RHA Ventures Inc., is proud to announce a strategic investment in Materia Bioworks Inc., a Canadian startup who is transforming how brands and manufacturers develop and launch sustainable products. Their machine learning platform, MAPS (Materials Application Prediction System), accelerates R&D by helping companies replace petroleum-based plastics with high-performance sustainable material, faster, cheaper, and smarter.
RHA Ventures Inc. Invests in Jing Jing Nutrifood, Innovation in Nutritional Wellness.
RHA Ventures Inc. (www.rha.ventures), an investmentfirm committed to supporting early stage innovative companies, is proud to announce its latest investment in Jing Jing Nutrifood (www.jingnutrifood.com), a Canadian-based leader in traditional plant-based nutrition and functional food products.
The Popular Pig Podcast - Digitizing Biosecurity to Prevent Disease Outbreaks | Rob Hannam
Rob Hannam, CEO of Farm Health Guardian, appeared on the Popular Pig Podcast to talk about how Farm Heath Guardian is revolutionizing biosecurity in the swine and poultry sectors through digital solutions. The Farm Heath Guardian technology helps reduce the spread of diseases like PRRS and PED by improving biosecurity compliance; by identifying common failures such as truck washes and dedicated equipment breaches, and providing real-time breach alerts. Tracking the data helps expose hidden risks, ultimately saving time, reducing production costs, enhancing farm sustainability and fostering better compliance and behavioral changes on farms
Monarch Electric Tractor Makes Its Debut at Ontario Farm Shows
Exploring Innovation at the Polaris Pitch Competition & Showcase
The Polaris Pitch Competition & Showcase, organized by TechAlliance of Southwestern Ontario, is an exciting event that highlights innovation within the Canadian tech ecosystem. On March 19, 2025, at the London Music Hall, this event will feature eight innovative ventures competing for a prize package of up to $65,000 in funding and $7,500 in services.
The competition is open to a wide range of tech sectors, including agri-tech, medtech, AI, cybersecurity, fintech, gaming, clean growth, and zero-emission vehicles. This diversity ensures a rich showcase of cutting-edge ideas and solutions.
Beyond the prizes, the Polaris Pitch Competition offers participants the opportunity to receive personalized mentorship and gain exposure to potential investors and industry leaders. This platform is designed to help innovators turn their ideas into reality and make a significant impact on the tech landscape.
Applications to pitch are open until January 27, 2025. This event is a valuable opportunity for those with groundbreaking ideas to gain recognition and support within the tech community.
Joe Dales Joins Board of Directors of the Canadian Agri-Food Automation & Intelligence Network.
The Canadian Agri-Food Automation & Intelligence Network (CAAIN) has appointed Joe Dales to its Board of Directors. The non-profit company, which was awarded $49.5 million in 2019 by the Government of Canada to fund Canadian agtech projects, cited his distinguished career in agriculture, food innovation, and entrepreneurship, as motivation for adding Mr. Dales to its leadership team.
Revolutionizing Asparagus Harvesting: A3H Harvester Showcased at the Great Lakes Expo
The future of asparagus harvesting is here. HarvestCorp Technologies is excited to announce that the A3H Asparagus Harvester, the next generation in agricultural robotics, will be showcased at the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable & Farm Market Expo from December 10–12, 2024, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Visitors can experience this groundbreaking innovation at booths 1158 and 1059.
New Agricultural Robotics Centre to Be Established at The Grove at Western Fair.
The Grove at Western Fair is set to become home to the Agricultural Robotics Research and Training Centre, (ARTC), a groundbreaking initiative designed to advance agricultural robotics and automation through a unique partnership. The new ARTC will be the physical ecosystem hub of cutting-edge agricultural
RHA Ventures Invests in UniSeeds Inc., Growing the Hemp Industry.
RHA Ventures is pleased to announce a strategic investment in UniSeeds Inc., an innovative company that develops and distributes high quality industrial hemp seed. This investment marks a significant milestone in the mission to grow the industrial hemp sector, bringing new cutting-edge opportunities to farmers and hemp processors across North American and international markets.
BioFerScience Wins Innovation Award for Livestock at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show.
BioFerScience Inc., a leading provider of innovative animal health solutions for the livestock industry, is proud to announce that it has been awarded the Innovation Award for Livestock at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show 2024. This recognition highlights BioFerScience’s commitment to developing cutting-edge advancements for livestock producers.
