Upchain Secures $7.4 Million Series A and Plans to Add 60 New Staff

Upchain has raised a $7.4 million Series A funding round.

The new capital round was led by the OpenText Enterprise App Fund (OTEAF) and BDC Ventures. These two venture funds have seen a lot of success in Canada as the OTEAF has invested in the likes of Rubikloud and Sensibill while BDC Ventures has invested in a huge range of companies including Wattpad and League.

“It’s not only an enormous step for the company, but it’s an enormously humbling experience for me,” wrote Upchain founder and CEO John Laslavic in a blog post. “When I started Upchain in 2015, I had no idea how far the journey would take me, and I never dreamed of counting giants like OTEAF and BDC as partners. Their deep experience in reforging enterprise industries and markets with best-in-class technical solutions makes them the ideal partners for us as we grow.”

Upchain was founded three years ago with the goal of changing what product lifecycle management meant for users across a supply chain. The company wants to create an interconnected chain from the first nut to the final bolt. Their solutions cover several different industries, from traditional manufacturing to medical devices and high-tech consumer electronics

This also means Upchain can serve small businesses as well as huge enterprises, integrating with CAD software clients already know and use. In addition, regulatory compliance comes as a standard so files are kept safe and secure while also promoting transparency.

In the blog post, Laslavic outlined how the new funding will help the Toronto-based Upchain grow and expand. The new capital will go towards three key areas: fuelling rapid product development; driving even better customer experiences, and growing the go-to-market team, which is made up of sales, marketing and customer success/support.

A big part of this expansion will be in adding new employees. Upchain has plans to hire over 60 new staff before the end of 2018, expanding both their Toronto presence as well as their Croatian team. Right now the openings are largely in engineering with a few in the sales department.

“Our success starts and ends with our incredibly talented team,” writes Laslavic. “Our philosophy is empowering collaboration, and we live and breathe that every single day. I’m fortunate to be surrounded by people striving not just to grow individually, but to collectively build something amazing.”

Upchain also works out of the newly opened WeWork office in Toronto.