BDC Capital supports four more women-led startups

Montreal-based rooftop greenhouse business among tech fund’s targets

TORONTO BDC Capital announced four new women-led startups for its Women in Technology Venture Fund on Wednesday, including Lufa Farms, a Montreal-based company that’s growing vegetables in urban rooftop greenhouses.

The idea behind Lufa Farms is that growing vegetables closer to where people live makes for fresher food, while also decreasing greenhouse energy consumption, because sitting on top of another building means the greenhouse benefits from residual heat.

They grow the vegetables, and then distribute baskets that are also filled with meat, bread and other food sourced from partner producers, all sold online through the Lufa Farms website.

“We actually ship about 14,000 baskets a week right now, and we’re looking to at least double that in the next couple years before we look at expanding outside of Montreal, so this investment is a key piece for us to make that move,” said Lufa Farms co-founder Lauren Rathmell.

The BDC Women in Technology fund was started last year, and managing director Michelle Scarborough says it’s the largest fund in the world targeted at this particular niche.

The dollar figures of this week’s investments were not disclosed by BDC. So far they’ve only invested $6.3 million of their fund in a total of 14 companies, but Scarborough said she expects that to start ramping up soon.

To qualify for funding, firms need to be women-led, with either a woman as co-founder, or CEO, or in another significant leadership position.

Along with Lufa Farms, the fund invested in Vancouver’s AvenueHQ, which is working in the real estate sector, Unsplash, a Montreal-based curated photography platform, and Tealbook, which CEO Stephany Lapierre bills as the LinkedIn for procurement, by creating a platform to connect business buyers along with business-to-business suppliers.

“You know, subconsciously or consciously, I think women are at a disadvantage when raising capital for various reasons. The statistics are the statistics,” Lapierre said. “It’s very real.”