BDC Venture Capital is a major venture capital investor in Canada, active at every stage of the company's development cycle, from seed through expansion, with a focus on technology-based businesses that have high growth potential and that are positioned to become dominant players in their markets. The company helps create and develop strong Canadian businesses through financing, consulting services and securitization, with a focus on small and medium-sized enterprises. BDC Venture Capital has been involved in venture capital since 1975 and has to date invested in more than 400 companies involved in the areas of Life Sciences, Telecommunications, Information Technology and Advanced Technologies.

BDC Venture Capital

Skypoint Capital targets business opportunities and ''disruptive'' technologies that will become the building blocks for the next generation of communications and IT products. They seek opportunities to bridge technology gaps, explore and create new markets, and build global companies that are both innovative and profitable. They mitigate risk through a due diligence process that includes in-depth analysis of the technical, business, financial, and management capabilities of each start-up. With long-established connections in Ottawa and Montreal, Skypoint is ideally positioned to capture market-shaping opportunities in this eastern Canadian hotbed for communications. Skypoint may invest outside its geographical focus when the technology is compelling and where they can use our industry connections and locally based investment partners to enhance the company's value. Because high-impact innovation and profitable early-stage investment rarely occur at random, Skypoint takes a carefully considered mentoring approach that both nurtures portfolio companies and significantly mitigates risk.  By applying their wealth of experience in this area, Skypoint accelerates the company's growth and significantly contributes to the ultimate realization of value.

Skypoint Capital

Altira is a private equity and venture capital firm that invests in advantaged oil and gas service and technology companies. Its Fund VI partners include a select group of the U.S. super-independent oil and gas companies that provide resources in the investment decision process and help accelerate the growth of the firm’s portfolio companies by serving as large customers. Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, Altira was founded in 1996 by Dirk McDermott.

Altira Group

Contango Capital Partners takes equity interests in fund managers and other financial services companies that are operating in high growth; high margin segments of the finance industries in Australia, New Zealand or Asia. The aim is to progressively acquire equity holdings amounting to around 70% of the gross value of the company's assets. The remaining funds are invested in listed financial services companies.

Contango Capital Partners

Advantage Capital has invested over $3.8 billion in more than 800 portfolio companies and projects nationwide since 1992. The firm specializes in growth equity, lending, and mezzanine debt capital investments spanning three distinct but complementary themes, driving local economic development and lasting impact in underserved communities. ____________________ Growing Small Business // 800+ PORTFOLIO COMPANIES // 34 STATES // 66,000+ JOBS SUPPORTED // Small businesses and the entrepreneurs who power them are fundamental to the U.S. economy, driving inclusive economic expansion that allows people and communities to thrive. Advantage Capital offers debt and equity investment opportunities and can provide senior, unitranche and subordinated debt, as well as minority equity financing. The firm invests in companies from a diverse array of industry sectors, including manufacturing, technology and business services, among others. It seeks to make an initial investment between $500K and $10M in companies with $1M+ EBITDA. Financing Affordable Homes // 89 PROJECTS SINCE 2015 // 8,000+ FAMILIES & SENIORS HOUSED // 7 STATES // Creating stronger communities goes beyond business investment and jobs. Financing housing in these same communities creates even more positive and lasting impacts. Expanding Renewable Energy Solutions // $130M IN CAPITAL DEPLOYED // 65 PROJECTS // 20,000+ HOMES POWERED // Increased access to renewable energy supports local green jobs and economic development while building the framework for tomorrow's carbon-free America. ____________________ Geographic Focus: Advantage Capital is committed to impact nationwide, with current emphasis in the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia ____________________ Advantage Capital is headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana and has offices in the following locations: St. Louis, MO; New York, NY; Austin, TX; Hanover, NH; Washington, D.C.; Napa, CA; Nevada.

Advantage Capital

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. provides investment banking, securities, and investment management services, as well as financial services to corporations, financial institutions, governments, and high-net-worth individuals worldwide. Its Investment Banking segment offers financial advisory services, including advisory assignments concerning mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, corporate defense, risk management, and restructurings and spin-offs; and underwriting services comprising public offerings and private placements of a range of securities, loans, and other financial instruments, and derivative transactions. The company’s Institutional Client Services segment provides client execution services, such as fixed income, currency, and commodities client execution related to making markets in interest rate products, credit products, mortgages, currencies, and commodities; and equities related to making markets in equity products, as well as executes and clears institutional client transactions on stock, options, and futures exchanges. This segment also engages in the securities services business providing financing, securities lending, and other brokerage services to institutional clients, including hedge funds, mutual funds, pension funds, and foundations. Its Investing and Lending segment originates longer-term loans; and invests in debt securities, loans, public and private equity securities, real estate, consolidated investment entities, distressed assets, currencies, commodities, and power generation facilities. The company’s investment management segment provides investment products and services, as well as offers wealth advisory services, including portfolio management and financial counseling, and brokerage and other transaction services.

