Montreal-based artificial intelligence provider Stradigi AI has closed a $53 million CAD in Series A funding round led by Fonds de solidarité FTQ and Investissement Québec.

“We are committed to investing in Quebec’s thriving AI ecosystem.” – Guy LeBlanc, Investissement Québec

In addition to Fonds and Investissement Québec’s collective investment of $26.4 million CAD, financing also came from Holdun Family Office, Segovia Capital, marketing and communications agency Cossette, and Stradigi AI’s co-founders Basil Bouraropoulos and Curtis Gavura. US-rapper wil.i.am has also invested in Stradigi AI, joining the company in May as an AI advisor.  

Stadigi AI said this funding will help the company expand into the North American market and support the development of its AI platform, Kepler. Bouraropoulos, who is also the CEO, noted Stradigi AI’s goal is to become one of the top three leading AI platforms in North America.

The company’s platform combines software engineering with algorithms to address the needs of the industry by expanding its scope to serve business analysts and data scientists.

According to Stradigi AI, the capital will also be used to strengthen it’s go-to-market strategies with a focus on the US. The company is also looking to hire for 50 new positions in research, software, sales and marketing, to be filled mostly in Quebec over the next year.

“Investissement Québec is proud to support Stradigi AI’s success and the development of their platform Kepler that can help businesses to cross the chasm from research to production of AI for some time,” said Investissement Québec CEO Guy LeBlanc. “We are committed to investing in Quebec’s thriving AI ecosystem, which is why we feel it is so important to help home-grown success stories like Stradigi AI to expand both here and beyond our borders.”

The $53 million Series A marks the majority of Stradigi AI’s funding to date, and comes amid a number of other Quebec-based AI companies raising significant rounds. Last week, Québec City-based AI company Coveo raised a $227 million CAD round, which followed Montreal-based Element AI’s $200 million Series B, announced earlier this year.