This marks the 12-year-old Québec AI firm’s first external funding.
Québec City-based artificial intelligence (AI) software and service company Vooban has closed a strategic investment from Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ).
After establishing itself in Québec, Vooban targets Ontario and US expansion through organic growth and acquisitions.
The amount that Vooban received from the Québec public pension plan manager was not disclosed.
Vooban, which helps businesses design and deploy AI solutions, plans to use this capital to fuel its Ontario and United States (US) expansion plans, which will involve a combination of organic growth and acquisitions. This investment represents the 12-year-old Québec AI startup’s first external funding.
“We are extremely enthusiastic about partnering with CDPQ in this next phase of our growth,” Vooban founder and president Kevin Moore said in a statement. “This strategic investment will enable us not only to continue providing first-class AI services to our customers but also to extend our reach into new markets.”
BetaKit has reached out to Vooban for additional comment.
Founded in 2011 as a custom software solutions company, Vooban made a pivot to AI in 2017. Today, Vooban helps clients implement AI, building applications to support companies’ digital transformations. Vooban also has teams focused on programming, design, enterprise architecture, the Internet of Things, and cloud computing.
Over the past few years, Vooban’s revenue has grown by 50 percent annually. In June, Vooban was named AI service company of the year by Scale AI at the latest C2 Montréal conference.
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“Vooban has an enviable position in a booming sector, and we are delighted to be supporting them as they expand so that businesses will have even greater access to AI services,” CDPQ executive vice president and head of Québec Kim Thomassin said in a statement.
For CDPQ, Thomassin noted the Vooban investment fits within its aim to help Québec businesses expand into new markets and support firms that accelerate digital transformation.
To date, Vooban has established a strong presence in Québec, where it has built products like a pipeline inspection tool for oil and gas tech firm Flyscan Systems, an AI quality assurance solution for potato producer Patates Dolbec, a customer enterprise resource planning application for marine terminal operator and stevedore QSL.
Armed with this CDPQ funding, Vooban plans to add at least 40 employees to its 135-person team over the coming months as it looks to expand its reach in Ontario and the US.
Feature image courtesy CDPQ.
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