Canvass Analytics Raises Historic $5 Million Round from Google’s AI Venture Fund
The AI industry has been on a torrid pace in Canada over the past year, and now one of technology’s biggest names is taking notice.
Canvass Analytics, based in Toronto, has announced they are the first non-U.S. company to receive a lead investment from Google’s AI-focused venture fund Gradient Ventures with a new $5 million USD funding round. Additional participation into this round came from Bedrock Industries, Viaduct Ventures and existing investors Real Ventures and Barney Pell.
“Autonomous operation is the holy grail of manufacturing and AI is the game-changer that is making it a reality across the industrial landscape,” said Ankit Jain, a founding partner at Gradient Ventures. “We’re backing Canvass Analytics because of its unique approach to implementing AI and predictive analytics quickly and in an automated manner, without the need for lengthy and often cost-prohibitive consulting engagements.”
Founded just two years ago, Canvass Analytics creates AI solutions for industrial operations through their automated predictive analytics platform. Partners can implement and scale their solutions in a matter of days to improve the workflows of complex production processes, generate new streams of revenue, and reach new markets. Canvass Analytics works with automotive, aerospace, energy, and food and agriculture companies and has several clients within the Fortune 500. For example, the company has helped to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by tens of millions of pounds and generate millions of dollars worth of incremental revenue through small quality improvements.
“In an industry that is data rich but information poor, we are helping our customers to harness AI to dive deeper into their operations and accelerate their decision making,” said Humera Malik, CEO of Canvass Analytics. “Our disruptive AI analytics platform is enabling Fortune 500 industrial companies to slash costs, increase production and improve quality within days versus months.”
That kind of time-to-value workflow is what led Gradient Ventures to make their first lead investment outside of the U.S., as Canvass Analytics can operate up to 12 times faster than any other similar market solution.
The new round will continue to support Canvass Analytics’ growth strategies as it looks to partner and work with more Fortune 500 companies across the globe.
BenchSci, also based in Toronto, raised a portion of their $10 million from Gradient Ventures, though the Google-led fund was not the lead investor in that round.
