The round includes conversion of its $17.7M seed note and $57.5M in new capital co-led by Brightspark Ventures and Whitecap Venture Partners, with major participation from Investissement Québec ($25M), as a mandate of the government of Quebec, OMERS Ventures, and Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC)’s Climate Tech Fund.
The fresh capital will be used to begin planning and construction of its first commercial facility; grow the team; build corresponding carbon removal software for selling carbon credits; and fund its Alpha research facility, the world’s first carbon removal research center.
Alongside the capital raise, Deep Sky has added two prominent independent board members, Annesley Wallace and Sam Duboc. Annesley Wallace is an Executive Vice President (EVP) at TC Energy, where she oversees the organization’s power generation and unregulated natural gas storage businesses, as well as corporate strategy, corporate development and capital allocation.
Previously, Annesley served as EVP and Global Head of Infrastructure at OMERS, overseeing a global team and portfolio of approximately C$34 billion in assets across sectors including energy, digital, transportation and government-regulated services. Before that, Annesley was Vice President, Operations at SNC-Lavalin, focused on its energy and infrastructure business.
Sam Duboc is President and CEO of Elkland Capital Inc., a family-owned investment firm with a portfolio covering health services, clean energy, marketing services and technology. Mr. Duboc is a former Chair & CEO of MindBeacon, a group of behavioral health companies. And as a co-founder and CEO, Sam successfully built EdgeStone Capital Partners, one of Canada’s leading private equity firms which has managed in excess of $2 billion.
Previously, he was a managing director at CIBC Capital Partners and co-founder of the Loyalty Group Inc. (now called LoyaltyOne), the parent company of the AIR MILES Reward Program. Mr. Duboc has also served on the boards of numerous companies including as chair of Business Development Bank of Canada (Chair, 2014-2018), Porter Aviation Holdings Inc. and Stephenson’s Rental Services Inc., MindBeacon Holdings Inc. (TSX: MBCN, Chair, 2016-2022) and Avante Logixx Inc. (TSXV: XX, Chair, 2019-2022).
“Never before have I seen an industry in its infancy with so many tailwinds, capital infusions, and Fortune 500 and government buy-in,” said Damien Steel, Deep Sky CEO. “Our capital raise is about advancing the multi-trillion-dollar carbon removal industry and providing a platform everyone can benefit from. We’re committed to making Canada the carbon removal capital of the world and offering the highest quality carbon emission offsets.”
Deep Sky is the world’s first carbon removal project developer deploying the best carbon capture technology from around the world under one roof. Tech agnostic, Deep Sky brings together the most promising direct air and ocean capture technologies from around the world. Powered by renewable energy, Deep Sky’s facilities are strategically located in Quebec, a region with an abundance of hydroelectric power, immense wind power potential and a vast territory with the rich geological makeup required for carbon capture.