Western Fair Association Receives Funding To Support The Adoption Of New Technology For Ontario Producers
June Update from RHA Ventures
RHA Ventures Announces Investment in Real Life Robotics
In the face of rising costs for domestic businesses in Canada and competition from abroad, RHA Ventures, an Ontario-based venture capital firm specializing in cutting-edge technologies, announced today its investment in Real Life Robotics, a Waterloo-based company designing real robots for real businesses. This investment marks a significant milestone in the development of Real Life Robotics and underscores RHA Ventures' commitment to supporting true, tried, and tested founders and Ontario’s growing startup ecosystem despite an overall decrease in entrepreneurship across the rest of Canada.
OCI and RHA Ventures Sign MOU to Boost Support for Ontario Start-ups
Today, at the DiscoveryX Conference, the Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) and RHA Ventures Inc. (RHA) announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) aimed at enhancing support for start-ups and entrepreneurs across Ontario. This collaboration seeks to leverage the strengths of both organizations to foster innovation, economic development, and job creation in the region.
RHA Ventures Commits Investment in Harvest Corp Technologies, Accelerating Agricultural Harvesting Robotics.
London,ON April 15, 2024 – RHA Ventures Inc, a leading venture capital firm specializing in agri-food and technology enabled innovations, proudly announces its investment in Harvest Corp Technologies, a pioneer in agricultural harvest robotics. This strategic partnership marks a significant milestone in advancing harvest automation and reducing manual labor in the horticulture sector.
RHA Ventures Announces Strategic Investment in BioFerScience Inc.
RHA Ventures is pleased to announce its latest investment in BioFerScience Inc., an innovative animal health company. RHA Ventures, known for its “founders for founders” approach, has been actively investing in early-stage, innovative companies in the agriculture, food and technology sectors. This new investment aligns with RHA’s commitment to supporting early stage companies.
RHA Ventures Announces Launch of New $30M Venture Capital Fund – 519 Growth Fund II
London, ON – RHA Ventures Inc. (RHA), a boutique investment firm with a Founders for Founders approach, announced today the launch of a new $30M Venture Capital Fund; 519 Growth Fund II (519 GFII). The Fund will invest in early-stage companies in the Agriculture, Agri-Food and Technology Enabled sectors. The vision is to support company founders in the commercialization of innovative, sustainable technologies, while providing competitive returns for investors. RHA has secured a non-binding term sheet with an anchor investor and is actively fundraising toward a first close in March of 2024.
“We are excited to launch this new fund due to the market gap in both capital and business support for early-stage companies,” said Nevin McDougall, Managing Partner for RHA. “Looking specifically at the opportunities facing our target sectors, supporting commercialization of innovative technologies is key to addressing economic development, job creation and sustainability.”
The new fund is a natural progression from RHA’s initial fund, 519 Growth Fund I, which also focused on high potential, early-stage companies. The first fund supported companies with investments ranging between $75,000 and $250,000. 519 GFII will continue to focus on early-stage companies but also look at larger investments of $750,000 to $1,000,000 for Seed stage companies. The fund will focus on predominantly Canadian based firms. The RHA Ventures’ team, composed of experienced founders and entrepreneurs, will actively support and work with 519 GFII portfolio companies applying their knowledge, skills, and broad networks. View the complete list of partners at https://rha.ventures/partners.
“The launch of 519 Growth Fund II is further validation of our “Founders for Founders” approach” commented Joe Dales, co-founder of RHA. “Early-stage company founders are often in need of sector expertise, operational capability, and networks which our firm has delivered to other portfolio companies in the past. We look forward to continuing this impactful work with this fund.”
For more information on 519 Growth Fund II, please visit our website at https://rha.ventures/519-growth-fund-2
About RHA Ventures Inc. - Founders For Founders.
RHA Ventures (“RHA”) is a boutique investment company with a “Founders for Founders” approach to business. With decades of collective operational experience, our firm’s partners bring seasoned, hands-on support with go-to market approaches, commercial development, growth and exit strategies. RHA helps founders and entrepreneurs identify the most valuable market opportunities and scale their companies for sustainable growth. RHA leverages our core group of founders (business owners / entrepreneurs), our extensive network of mentors, industry connections, and investors to help entrepreneurs gain visibility, establish strategic relationships, and build successful companies.
