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\u201c(It\u2019s) great to be in Manitoba,\u201d said Peter Frey, chief operating officer at Spade Technologies, a California-based company that creates AI-powered dairy intelligence and forecasting technologies.<\/p>\n
The fund is backed by Farm Credit Canada as its anchor investor, alongside strategic limited partners including the Manitoba First Fund.<\/p>\n
Setting up Spade\u2019s Canadian headquarters in Winnipeg will give the company access to Manitoba talent as well as dairy producers across the province, said Peter Frey, chief operating officer.<\/p>\n
The company is in the midst of moving its U.S. headquarters from San Francisco to the Minneapolis and St. Paul area in Minnesota, he added. That will put Spade\u2019s U.S. operations and Canadian headquarters in close proximity.<\/p>\n
The average farm that Spade supports in the U.S. has about 2,000 animals and there are few farms in Canada that large, Frey said. The Manitoba office will work to adapt the technology for smaller farms.<\/p>\n
Spade Technologies was founded last year when two companies, Vyla Inc. and Bankbarn, amalgamated. The company\u2019s AI-powered dairy intelligence and forecasting technologies span the dairy value chain.<\/p>\n
Spade recently closed a US$5 million seed round and currently employs 18 people. The company plans to hire three to five people in Manitoba in the next year, Frey said.<\/p>\n
In addition to leading Spade\u2019s Canadian commercial expansion, the company\u2019s Manitoba team will support the company\u2019s growth throughout the north-central United States, including Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Dakotas.<\/p>\n
\u201c(It\u2019s) great to be in Manitoba,\u201d Frey said. \u201c(We\u2019re) extremely excited about what\u2019s happening here with ag tech already.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spade chose Manitoba in consultation with SVG Ventures Thrive, said John Cassidy, the firm\u2019s managing director for Canada.<\/p>\n
The benefits of setting up shop in the keystone province include access to organizations such as Enterprise Machine Intelligence and Learning Initiative, the Winnipeg-based non-profit committed to advancing digital agriculture, and Agriculture Innovation, Validation and Adoption Network, an EMILI-led coalition of farmers and tech leaders supporting the broader adoption of artificial intelligence across agriculture.<\/p>\n
Spade plans to collaborate with the non-profit Enterprise Machine Intelligence & Learning Initiative to validate its platform under Canadian production conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving access to the likes of EMILI and the AIVA group \u2014 it\u2019s not too common in areas across the world where you\u2019re immediately plugging into a network to help you grow and scale your business,\u201d Cassidy said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s exciting to see a company that received funding from the Manitoba First Fund set up its Canadian headquarters in the province, said Jacqueline Keena, chief executive officer at EMILI.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to help (innovators) be successful and scale and demonstrate their success \u2026 to the point where venture capital and other investors are excited to take a look at them and invest in them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe want them to be able to keep growing their businesses here in Manitoba and attract other innovators to the province, and kind of get that flywheel of great new innovation in the ag tech ecosystem and the capital into the province.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Manitoba First Fund exists to attract capital that will support organizations as they grow and advance in the province, said Ken Ross, CEO.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe investment in Spade Technologies through SVG is a really good example of what we\u2019re trying to accomplish,\u201d he said. \u201cSo we\u2019re really excited about their decision to locate here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spade announced its Canadian expansion at EMILI\u2019s Innovation Farms facility northwest of Winnipeg. The announcement kicked off an AIVA event that gave farmers and investors a chance to view demonstrations of ag tech solutions.<\/p>\n
aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n
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Aaron Epp Aaron Epp reports on business for the Free Press. After freelancing for the paper for a decade, he joined the staff full-time in 2024. Read more about Aaron<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Aaron produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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