Matidor, a platform that consultants and engineers use to collaborate and keep track of projects and geospatial data, has raised USD $1.85 million, the company tells Vancouver Tech Journal.

Whose cheque books? Lead investors in the round include New York’s Space Capital, Houston’s Cathexis Ventures and Boston’s Equal Opportunity Ventures.

How’d it happen: After participating in Y Combinator’s Summer 2021 accelerator batch of startups, Matidor set a target to raise USD $1.5 million. They achieved this in two weeks and then decided to up the amount before capping it at $1.85 million in October. That total includes a $125,000 investment from Y Combinator.

• “It’s not an enormous round compared to other rounds coming out of YC,” said co-founder and CEO Vincent Lam. “But we purposely kept it lower to hit our milestones and [we’re] looking at a Series A by end of the year.”

READ MORE: Inside story: How Vancouver startup Matidor got into Y Combinator

Background: Matidor, which primarily works with the oil & gas and environmental services industries, was founded in 2019 by Lam and co-founder Sean Huang. 2021 was a banner year for the startup, which saw it win or become runners up in multiple startup competitions including TechCrunch Startup Battlefield (second place) and SXSW Pitch (finalist). 

• Late last year, Lam also settled a two-year court battle with his former employer related to copyright infringement. On the conclusion of that chapter, Lam stated: “I am glad that we are able to put the civil dispute with my former company behind us, so that Matidor can focus onwards with a stronger than ever outlook.”

Recent success markers: Since last August, Matidor has doubled its team from 10 to 20 employees and started five enterprise pilot projects, including one with global engineering consultancy Arup. It also signed a partnership with Esri, an international supplier of geographic information system software.

What the investors are saying:

• “We partnered with Matidor because we believe in the team's ability to both grow a commercially successful business and have measurable impact,” said Roland Fryer, founder of EO Ventures.

• Chad Anderson of Space Capital commented: “Unlike conventional [geographic information systems] applications that are mostly used in information management and data analysis, Matidor has demonstrated a new, elegant way that GIS can be applied to transform team collaboration, simplify cost management, and significantly improve operating margins.”

• “We backed Matidor because they have demonstrated an ability to build great software quickly and efficiently,” shared Mark Friday of Cathexis Ventures. “We believe Matidor can do for businesses what Google Maps did for consumers: change the way they navigate the world.”

What else: The startup recently launched Matidor Noa, a new version of its product that lets users capture data more efficiently with new features like smart commenting, budget tracking and project grouping.

What’s next: The business has multiple high-profile pilot projects running, so Lam says they’ll be investing the new money into product and sales activities in order to convert the pilots into full paying customers. Matidor’s annual plans start at $30,000 per year and are tiered based on the number of projects and features customers require. Lam also said the startup plans to boost its U.S. footprint, specifically in Texas.