\u201cThere\u2019s just very little activity happening in Manitoba,\u201d Crozier said. \u201cMost successful companies have had to raise outside of Manitoba, or they have very, very big cap tables that take them a very long time to assemble.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite being a tech newbie in these conditions, Crozier said Peters was \u201cvery persistent\u201d to grow and attract the right investors for his vision.\u00a0<\/p>\n ConstructionClock wasn\u2019t Peters\u2019 first rodeo, however. In early 2022, Peters secured a pre-seed round<\/a> for his first tech startup, RoofBundle, which ended in a legal battle with one of its investors. The dispute was settled the day before it was set to go to court.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI have lots of opinions about that whole thing, as a first-time founder that was six months into it, I didn\u2019t know what I was doing, and it was a learning experience for me,\u201d Peters said in a follow-up phone interview. \u201cI put it behind me, I don\u2019t really care about that anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI felt like a massive charlatan. But I overcame that because I had invested my life savings into this company.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n He pivoted to his new company, ConstructionClock, in late 2022, bringing much of his team with him to tackle the time and attendance problem for subcontractors. From here, his \u201csaving grace\u201d was Manitoba\u2019s Small Business Venture Capital Tax Credit<\/a>, which, combined with moving fast with the product, allowed ConstructionClock to raise \u201cjust enough\u201d funding to stay alive in the beginning. The startup raised a $1.2-million pre-seed in late 2024, not including a secondary component for some early angels that cashed out.\u00a0<\/p>\n Peters wanted to triple the company\u2019s size in 2025 following the fundraise. When that seemed achievable, he went to investors in the summer for a new, $2-million seed round. He wanted to \u201ckeep it small,\u201d but now he had a very un-Winnipeg problem: too many investors wanted in.\u00a0<\/p>\n Better problems<\/p>\n Peters set the round terms and whittled it down to three investors: Trillick<\/a>, who cut the biggest cheque, and two returning investors in Chicago-based M25 and an undisclosed \u201csuperangel,\u201d whom Peters said runs one of the largest tech companies in Winnipeg.\u00a0<\/p>\n Peters has an interesting relationship with Trillick. After investing a \u201csmall amount,\u201d ConstructionClock\u2019s CFO, Dominique Smith, is an LP in the fund. She is also his wife.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIs that normal in other areas? Probably not,\u201d Peters said. \u201cBut here in Winnipeg, we have a very small ecosystem, and we support each other like crazy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Crozier agreed with Peters, calling it a \u201creally good example\u201d of how integrated the Winnipeg tech community is. He said Smith is one of Trillick\u2019s many LPs, and claimed that her involvement had no impact on Trillick\u2019s decision to invest in ConstructionClock.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/ConstrutionClock-1024x683.png\" "\\"ConstrutionClock")
<\/a>The ConstructionClock team.<\/p>\n