Goldman Sachs

New Enterprise Associates is a prominent venture capital firm focusing on investments in technology and healthcare startups. They help entrepreneurs build transformational businesses across multiple stages, sectors, and geographies. With over $19 billion in cumulative committed capital since the firm’s founding in 1977, NEA invests in technology and healthcare companies at all stages in a company’s lifecycle, from the seed stage through the IPO. The firm's long track record of successful investing includes more than 210 portfolio company IPOs and more than 360 acquisitions.

New Enterprise Associates

Perella Weinberg is an independent, privately-owned financial services firm that provides corporate advisory and asset management services to clients around the world. The Firm has assembled a group of talented and experienced professionals recruited from a wide variety of leading global financial institutions. Launched in 2006, the company is divided into two business units: corporate advisory, which provides services to decision makers in business and government, and asset management, which consists of investment vehicles catering to institutional investors.

Perella Weinberg

Robeco is an international asset manager offering an extensive range of active investments, from equities to bonds. Research lies at the heart of everything they do, with a ‘pioneering but cautious’ approach that has been in their DNA since their foundation in Rotterdam in 1929. They believe strongly in sustainability investing, quantitative techniques and constant innovation.

Robeco

The Quercus Trust is a company that offers smart grid and energy services.

The Quercus Trust

Craton Equity Partners began in Los Angeles in the mid 1990s as an investment fund focused on small companies in need of growth capital in the basic industry and manufacturing sector. The core group of Partners have remained together since that time and, with the addition of another Partner, comprise a unique and valuable blend of expertise from the fields of finance, investments, law, accounting, energy, water and environmental policy.

Craton Equity Partners

Goldman Sachs Asset Management provides institutional and individual investors with investment and advisory solutions, with strategies spanning asset classes, industries, and geographies.  They seek to build long-term relationships based on conviction, sustainable outcomes, and shared success over time. It was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in New York, United States.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management

Shell Technology Ventures (STV) is the corporate strategic investor for Shell.  Specifically, STV is helping Shell identify, adopt, and deploy new technologies faster, investing in ventures that look promising for delivering a meaningful commercial advantage. As a strategic partner, STV makes minority investments in select tech companies, joint ventures and externally managed venture capital funds.

Shell Ventures

GridPoint

GridPoint is an innovator in comprehensive, data-driven energy management solutions (EMS) that leverage the power of real-time data collection, big data analytics, and cloud computing to maximize energy savings, operational efficiency, capital utilization, and sustainability benefits. GridPoint’s integrated energy management portfolio of asset-level submetering and monitoring, intelligent control, energy management software, and professional services can generate 10-30% energy savings and an 18-36 month payback.

GridPoint offers a comprehensive energy management platform designed to enhance efficiency and reduce operational costs for commercial buildings. The company's technology solution enables precise metering and monitoring of energy usage across individual assets, sites, or an entire portfolio of facilities. GridPoint's platform incorporates features such as asset control, energy optimization, and automated demand response mechanisms. Through remote monitoring and control capabilities, the system facilitates real-time diagnostics, automated scheduling, and adjustment of energy-consuming devices like HVAC systems and lighting. This intelligent management approach helps curtail unnecessary energy consumption, particularly during peak periods, thereby optimizing operational expenses. GridPoint's decentralized network and aggregated capacity enable instantaneous flexible capacity, allowing utilities to leverage buildings as a resource for grid balancing and enhancing resiliency. The company has been operating in the energy management domain for two decades, with expertise in executing demand response events and enrolling commercial sites into utility programs.

Energy Management Systems

Solutions

Energy Solutions

Technologies that automate and optimize building operations using data-driven insights.

Smart Building Technology

GridPoint Celebrates Earth Day 2024 by Showcasing CO2 Emission Reductions and Energy Savings Achieved by ...

GridPoint offers a comprehensive energy management platform designed to enhance efficiency and reduce operational costs for commercial buildings. The company's technology solution enables precise metering and monitoring of energy usage across individual assets, sites, or an entire portfolio of facilities. GridPoint's platform incorporates features such as asset control, energy optimization, and automated demand response mechanisms. Through remote monitoring and control capabilities, the system facilitates real-time diagnostics, automated scheduling, and adjustment of energy-consuming devices like HVAC systems and lighting. This intelligent management approach helps curtail unnecessary energy consumption, particularly during peak periods, thereby optimizing operational expenses. GridPoint's decentralized network and aggregated capacity enable instantaneous flexible capacity, allowing utilities to leverage buildings as a resource for grid balancing and enhancing resiliency. The company has been operating in the energy management domain for two decades, with expertise in executing demand response events and enrolling commercial sites into utility programs.

Verkada is a leading provider of a cloud-based physical security platform designed to protect people and assets. The company offers an integrated suite of solutions comprising video security cameras, door-based access control, environmental sensors, alarms, visitor management, and mailroom management. Verkada's hybrid cloud architecture leverages edge-based processing and cloud computing capabilities to deliver real-time insights and seamless remote access.
Verkada's innovative camera lineup includes a wide range of models suitable for indoor and outdoor deployments, with resolutions ranging from 2MP to 4K and onboard storage capacity of up to 365 days. The cameras feature powerful analytics like people and vehicle detection, enabling users to search and filter footage based on various attributes.
Verkada's Command platform serves as a centralized, user-friendly interface for managing and monitoring all devices across multiple locations. It offers advanced features such as face search, cross-camera tracking, and proactive alerts, empowering organizations to streamline investigations and enhance overall security posture.
As of June 2024, Verkada's platform is trusted by over 24,000 organizations worldwide, including several Fortune 500 companies. The company has continually expanded its product offerings and capabilities, introducing solutions like a multisensor camera, advanced air quality sensors, and a 16-door access controller in November 2022 to meet evolving customer needs.

Verkada

Cloudastructure is a cloud-based video surveillance provider that offers an artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) powered platform. The platform utilizes proprietary technology to enable real-time monitoring, detection, and analysis of video footage. It offers features such as facial recognition, age and gender prediction, vehicle detection and color recognition, license plate recognition, object counting, and firearm detection. Cloudastructure's solution operates on a scalable cloud architecture, eliminating the need for on-premises hardware and associated costs.
The platform provides advanced search capabilities, customizable alerts and notifications, and integrates with various security systems. In January 2022, Cloudastructure acquired Visionful, a smart parking technology solution, to enhance its offerings with parking management and analytics capabilities. The company also announced plans to acquire Infrastructure Proving Grounds (IPG), an IoT cybersecurity monitoring service, to strengthen its cybersecurity offerings.
As of January 2022, Cloudastructure reported an annual recurring revenue (ARR) of over USD 1.3 million, representing a 1400% growth from the previous year. The company's sales pipeline grew from USD 60,000 in January 2021 to USD 10.5 million by January 2022, reflecting significant market traction.
In March 2023, Cloudastructure integrated remote guarding capabilities into its platform, enabling real-time intervention and deterrence of suspicious activities through virtual patrols, voice-down alerts, and escalation to law enforcement when necessary. The remote guarding feature has become a key differentiator, included in over 75% of the company's proposals as of August 2023.

Cloudastructure

Faceter is a computer vision surveillance technology that leverages a decentralized fog network of miners to provide smart security solutions for households and businesses worldwide. Their facial recognition technology, which has been independently tested and proven to have a 99.78% accuracy rate, enables users to set up their own CCTV systems using old smartphones or IP cameras. By activating facial recognition on these devices, Faceter allows users to detect potential threats and monitor their premises effectively.
The Faceter platform operates on a token economy, where users can contribute their GPU power to the decentralized network and earn FACE tokens in return. These tokens can then be used to pay for the computing power required to run the facial recognition and surveillance capabilities. Faceter's technology offers a range of features, including facial recognition, age detection, and person re-identification across multiple cameras.
In addition to its smart security solutions, Faceter provides easy integration with existing CCTV systems and apps, allowing users to enhance their surveillance capabilities seamlessly. The platform also offers a cloud-based storage solution for video data, ensuring secure and reliable access to recorded footage.
In February 2022, Faceter introduced a mobile video surveillance service that eliminates the need for additional equipment like servers. This service utilizes a cloud-based platform for storing and analyzing video data, providing a cost-effective and secure alternative to traditional surveillance systems.

Faceter

Blink Identity is a company that provides a privacy-focused facial recognition technology for access control and identification purposes. Their system utilizes proprietary biometric facial recognition software combined with specialized hardware to accurately identify individuals at full walking speed, even in varying lighting conditions. The technology does not store photographs; instead, it converts facial images into unique encrypted templates for comparison against enrolled templates securely stored in an encrypted database.
Blink Identity offers a "VIP Lane" service at venues, allowing streamlined entry for guests who have enrolled by providing their name, email address, and a forward-facing photograph taken with their cellphone camera. This photograph is converted into a template and associated with the user's ticket or event details. At the venue, high-speed machine vision cameras capture images of attendees, convert them into templates, and match them against the enrolled templates, facilitating expedited access while preventing fraud.
The company prioritizes data security and privacy, adhering to strict policies and procedures. In April 2022, Blink Identity successfully completed the Service Organization Control (SOC) two Type one audit, demonstrating its commitment to maintaining robust security controls for data processing and handling.

Blink identity

Augury is a leading provider of AI-based machine health solutions that enable manufacturers to predict and prevent industrial machine failures, thereby improving machine performance. The company's technology combines the internet of Things (IoT), AI, and human expertise to monitor machines continuously, diagnose issues, prescribe corrective actions, and guide users in implementing those actions.
Augury offers two primary solutions: Machine Health for Critical Equipment (MH CR) and Machine Health for Supporting Equipment (MH SE). MH CR provides precise fault diagnostics, root cause analysis, and detailed instructions to avert machine failures and optimize performance, backed by Augury's reliability engineers. MH SE enables users to quickly determine the severity of potential issues and perform proactive maintenance.
The process involves installing wireless sensors on machines to capture data, which is then transmitted to Augury's secure cloud for analysis by advanced AI algorithms. Diagnostic reports are sent to users, providing insights, recommended actions, and user guides. As of October 2022, Augury had diagnosed over 100,000 machines with 99.9% accurate diagnosis, helping global customers achieve 3-10x return on investment within months.
In December 2019, Augury received an USD 8 million investment from Qualcomm Ventures' AI Fund, recognizing its leadership in the Industrial internet of Things (IIoT). The investment aimed to accelerate the transformation of the industrial sector by leveraging 5G technologies for improved machine health solutions.

Augury

Platforms that automate building management. They gather and analyze data from multiple components, including hardware and sensors, and use a combination of technologies such as IoT, cloud computing, and machine learning for data-driven, proactive, and real-time building intelligence and controls.

Solutions that automatically adjust energy consumption using optimization algorithms, taking into account factors such as energy demand, weather, occupant comfort, and utility prices. These systems aim to reduce energy consumption, cost, and emissions without compromising occupant experience.

Smart lighting solutions include providers of hardware (e.g., smart light bulbs, smart windows, and shades) and lighting-as-a-service.

Smart HVAC solutions include sensors that integrate with building automation systems and specialized HVAC equipment that uses data gathered by sensors to manage temperature, humidity, and air flow. They aim to enhance occupant experience through improved comfort and indoor air quality whilst optimizing energy consumption and utility costs.

Providers of smart water management solutions including irrigation, leak detection, water health monitoring, and water usage analysis.

Developers of smart security solutions including security cameras, sensors, alarms, and access control combined with cloud-based software, and providers of video surveillance-as-a-service and access control-as-a-service.

Occupant experience platforms connect building owners, operators, and occupants to share information and feedback on comfort, maintenance, and safety. Rating systems allow building operators to measure, manage, and disclose key indicators such as ESG performance, digital connectivity and health and safety, assess their exposure to climate risk, and avail themselves of sustainable finance opportunities.

Providers of smart elevators and escalators as well as people-sensing platforms.

Technologies that monitor restroom usage, supplies, traffic, and maintenance.

Companies aim to provide sustainable solutions for energy and water usage

Certain functions, such as HVAC, can be personalized

Smart building tech includes reducing energy and water consumption through recycling

Smart buildings are a component of smart cities

Internet-enabled monitors and sensors optimize energy and water use and manage occupancy and security

Smart building tech products can monitor energy consumption and occupancy and adjust usage accordingly

GridPoint

Sources

About EDGE

Contact Us

Resources

Area of Focus

Technology Research Made Effortless