Several tech news stories in Montreal made headlines over the past few days, including Intelia, a Joliette-based livestock farming startup that raised a “massive” funding round. Meanwhile, the Fonds de solidarité FTQ contributed $15 million to the new Genesys Ventures III fund.

PEhub’s Kirk Falconer reported the news.

“It’s a great day for Intelia”

Joliette-based Intelia raised a “massive” round of funding from several notable investors including Avrio Capital, members of Anges Quebec and Desjardins-Innovatech.

The company designs “cutting-edge tech solutions” for the livestock farming agriculture industry. Intelia focuses on poultry, hog, and dairy farming. The company provides comprehensive solutions in environmental control, production data capture and management, and decision-making.

“It’s a great day for Intelia,” said Intelia CEO Dominic Désy, who added that the company will use the funds to target the market of agricultural data analytics. “Thanks to this injection of funds and our excellent contacts, the doors to the international markets are open for us.”

Aki Georgacacos, Avrio Capital’s managing director, commented that livestock digitization is the “new frontier” in precision agriculture. “No one is better positioned to take advantage of it than Intelia,” he said.

Fonds de solidarité FTQ injects $15 million into Genesys Ventures III

The Fond de solidarité FTQ joined the Genesys Ventures III party this past week when it contributed $15 million to the newsworthy fund.

The Toronto-based Genesys announced last week it raised $90 million in an initial close of Fund III. The fund will reportedly try to raise $125 million in total. The Fonds FTQ was one of 14 limited partners that participated in the initial close.

Genesys’s new fund will contribute cash to high-growth companies in healthcare and biotechnology. The firm is one of the largest Canadian-based venture capital firms exclusively focused on the life sciences industry.

The Fonds FTQ said it contributed to the fun “in order to attract more investment to Québec’s life sciences sector.” The Fonds de solidarité FTQ is a development capital fund that channels the savings of Quebecers into investments. The organization has roughly $11.7 billion in net assets.

“Our goal is to strengthen Québec’s foothold in the global life sciences network and consolidate jobs in this sector,” said Alain Denis of the Fonds de solidarité FTQ. “This investment will also have spinoffs in the rest of Canada, which besides Québec, has other concentrations of expertise in this sector.”

“Genesys will back companies capable of advancing technologies and products that address unmet medical needs,” added Didier Leconte of the Fonds de solidarité FTQ.