A company founded by a Waterloo Engineering alumnus was recently awarded $3.5 million in startup funding through a federal agency that invests in new clean technologies.
Pulse Industrial, a $25,000 winner in 2018 at the Velocity Fund Finals pitch competition at the University of Waterloo, was one of 16 companies across the country to receive investments from Sustainable Development Technology Canada.
Thomas Uhlenbruck is the founder of Pulse Industrial.
Based in Waterloo, Pulse was founded by Thomas Uhlenbruck (BASc ’18, environmental engineering) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve safety in industrial plants using Internet of Things and artificial intelligence technologies.
Uhlenbruck also belonged to a five-member team that won $10,000 at the Norman Esch Entrepreneurship Awards for Capstone Design contest in 2018 after pitching the concept under the prior name Qalm.
“Ground-breaking Canadian companies will be global leaders in climate and waste reduction technologies and will help create a more sustainable future for all Canadians,” François-Philippe Champagne, the minister of innovation, science and industry, said in a media release.
Monitoring steam traps
Pulse makes wireless smart monitors for common industrial equipment. Its first product remotely monitors steam traps, which frequently fail and are one of the main causes of inefficiencies in factories.
It plans to use the new financial backing to improve its data processing system to provide better analysis for steam trap leaks and prevent costly downtime on manufacturing and other industrial floors.
Pulse previously raised $2.4 million from the GreenSky Accelerator Fund III Momenta Partners, SOSV, Celtic House Asian Partners, and First Inflection.