Work at CSI for the day with our new Lounge Pass!

4 CSI Alumni Secure Over 8M in Funding

Nikky Manfredi

Nikky Manfredi

Communications & Content Specialist

We’re rounding up a summer of major funding wins from some of our CSI alumni! After participating in either our WOSEN Investment Readiness Supports program or Earth Tech accelerator, these ventures leveraged what they learned to secure over $8M in funding to launch, scale, and drive impact for people and the planet. Check it out: 

Flash Forest 

Flash Forest, one of our Earth Tech 2020 ventures, uses swarms of autonomous drones to plant trees faster, cheaper, safer and with more ease than ever. They’re on a mission to plant 1 billion trees by 2028 by bringing their tech to six continents and pulling billions of tonnes of CO2 out of the atmosphere. $3.5M in additional funding will help them do that. 

After an initial nomination from CSI for the SDTC’s $100K seed grant, Flash Forest went on to secure another $1.7M from the Canadian clean tech foundation. They also raised $1.8M frm Emissions Reduction Alberta. Here’s their CEO and founder, Bryce Jones, demonstrating what they do and speaking with Emissions Reduction Alberta about what this funding will help them achieve: 

Foodpreneur Lab 

Over the last year, JaniceHeadshot of Janice Bartley Bartley participated in the WOSEN Investment Readiness Supports program. The program is designed to support established social ventures in identifying, developing, and securing funding opportunities in the coming year. This week, Janice’s venture, Foodpreneur Lab, secured $3M in investment from the Government of Canada’s Ecosystem Fund

The ripple effects from this funding will be felt sector-wide: Foodpreneur Lab advances racial and gender equity by supporting the start up and scale up of Canadian food entrepreneurs. 

RainStick

Alisha and Sean McFetridge, co-founders of RainStickAnother Earth Tech alum and SDTC seed fund recipient, RainStick just raised over $1M in investments towards the launch of their water-saving, high-pressure shower. 

RainStick Shower is a unique recirculating system that saves 80% water and 80% energy without compromising quality. “Right now, we need to be doing more,” Alisha McFetridge, RainStick’s co-founder and CEO, told BetaKit in an interview. “I think there’s a huge opportunity. We’re seeing droughts, forest fires, and I think that I’m really excited about the future of climate tech, and I’m excited that RainStick is one of those folks that are working towards a solution.” We can’t wait to see this product out in the world!

Just Vertical 

Just Vertical is on a mission to reduce foodKevin and Conner, co-founders of Just Vertical insecurity by rethinking how we source and produce affordable food. The answer? Vertical, indoor gardens. This Earth Tech alum creates vertical hydroponic growing systems that fit beautifully into living spaces and grow an abundance of affordable, nutritious food. 

Co-founders Kevin and Conner are happy to announce they closed their seed round this July having raised over $625,000. The seed round was raised with two partners: District Ventures and PAX. They are now in the process of raising a Series A round of funding, scheduled to close by the end of September 2021. 

We’re so excited to see how far these alumni have come. Congratulations, everyone!!

Keep Reading
CSI Spadina in the ground floor kitchen, looking out towards the lounge and meeting rooms. In the foreground is a kitchen counter, with waffles, toppings, and glasses of coffees and teas. In the background, CSI CEO Tonya Surman is speaking into a microphone on the left. In the middle and on the right, a variety of people stand and sit, listening to her speak.
One of the keys to CSI's magic is our Community Animator Program (CAP) and, specifically, the Community Animators themselves! Through this program, we've worked with more than 1,000 exceptional individuals who have each brought a little something different, and a little sparkle, to our spaces. And we're so glad to have had them in our community, because we've learned that each and every one of them has some exceptional talents, skills, and experiences to offer the world!  
Third floor lounge of CSI Spadina. In the foreground is a light blue loveseat sofa. In the background, we see two people working separately at coworking desks and tables. On the ceiling is a chandelier; to the right, a progress Pride flag.
The CSI staff team includes Pride veterans, newcomers, and everywhere in between! This year, as we celebrated Pride in our spaces and with our member community, we turned to our staff team to learn what Pride means to them. Some experienced it for the first time this year and were awash in the joy; others delighted in the fact that Pride remains such a fun celebration decades later. Others noted the increasing corporatization, which draws our attention away from the central premise of Pride - a protest.
whai header
CSI is many things - a coworking space, a non-profit organization, and a launchpad - but, first and foremost, we are a community. A community of innovators, of changemakers, of neighbours, of people putting people and planet first. And the awesome work that our members do, each and every day, never ceases to amaze us! So of course, we do our best to highlight our members whenever possible. Recently, we had the pleasure of sitting down with Molly Bannerman, Director of Women HIV/Aids Initiative (WHAI), a community-based response to HIV and AIDS among cis and trans women in Ontario. Below is an edited summary of our chat, where we discussed the work of WHAI and their latest Collective Action Community Change report.
Become A Member