The net proceeds of the angel round will be used by SEI to file its patents, begin pilot projects with the current prototype of its smart grid monitoring device, hire a number of key employees and further solidify relationships with its multi-national industry partners in North America and Asia and a leading US national lab. SEI technology can monitor power flows through electrical networks, giving grid operators the means to monitor and manage their core energy assets and better predict and avoid network failures.

SEI was one of the most recent participants in an ongoing series of MaRS Cleantech angel events.  "This was an effort to bring serious angel investors together with some of the great early-stage cleantech companies we work with at MaRS," says Tom Rand, MaRS' Lead Cleantech Advisor.  "Seed funding is a key component in a company's life-cycle toward commercialization and one of the harder pieces of the puzzle for entrepreneurs.  The MaRS Cleantech angel event is meant to get those companies over that hurdle.  To investors, the value is to bring forward qualified, high-value investment opportunities with strong growth potential," says Rand.

"Raising capital for early-stage technology companies is always a challenge, as technical risk is a big hurdle for investors," says Geoff Simonett of GreenSky Capital, a boutique corporate finance advisory firm based in Toronto and one of the investors in SEI.  "MaRS brought real value to SEI by first assisting the company in crafting a message that was properly targeted at early-stage investors and then by providing a forum to put that message in front of them.  SEI is very happy to see MaRS stepping up to play this much-needed role."

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