Canada's Tengiva raises $4.95 million in seed funding

The funds raised include $1.7 million in commercialisation funding from the Investissement Québec Innovation Programme and a $100,000 grant from the Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) Seed Funding programme. Textile production is a trillion-dollar industry, and still mostly managed offline without much modern digitisation – until now. Tengiva was created to solve some of the biggest industry challenges, which for emerging clothing designers is the ability to source materials quickly, cost effectively, and sustainably, the company said in a press release.

By modernising the complex and outdated months-long sourcing and distribution process used in the textile industry, Tengiva is making it easier for clothing brands to seamlessly source the textiles needed directly from manufacturers in the quantities they need, while enabling sellers to build their online presence, easily showcase their materials to develop new business relationships, and reach new markets.

Today, millions of dollars of inventory are available through the Tengiva platform, including more than 300 different materials that are available to brands in 30 countries worldwide. Tengiva will use the funds to commercialise its platform, build a state-of-the-art warehouse, and execute on its global expansion strategy.

By centralising and providing structured access to data for textiles manufacturers and apparel brands, Tengiva aims to optimise resource usage, increase transparency across the entire supply chain, and promote better practices – such as CO2 emissions calculations, material combination recyclability, and recommendations around production processes that lower the environmental impact and reduce chemical usage. This approach to driving sustainability in the textiles industry led to Tengiva attracting interest from Fonds Ecofuel, a leading clean tech fund based in Montreal, and Active Impact Investments, which is Canada’s largest climate tech seed fund.

“The textiles industry is one of the oldest in the world, with the manufacture and trade of fabrics dating back thousands of years. While consumers today can easily purchase fashion products online from any clothing brand worldwide, the supply chain that enables the flow of textiles from mill to fabric manufacturer to apparel brand has not kept pace. Our platform is changing this by modernising the global distribution and trade of textiles, ensuring the critical steps that take place behind the scenes of every piece of clothing manufactured and sold, is as automated and streamlined as possible,” Annie Cyr, CEO and co-founder of Tengiva, said in a press release.

“With 7.2 per cent of global climate impact caused by textile production alone, Tengiva platform is the key to better act on significant gaps in the supply chain. Leveraging their expertise, they have created a purpose-built platform for the industry that not only solves some of the sustainability challenges faced by the sector but has also attracted early interest from the world’s most notable textile mills and apparel brands,” Johanne Sevigny, managing partner at Fonds Ecofuel, said.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (GK)