Montreal’s SCALE AI record-breaking financing: $117M in investments for 15 artificial intelligence projects

Montreal-based SCALE AI announced its most significant financing on Monday, with $117 million in investments. Fifteen projects were unveiled that the company says further demonstrate the acceleration of artificial intelligence adoption in manufacturing, retail and agriculture, as well as in the development of innovative AI solutions for businesses.

“In addition to nine new AI projects, this announcement also includes further investments in six projects already supported by SCALE AI, to enable them to be deployed on a larger scale for the benefit of the entire AI ecosystem,” said the company in a press release.

“Since 2019, SCALE AI has supported more than 90 industry projects, with investments totalling half a billion dollars, 62 per cent of which was funded by the industry. This demonstrates that big and small Canadian companies are increasingly relying on AI to fuel their growth, be more efficient and gain leadership on the global scale.”

“Additionally, these Canadian companies own 100% of the intellectual property (IP) generated and funded in their SCALE AI projects, which is a crucial step towards growing Canada’s global competitive advantage in AI,” explained the company.

François-Philippe Champagne, Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, as well as a number of business partners, were present at the announcement.

“Investing in innovation, especially in artificial intelligence, is paramount to growing oure conomy and cementing our position as a global leader. Today’s projects demonstrate how the SCALE AI cluster plays a key role in supporting Canada’s artificial intelligence sector, and ultimately creating highly skilled jobs, a more resilient supply chain and enabling companies to be more efficient and competitive,” said Champagne.

From left to right : Julien Billot (Scale AI), Pape Wade (Airudi), The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne (Canada’s Minister), Alexandre Boulerice (Deputy), Hélène Desmarais (Scale AI), Caroline Morissette (McCain), Louis Têtu (Coveo) and Michel Leblanc (Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal). (CREDIT: Martin Daigle/CityNews)

(CREDIT: Martin Daigle/CityNews)

“Over the past years, we have seen an increasing number of Canadian companies develop AI practices and reap the benefits. 2022 was a record-breaking year for the organization with a remarkable total investment of $204 million in 33 industry projects,” said Julien Billot, CEO, SCALE AI. “Through each of these funding round, SCALE AI has contributed to further advancing the adoption of AI for a significant number of companies across Canada. Our team is looking forward to pursuing its work to benefit the entire AI ecosystem in the upcoming years.”

As Canada’s AI Global Innovation Cluster, Scale AI acts as an investment and innovation hub that accelerates the rapid adoption and integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and contributes to developing a world-class Canadian AI ecosystem. Based in Montreal and funded by the federal government and the Quebec government, Scale AI works with more than 500 industry partners, research institutes, and other players in the field of AI. The organization develops programs to support investments in companies that implement real-world applications of AI and encourage the emergence of future Canadian flagships in the sector, all while facilitating the development of a highly skilled workforce.