HALIFAX, Nova Scotia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Coloursmith Labs Inc., a developer of next-generation contact lenses, today announced it has raised over $600,000 in pre-seed funding. The funds will be used to advance the development of its optical filter platform and address some of the world’s most challenging vision problems.
According to Gabrielle Masone, CEO of Coloursmith Labs, both private and institutional investors participated in this private placement financing, including Brigus Capital Inc., Island Capital Partners LP and Killick Venture Fund LP. In conjunction with the financing, Brigus Capital’s President, Wade Dawe, will join Coloursmith’s board of directors, along with Rhiannon Davies, former Vice President and Board Member of GrandVision N.V (Euronext: GVNV).
“As a mentor of Gabrielle’s at the Creative Destruction Lab, I could see she was a true innovator,” said Mr. Dawe. “Coloursmith’s platform technology is capturing the attention of contact lens manufactures because of its multiple vision-enhancing applications and I am committed to providing the support needed to help this company realize its potential.”
”New technologies are driving growth in the $10 Billion contact lens market and Coloursmith’s optical filters have the potential to become an essential part of the next generation of contact lenses,” said Stefanie Corbett, Associate & Director of Operations at Island Capital Partners. “We’re pleased to be active investors and will help Coloursmith identify additional PEI resources to develop its contact lens technology.”
Coloursmith has also previously secured $200,000 from pitch competitions and startup programs. Ms. Masone won the Volta Cohort Competition, Innovacorp’s Spark Innovation Challenge and the Atlantic Venture Forum, Life Sciences. She was also a finalist at Communitech’s Fierce Founders Competition and BioNova’s BioInnovation Challenge. Coloursmith is part of the Emera ideaHUB incubator at Dalhousie University.
“I am proud of what our team has accomplished to date, building a prototype and filing a patent,” said Ms. Masone. “We welcome the confidence and guidance of our board members and investors as we ramp up our research capacity to develop functional solutions for colour blindness and blue light protection.”
About Coloursmith Labs
Coloursmith Labs is enhancing the way we see the world. Coloursmith’s platform technology enables the Company to develop clinically beneficial filters for contact lenses. Coloursmith’s early-stage product pipeline includes an optical filter to enhance colour vision for the colour blind and an optical filter to protect eyes from harmful blue light. www.ColoursmithLabs.ca
