive Capital with participation from Investissement Quebec, Castor Ventures, Nikon-SBI Innovation Fund, GM Ventures, Generation Ventures and Intact Ventures.
– The company intends to use the funds to achieve the following three goals: accelerate adoption of its products across mobility markets; grow its engineering and customer enabling teams to scale worldwide support; grow its engineering and customer enabling teams to scale worldwide support.

– GHGSat, a provider of solutions for high resolution greenhouse gas monitoring from space, completed the second tranche of a funding round initiated in 2020, thereby closing its total Series B funding at US$45m.
– The round was supported by the Government of Québec through Investissement Québec, OGCI Climate Investments and Space Capital.
– The company intends to use the funds to expand its GHG emission detection array to 10 satellites and 3 aircraft sensors by 2023, as well as to expand its international commercial presence, particularly in Europe and the US.

– Buddha Brands™, maker of better-for-you, plant-powered food and beverages, announced a $3m round of funding from leading capital investment corporations, BDC Capital and Investissement Quebec.
– In 2020, Buddha Brands™ expanded into the U.S. market with the introduction of its Hungry Buddha® Keto Bars and are now in more than 1,500 natural independent retailers and grocery stores nationwide.
– The new investment will help accelerate the brand’s U.S. expansion via sales and marketing initiatives, as well as research and development for future projects to further its momentum within the category.
– According to SPINS data, the snack bar category was down 20-40% during 2020, however, plant-based and low-sugar bars were outpacing the segment by 20-50%.

– AlayaCare, a global home and community care software company, announced a $225m CAD Series D funding round led by Generation Investment Management LLP with participation from Klass Capital and incumbent investors Inovia Capital, CDPQ, and Investissement Québec.
– The US is now the fastest-growing part of AlayaCare’s business, representing 7x growth in the last 24 months.
– AlayaCare will use the funding to continue global expansion, hire additional staff and further invest in innovation capabilities to build a more complete post-acute offering in addition to products that help solve labour market issues around employee shortages and churn.
– The transaction was supported by TD Securities Inc. as exclusive financial advisor, Aust Legal, and Stikeman Elliott LLP who acted as advisors for AlayaCare.