Pelorus Venture Capital Ltd.

“What companies are you going to invest in?” 10 years ago, when we were working with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador on creating Venture Newfoundland and Labrador (VNL I) this was one of the most frequently asked questions. Our answer, “We know the type of companies we are looking for but they just don’t exist yet.” Nine years later, Pelorus VC has made multiple investments in 16 companies, launched a second, larger fund, VNL II, and is still actively investing in NL. The pipeline of new startups in the province remains robust. Our portfolio companies are worth a combined $550M, they have raised over $190M and now employ over 400 people. Pelorus VC can confidently say that Newfoundland and Labrador has the resources, talent, and ambition required to build world-class companies. The startup ecosystem is becoming a key and sustainable part of the NL economy. We are very pleased to share with the broader community our Economic Impact Report, https://lnkd.in/erRFQjkP. See firsthand how VNL I and VNL II are driving real change in the Newfoundland & Labrador startup ecosystem. I want to thank a number of groups and people who came together for both VNL I and II. First, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador led the effort to create VNL I and they continue to be a great partner. BDC Capital (Canada) was the only institutional investor willing to invest in a fund focused entirely on NL. We have several local investors in VNL I and VNL II that believe strongly in the NL startup ecosystem. Running a fund involves several people without whom success would not have been possible, including my partners in VNL I Tom, Peter Clark and Derek and my current team Sarah Murphy, Greg Smyth and Ed Clarke. Most importantly, we depend on the innovative and hard-working entrepreneurs that found and build the incredible companies in which we invest, Sequence Bio, CoLab Software, Spellbook, HeyOrca, Mysa, BreatheSuite, Metricsflow, Mantle, Swiftsure Innovations, SiftMed, and Sparrow BioAcoustics The foundation laid to date is only the beginning. We are excited to continue to be a strong investment partner for NL companies in the future.

Adam Keating CEO of CoLab Software kicking off the inaugural Design Engagement Summit in St. John’s NL bringing in engineering leaders from around the world. The company has come so far since we, Pelorus Venture Capital Ltd. did the first investment in the company in 2018.

Introducing the first AI agent built for law: Spellbook Associate Agents are the biggest leap forward in AI since ChatGPT. They break down projects into plans, execute work across documents and apps, check their own work, and correct their plan as need. They don't just chat, they get work done, like a full-fledged AI colleague. Spellbook Associate is designed for multi-document drudgery: 1. Give it a term sheet and ask it to put together deal documents 2. Ask it to update an employment package 3. Review document sets for issues and inconsistencies ...And a lot more that we'll learn about from our customers over the coming months. Agent-based tools like Cursor Composer and Devin have already caught on like fire in the world of software engineering. We think it's only a matter of time until they come to every other industry. I'm deeply proud of our product team for staying on the bleeding edge: in 2022 we launched the first generative AI copilot for lawyers, in 2023 we launched the first genAI contract redlining tool, and today we're first to deliver full-fledged agents to lawyers. Starting today, we're gradually rolling out early access, and can't wait to hear customer feedback. See more and get early access here: https://lnkd.in/e2M_GYP5

Sparrow BioAcoustics makes listening to your heart and lungs as simple as picking up your phone. Sparrow launched their app in the US yesterday. The first ever FDA-cleared app that turns your smartphone into a medical grade stethoscope. Congrats Mark Attila Opauszky & team!

We're thrilled to announce that Spellbook has raised a $20m USD Series A financing, led by Inovia Capital, with participation from Thomson Reuters Ventures, Moxxie Ventures, Bling Capital and others. In 2022 we launched Spellbook as the first generative AI copilot for transactional lawyers, helping lawyers draft contracts better and faster. In 2023 we assisted 1700+ legal teams with nearly 1 million contracts! Our team couldn't be more excited to deploy this capital towards building the most trusted AI assistant for transactional lawyers. We can't wait to show our customers the next bleeding edge breakthroughs we're working on—starting at Legalweek next week. Thank you to our incredible team, customers and investors for joining our mission to help lawyers escape transaction drudgery—ultimately delivering more value to the end clients of legal services, and helping lawyers focus on doing more of the strategic work they love. And, let's not forget the lawyers that made this deal happen! Special thanks to our legal counsel at LaBarge Weinstein LLP, (Colin Wrynn & Natalie Grant) and the opposing counsel team at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP and Inovia Capital who helped us close this deal in record time.