HALIFAX, Nova Scotia — Coloursmith Labs Inc., a developer of “next-generation” contact lenses, announced that it has raised over $600,000 in pre-seed funding.
The funds will be used to advance the development of its optical filter platform. The company’s early-stage product pipeline includes an optical filter to enhance color vision for the color blind and an optical filter to protect eyes from blue light.
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.
“As a mentor of Gabrielle’s at the Creative Destruction Lab, I could see she was a true innovator,” said Dawe. “Coloursmith’s platform technology is capturing the attention of contact lens manufacturers because of its multiple vision-enhancing applications and I am committed to providing the support needed to help this company realize its potential.”
Stefanie Corbett, associate and director of operations at Island Capital Partners, said, “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. We’re pleased to be active investors and will help Coloursmith identify additional PEI resources to develop its contact lens technology.”
Coloursmith previously secured $200,000 from pitch competitions and startup programs. 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.
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“I am proud of what our team has accomplished to date, building a prototype and filing a patent,” said 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.”
