California tech company setting up shop in Winnipeg

GROSSE ISLE — An AI-first California-based company that creates software for the dairy industry is establishing its Canadian headquarters in Winnipeg.

Spade Technologies announced Thursday it will build a team in Manitoba, positioning the province as the centre of its Canadian operations and a strategic gateway to the broader North American dairy market.

The company’s Canadian expansion is backed by SVG Ventures Thrive, a global agrifood innovation and investment platform. The Silicon Valley-based organization is investing $1.4 million into Spade via its Pioneer Fund, which invests in high-growth, early-stage agrifood technology companies.

The fund is backed by Farm Credit Canada as its anchor investor, alongside strategic limited partners including the Manitoba First Fund.

Setting up Spade’s 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.

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’s U.S. operations and Canadian headquarters in close proximity.

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.

Spade Technologies was founded last year when two companies, Vyla Inc. and Bankbarn, amalgamated. The company’s AI-powered dairy intelligence and forecasting technologies span the dairy value chain.

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.

In addition to leading Spade’s Canadian commercial expansion, the company’s Manitoba team will support the company’s growth throughout the north-central United States, including Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Dakotas.

“(It’s) great to be in Manitoba,” Frey said. “(We’re) extremely excited about what’s happening here with ag tech already.”

Spade chose Manitoba in consultation with SVG Ventures Thrive, said John Cassidy, the firm’s managing director for Canada.

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.

Spade plans to collaborate with the non-profit Enterprise Machine Intelligence & Learning Initiative to validate its platform under Canadian production conditions.

“Having access to the likes of EMILI and the AIVA group — it’s not too common in areas across the world where you’re immediately plugging into a network to help you grow and scale your business,” Cassidy said.

It’s 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.

“We want to help (innovators) be successful and scale and demonstrate their success … to the point where venture capital and other investors are excited to take a look at them and invest in them,” she said.

“We 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.”

The Manitoba First Fund exists to attract capital that will support organizations as they grow and advance in the province, said Ken Ross, CEO.

“The investment in Spade Technologies through SVG is a really good example of what we’re trying to accomplish,” he said. “So we’re really excited about their decision to locate here.”

Spade announced its Canadian expansion at EMILI’s 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.

aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca