Ontopical snags C$3.3m in Rhino and Graphite-led seed extension

• Rhino Ventures and Graphite Ventures led the extension round
• Other investors included Accelerate Fund III, managed by Yaletown Partners with the support of The A100
• Ontopical will use the funds raised to further develop its AI-driven intelligence platform and expand its business further across North America

Ontopical, a Calgary-based data and intelligence platform to help businesses locate and win government contract work, has raised C$3.3 million in a seed extension financing.

Rhino Ventures and Graphite Ventures led the extension round. Other investors included Accelerate Fund III, managed by Yaletown Partners with the support of The A100. The deal also incorporates a grant from Alberta Innovates.

The round brings Ontopical’s total funding to date to more than C$6 million.

“The procurement process for municipal governments remains incredibly antiquated, heavily favouring long standing incumbent relationships,” said Dave Hogarth, a partner at Rhino Ventures, in a statement. “Ontopical provides not only a platform for more scalable growth to their customers, but improves outcomes for the constituents of local governments by allowing the best government service providers access to bid on a far wider range of projects.”

Ontopical will use the funds raised to further develop its artificial intelligence (AI)-driven intelligence platform and expand its business further across North America. The company also plans to triple its team over the next two years, hiring data engineers, data scientists, AI/ML specialists and new members to its sales and marketing teams. The majority of roles will be based in Calgary.