In September this year Arolytics Ltd – a provider of methane software and data analytics solutions for the oil and gas sector – became the inaugural investment in BDC Capital’s new $150M Sustainability Venture Fund.
The fund itself is dedicated to investing in businesses which develop technologies which will support businesses both in Canada and further afield in meeting sustainability and climate targets.
While additional investors include Yaletown Partners, StartupTNT, and a Houston-based strategic investor, it was co-founder Liz O’Connell’s work with Metiquity Ventures which she credits to the company’s exciting next chapter.
Liz met her two fellow co-founders during an academic emissions research group, during a time in which there were little-to-no strong widespread regulations around emissions management for the oil and gas sector. However, with a prompt wave of new regulations came an opportunity for Liz and her co-founders to create digital solutions to support and automate all these new processes.
“When we work with different oil and gas clients, we really understand your pain points and corporate objectives” Liz said on the topic, citing an ambition to get clients on the path to “exceeding their north star efficiently and effectively”.
However, Arolytics Ltd’s startup journey took an eventful turn two years ago when Liz and her fellow co-founders decided to start working with Metiquity Ventures in a bid to better position their company as a celebrated solution for oil and gas companies across Alberta and further afield.
“Over those two years,” Liz remarked, “Metiquity has been there through all of these crazy ups and downs, and all these things that get thrown at us as a result of running a startup.” These issues include a new range of data challenges at the hand of an evolving emissions measurement infrastructure, many of which pertain to the (very significant) monitoring, measuring and quantifying of emissions data across hundreds and thousands of individual facilities across dozens of different states and provinces and countries.
On the topic, Liz elaborated: “There’s always that ear to run something by – that second piece of advice. Jacques and Brian are extremely responsive and they always bring a unique perspective to the table, which we really benefit from.
“Leading up to our seed round that we kicked off earlier this year. Bryan Slauko had really great opinions on what type of investor we should pursue, and that they were really kind of a partner with us as we went to raise that money.”
As Liz and the gang continue to embark on their next chapter with Arolytics Ltd, Metiquity Ventures’ Bryan Slauko will continue to sit on the software development company’s board of directors.