You had to be a little inflated to present atmospheric balloons carrying an aerial photography platform at Dragon’s Den, CBC’s version of In the Eye of the Dragon, but the risk paid off: Lux Aerobot will be able to gain altitude with the $500,000 she raised there.
“We went to the show with an investment of $250,000 in mind,” says its president and co-founder Katrina Albert. With her co-founder Vincent Lachance, she participated in the English-speaking version of the reality TV show “to increase our notoriety in Canada,” explains the entrepreneur.
The $500,000 investment was offered to him by serial entrepreneur Robert Herjavec, who was sympathetic to the system’s environmental benefits.
Lux Aerobot has developed a stratospheric platform, attached by hangers to a cluster of balloons inflated with helium. Its optical and thermal cameras take photos of the ground surface at an altitude of 18 to 25 km, from where the image field reaches 50 km in diameter.
The quality of the definition, the very wide angle of view and the frequency of shots produce a wealth of data that drones, planes or satellites cannot provide. Analyzed by artificial intelligence, they are used, for example, for forest fire management and coastal surveillance.
“Balloons are a very affordable solution for having high-resolution and high-frequency images over a large territory,” argues Katrina Albert.
Another advantage over aircraft photography is that “our technology does not emit CO2 in flight,” she adds.
The aerostat can be approximately steered by changing its altitude depending on the direction of the winds. It gains altitude by releasing sand from its ballast and loses altitude by releasing gas.
Once its mission is accomplished, the lines are cut and the basket falls to the ground, its fall slowed by a parachute.
“We are already working on a propulsion system that will be added to the balloon to increase its maneuverability,” indicates Katrina Gauvin.
“We don’t sell our balloons,” she emphasizes. We don’t sell the images either. We sell image analysis, therefore essentially refined data. »
Lux Aerobot was founded in 2018 by Katrina Albert and Vincent Lachance, a young entrepreneur passionate about technology.
“I read extensively about all aerospace technologies in operation as well as the technologies of the future in development,” says the latter. The objective was to find a product with high commercialization potential and which was underestimated by more traditional companies. Stratospheric balloons for terrestrial observation perfectly met these criteria. »
Katrina Albert, a graduate of HEC Montréal, had met him a few years earlier during a conference that she had invited him to give to students. In 2014, aged just 18, Vincent Lachance participated in the Dragons show on Radio-Canada.
“Our first hire was an aerospace engineer,” she relates.
“What really allowed us to gain momentum was that we did a program in Australia for aerospace start-ups. »
The country was then grappling with huge forest fires.
“From that came our first contract with Australian Defense to demonstrate the technology. It snowballed” – a rare feat in these warm latitudes.
Since then, Lux Aerobot has obtained two fundings from the Canadian Space Agency which amounted to nearly $600,000, mandates with Canadian Defense, as well as recurring contributions from Rio Tinto to Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean which total $100,000 per year. Three releases were carried out last year in Saskatchewan with Transport Canada to demonstrate the potential of the technology.
“We are the only private company in Canada that operates terrestrial observation balloons,” she emphasizes.
Lux Aerobot now has 15 employees distributed between Alma and its Montreal office, opening in 2022.
After several years of research and development, “the technology has now reached a maturity that allows us to market more,” says Katrina Albert
The manna harvested at Dragon’s Den falls from the sky. “This is an investment that is part of our first round of investment, which we are currently in the process of concluding. »
This influx of new money has two objectives. First, support forest fire detection tests which will be carried out in 2024 in collaboration with SOPFEU. Next, accelerate research in artificial intelligence. “With more contracts comes more data. Analytics becomes the next priority, and we need to increase the size of the artificial intelligence team. We also want to increase our sales team to support this growth. »
Car Lux Aerobot is very popular today.
It had a gable in line, Bokea will have a door and facade on the street. The young Montreal company specializes in replacing doors, drawer fronts and other IKEA cabinet panels. The formula allows owners to keep the boxes and replace tired facades with varied, high-quality replacement products. Until now, the company offered its items online, but it has just opened its first real store, located at Château Saint-Ambroise, rue Saint-Ambroise, in Montreal. The showroom was created in collaboration with interior designer Stéphanie Delisle. Products ordered online, and now in stores, are made to order by Quebec companies. Founded in October 2022, the company has grown from two to ten employees over the past year.
Business is going well at Carrousel, to the point where it turns its attention to Ontario. Specializing in the distribution of food and industrial packaging and sanitary products, the company opened its fifth warehouse in Ottawa – its first outside Quebec. “We have built a team of experts dedicated to the Ottawa-Cornwall-Kingston area and this asset allows us to offer solutions adapted to customers in this territory,” informed Michel Bourassa, CEO of Emballages Carrousel, in a press release. The new 63,500 ft2 warehouse joins those in Boucherville, Quebec, Boisbriand and Drummondville, for a total of 380,000 ft2. Established in Boucherville since 1971, Emballage Carrousel delivers every day to more than 1,200 customers across Quebec and Eastern Ontario.
TRANSEARCH International searched for and found Décarie Recherche, a Montreal-based consulting services firm in the search for executives and directors. Based in London, TRANSEARCH International, one of the largest executive search firms in the world, has chosen Décarie Recherche to take root in Montreal. The co-founder and president of Décarie Research since 2014, Dominique Décarie, remains at the head of the Montreal branch as president of Décarie Transearch. The business partnership will allow Décarie to combine “the best of the large international firm in terms of thought leadership, tools and global network, with our entrepreneurial approach and our agility,” explained Dominique Décarie, in a press release.
The destinies of Bon Karma and Special Collaboration crossed happily. The two design and marketing services cooperatives are joining forces under the name Bonne Compagnie. A company name that reflects both the values of the firm and the atmosphere that will reign there. Since 2019, Bon Karma has dedicated its expertise in design and web to organizations with a positive impact. For its part, Special Collaboration was dedicated to digital marketing, video and design services in the field of arts and culture. Thanks to this happy merger, Bonne Compagnie “will offer a range of specialized services consistent with caring values and a self-managed business model aspiring to rethink the traditional framework of the workplace”. Virtues that destiny will undoubtedly reward.
Deep Sky, the Montreal developer of carbon elimination projects, has announced a partnership with British firm Mission Zero Technologies. Their demonstration prototype will capture 250 tonnes of CO₂ per year. Target: Between 100,000 and 1 million tonnes of CO₂ per year with commercial installations.