RHA Ventures is a key investor and a General Partner of the 519 Growth Funds
The 519 Growth Fund was launched in 2022 to support innovations in early stage, growth-focused companies that are technology-enabled with demonstrated recurring revenue, market acceptance and a defensible market position.
For more information visit our website at www.RHA.Ventures
Contact:
Nevin McDougall, RHA Ventures email; nevin.mcdougall@rha.ventures
Michael Dales, RHA Ventures email: michael.dales@rha.ventures
RHA Ventures announces the addition of 3 new portfolio companies
RHA Ventures Inc. is pleased to announce it has recently completed new investments in 3 early stage companies; Adviice, StrongBo, and Turnkey Genomics. These new investments reflect the company’s commitment to providing innovative growth-stage companies with the capital and resources needed to scale their operations.
RHA Ventures Announces Key Role in New Farm Credit Canada (FCC) and Western Fair Association (WFA) Agreement to support Innovation Farms Ontario
London, Ontario, October 31, 2023: RHA Ventures (RHA), a boutique investment firm with a Founders for Founders approach, announces a key role in the new agreement between Farm Credit Canada (FCC) and Western Fair Association (WFA) including Innovation Farms Ontario. In September 2023, FCC announced a long-term relationship with WFA (including The Grove at Western Fair District) to elevate agriculture and food producers by delivering the knowledge, innovation and research Canadian producers can use to complement their own expertise in the advancement of farming and food businesses. RHA Ventures will support them by providing participating companies with investment and business mentoring support to help scale their businesses. The original press release from FCC can be found on their website; https://www.fcc-fac.ca/en/about-fcc/media-centre/news-releases/2023/fcc-western-fair-partnership.html
Photo from left to right: Chuck Bearsich, President, Haggerty AgRobotics; Sophie Perreault, Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer, Farm Credit Canada; Fred Wall, Vice President Marketing and Digital Agriculture, Farm Credit Canada; Reg Ash, CEO Western Fair Association; and Joe Dales, Co-Founder RHA Ventures.
RHA is also pleased to announce the first project in this agreement is with one of RHA’s portfolio companies, Haggerty AgRobotics (https://www.haggertyagrobotics.com). The launch of the new on-farm research called Innovation Farms Ontario powered by AgExpert, is located at Haggerty Creek near Bothwell, Ontario. This research farm is part of a network of Canadian demonstration farms, also sponsored by FCC, where innovative, emerging technology is developed and tested. The results and benefits of different technologies in the emerging agriculture robotics and automation industry are shared with producers to optimize current farming practices and future decisions.”
“We are thrilled to support this important project and develop innovative solutions for Canadian farm producers,” says Joe Dales, Co-Founder of RHA Ventures. “We look forward to supporting participating companies by demonstrating and testing the value of their products with real farmers.”
Nevin McDougall, Manager Partner at RHA, hails the plan for fostering innovation and building businesses directed at the agriculture and food industry. “There has been a lack of venture capital in Canada for early-stage firms and we are ready to step up to the plate,” said McDougall, “and RHA plans to provide capital and mentorship for early-stage companies with focus on investments in Agriculture & Food Innovations and/or Technology-Enabled companies. RHA will invest and lend its world-class business expertise and acumen to mentor and develop new leaders and innovators in these sectors.”
For more information visit https://rha.ventures/ or the Press Room page at https://rha.ventures/pressroom
About RHA Ventures Inc. - Founders for Founders.
RHA Ventures (RHA) is a boutique investment company for visionary founders looking for long term capital and a “Founders for Founders” approach to building business. The RHA partners have decades of collective operational experience and bring seasoned, hands-on support in corporate governance, go-to-market approaches, commercial development, growth and exit strategies. RHA helps founders and entrepreneurs identify the most valuable market opportunities and scale their companies for sustainable growth. RHA leverages a core group of founders (business owners / entrepreneurs), with an extensive network of mentors and investors to help entrepreneurs gain visibility, establish strategic relationships, and build successful companies.
RHA Ventures is a key investor and a General Partner of the 519 Growth Funds
The 519 Growth Fund was launched in 2022 to support innovations in early stage, growth-focused companies that are technology-enabled with demonstrated recurring revenue, market acceptance and a defensible market position.
For more information visit our website at www.RHA.Ventures
Contact : Michael Dales, RHA Ventures, michael.dales@rha.ventures