ResVR announces oversubscribed seed round

Welcome to this week's Sunday Briefing. In this issue, read about more funding for proptech, plus 27 other stories you may have missed. Have a great day. We'll see you again on Wednesday.

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🗳️ Question of the Week

ResVR announces oversubscribed seed round

Property tech seems to be having a moment in the spotlight. A few weeks ago, we wrote about real estate platform Bōde. Further down the newsletter, you’ll see another AI home buying solution getting attention.

And earlier this week, Calgary’s ResVR earned some big bucks through their oversubscribed seed funding round, which closed a total of $1.7M CAD in aggregate, including $1.43M in pre-seed and seed funding and $270,000 in non-dilutive capital.

The funding was led by Inverted Ventures and Weave VC, with participation from Bluesky Equity, InRoad Ventures, ThresholdImpact, Startup TNT, and a Canadian-based group of angels, including Improbable Games CEO Aaryn Flynn. Alberta Innovates and NRC-IRAP provided the non-dilutive capital.

Founded just last year, ResVR helps homebuilders and developers sell upgrades by using a 3D visualization platform to showcase their designs.

“In 2024, it is crazy that people are making the biggest purchase of their lives and have to imagine what it will look like off blacklines or blueprints. This is the problem ResVR solves,” said Nathan Nasseri, founder and CEO of ResVR.

According to data from home buyer surveys, the need for homebuilding sales visualization software is significant. 87% of new home buyers would make changes to their homes with better visualizations. However, 73% were not provided sufficient information to move forward confidently, and only 65% felt the floorplan selected matched what they received.

🤝 Funding, Deals, and Partnerships

• Fading 2023 VC performance underscores Canadian tech’s “vulnerability,” BDC reports. As interest rates rose to the highest levels since 2001, there was pessimism heading into 2023. Betakit

• Alberta Enterprise Corporation invests US$10 million into third McRock industrial innovation fund. Alberta Enterprise is joined in Fund III by institutional investors including Export Development Canada and industry leaders including Bell Ventures, CIBC Innovation Banking and AspenTech. Alberta Enterprise Corporation

• New SAIT Campus Centre receives $30-million gift from Taylor Family Foundation. The new building is slated to open in 2027. Calgary Herald

• Woveo wins $15K grant at Black Innovation Summit. This week 10 tech startups from across Canada pitched their business to a panel of judges for the chance to secure grant prizes at DMZ’s annual Black Innovation Summit. Calgary Tech

📰 Need To Know

• Innovator of the Week: Chloe Smith’s AI-powered intelligence platform helps the commercial construction industry. Mercator.ai streamlines the process of finding and landing new construction projects in their earliest stages. Avenue Calgary

• A night of digital health brilliance at Inventures 2024. These awards recognize the remarkable individuals and companies strengthening the digital health innovation landscape in Alberta and spotlighted achievements across four key categories. Alberta Innovates

• Calgary’s Next Economy: Egistix is driving innovation in commodity logistics. At its core, Egistix manages the order-to-cash process for commodities. Livewire Calgary

• UpRow bags second Inventures win. UpRow was the lone Inventures winner from the Edmonton region in 2024 across six main pitch tracks and five ancillary tracks. Taproot Edmonton

• Alberta innovators dig deep into urban agriculture. How collaborative research exploring the role of urban farming is growing global resilience to food insecurity and water scarcity. SAIT

• New meetup brings innovation on sustainability into the professional realm. When Brett Eigner noticed Edmonton’s tech founders and innovators held regular meetups but sustainability professionals didn’t, he had an idea. Taproot Edmonton

• Amazon’s new Calgary facility illustrates industrial market shifts. New logistics facilities embrace automation as older space faces retrofits. Western Investor

• Seven UCalgary graduate students win 2024 Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships. PhD students receive national award for their innovative research and extraordinary leadership. University of Calgary

• Innovative new technology created by Calgary-based company is making waves. Calgary-based company Kent Imaging has developed an innovative new hand-held imaging device that is making waves in the digital health era. Global News

• Funding helps students explore ongoing mysteries of STEVE. Space mission uses nano satellite to learn more about the long, glowing ribbon of purple light that sometimes arches across the night sky. University of Calgary

• Bobbie Racette on how the trifecta of being a queer, Indigenous woman helped her create an inclusive, successful platform. Racette founded her startup in 2016 and used the Series A capital to build a gig work platform that connects virtual assistants to companies looking for help with tasks like bookkeeping, marketing, and customer support. Betakit

• Massive AI data centres worth billions are coming — and Alberta wants to lead Canada. Alberta power generators and energy infrastructure companies are also gearing up for a wave of such development in North America tied to the voracious growth of artificial intelligence, data management and the need for more computing power. Sherwood Park News

• CED and OCIF welcome new board members. Last year, CED created or retained more than 7,000 jobs and attracted more than $734 million in investment. Calgary Economic Development

• How can AI help home buying? Calgary firm wants to find out. Calgary's Hopewell Residential is incorporating AI technology through OpenHouse.ai to help its clients buy homes and predict the direction of the Canadian housing market. CTV News

• Driven by tech: In pursuit of the first autonomous car. Umer Shaukat (GET '18) positions himself on autonomy's frontlines, contributing to the worldwide race for the first autonomous car. SAIT

• Alberta Innovates recommits to ongoing clinical trials development. The growth of Alberta’s clinical trial environment is dependent on the development of a sustainable and highly qualified workforce. Alberta Innovates

• Foresight Canada names PrairiesCan the AB Cleantech Funder of the Year. These awards recognize the best and brightest innovators, industry leaders, investors, and community builders who are driving clean tech innovation and adoption across the province. Prairies Economic Development Canada

• Premier Danielle Smith urges innovators to back medical tech ahead of health-care overhaul. Smith said she envisions new technologies being adopted into the public health-care system as they go down in price. Calgary Herald

• Canada becomes first G7 nation to cut interest rates. Some economists predicted the BoC would cut again in July even though financial markets had priced in a 39% chance of a cut to 4.50% next month. Reuters

• Calgary opens 5G Discovery Zone. The City said the 5G Discovery Zone will help to improve public safety, mobility and climate resilience in Calgary. Smart Cities World

• Laura Kilcrease named to Austin Tech Hall of Fame. Alberta Innovates' CEO has been named one of the inaugural inductees. Alberta Innovates

• Humanizing technology to speed health innovation in Alberta. IDEATE is a digital platform envisioned to revolutionize the health technology industry. Alberta Innovates

💡 Ideas and Insights

• Tyson Birchall, managing director of Longbow Capital, joined the Hard Part podcast to discuss investing in the energy transition and his concept of the “Holy Trinity.”