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Vancouver-based defence and dual-use startup Juno Industries Inc. on Friday completed a $12-million financing round in a reverse takeover of publicly traded Trail Blazer Capital Corp. so it can access capital quicker and scale up faster.
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Juno’s arrangement with the capital pool company on the TSX Venture Exchange, first announced in late March, will allow it to accelerate its research and development efforts, grow its team and explore merger and acquisition opportunities, Juno co-founder and chief executive Hunter Scharfe said.
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New and existing Canadian institutional, venture capital and individual investors participated in the financing, though Juno declined to provide any names.
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Scharfe said Juno, which is developing autonomous systems and software, is receiving “a very positive reception” from investors, with institutional investors searching for opportunities to invest in the defence and dual-use tech space.
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“The VC community is starting to wake up in Canada, although it’s lagging, while individual angel and high-net-worth investors are extremely excited about reestablishing Canadian dynamism (and) Canadian sovereignty,” he said.
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Scharfe and former minister of national defence Harjit Sajjan launched the company in January and raised a $3-million seed round. It aims to close another funding round this year.
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“We would like that to be with Canadian capital and Canadian partners all the way through,” Scharfe said.
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The company in March announced it would develop a communications and surveillance platform focused on the Arctic with joint-venture partner Critical Infrastructure Technologies Ltd. Scharfe said it could see a commercial contract materialize sooner than one with the government and that Juno’s platform has been deployed in Greenland and Australia through its JV.
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“We don’t need defence or government validation for these (commercial) contracts to go forward,” he said. “I consider them parallel pathways … exploring commercial opportunities and looking for defence applications that make sense.
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Scharfe said Juno is also looking to merge or acquire “great Canadian businesses with great technology and people” that are not necessarily in the defence space, such as sensor technology used in related industries like energy, agriculture and industrial.
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“Lots of those companies have undiscovered value in defence applications,” he said.
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Ottawa has committed $82 billion for defence investments over five years and earlier this week announced Canada will be the host nation of a new multinational defence bank that will offer “long-term, low-cost financing” for North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members and ally defence projects.
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“Having a NATO-scale institution headquartered in Canada reminds companies like Juno that we actually can build things of massive scale,” Scharfe said. “It brings talent, interest, capital and NATO-wide relevance for Canada in this growing cycle of defence adjustment.
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