Fifteen months after exiting his first Halifax-based company, Zach Laberge has closed a US$10.5 million (C$14.7 million) seed funding round for his new startup Omen, which uses AI in the maintenance of heavy machinery.

The surprising thing about this raise is not just that Laberge, the founder and CEO of Omen, just turned 20 this month. It’s that he closed the round in only four days.

Now based in San Francisco, Laberge launched Omen to install specially designed sensors in heavy machinery and use artificial intelligence to tell whether the machines are about to encounter problems If so, the machines themselves can take action to ensure there’s no downtime.

For example, if a component is wearing out, Omen will not only notify the human operator; it will also order the part itself.

“Last summer, I was thinking there is automation for machines that can drive them, but wouldn’t it be great if machines could think for themselves, order their own parts, tell you when they’re about to break down?” said Laberge in an interview in Omen’s new office.

Says the company’s messaging: “This isn't just better maintenance; it's a fundamental shift in how industrial equipment operates . . . Every machine is different. Every failure is preventable.”

Laberge started his first company Frenter in Halifax in 2020, while he was still a high school student. He soon attracted investors and non-dilutive financing. After a pivot, the company developed technology that let heavy equipment operators and rental companies track and manage their fleets in real time with the help of GPS and telematics data, remotely monitoring the security and general utilization of heavy equipment.

In early 2024, Laberge moved to the Bay Area, and as he went through the process of selling Frenter he began to work on the new company, talking to both investors and prospective clients. They liked the idea. Not only did he gain customers right out of the door, but he was able to raise a US$3.2 million pre-seed round “immediately.” He said one of the investors presented him with a term sheet and others came in within a couple of days. 

It was a similar story with the seed round in the past month, he said. San Francisco-based venture capital firm CRV led the round, which was joined by about 10 other VCs as well as angel investors from the C-suites of General Motors and Bridgestone.

There were several reasons for Omen’s ability to raise so much money so fast. Laberge and his five team members have shown an ability to move quickly. (They had their first product out within a month of conception.) He established good relationships with funders – both those who backed him previously and others in his network. And the company had early traction.

But he can’t ignore the fact that it’s easier for good companies to raise capital in the Bay Area than in most other markets in the world.

“I love Nova Scotia for getting started,” he said, adding that he would have been lost among all the other entrepreneurs if he had started out in a place like Toronto. “But I think in Canada – and I would include Nova Scotia – the fundraising environment is terrible.”

Now he has a few years of runway, Laberge said Omen is focusing on growing the business and increasing revenues. The company has six customers so far, none of which have annual revenues of less than US$2 billion. Its market now comprises general contractors, rental companies, manufacturers, and military operators, and it has customers as far afield as Japan, he said.

Recently, Omen moved into new, airy headquarters south of Market Street in San Francisco, and just refurbished an R&D lab a few doors down. The small team includes an engineer who is leading the development of the next generation of sensors. The company’s assets include a new pickup truck that serves as a mobile office and workshop when servicing customers in California.

While Omen’s growth plans include aggressive selling, Laberge has no immediate plans to increase the size of the team. He noted that talent is more expensive in San Francisco than in Canada, and you have to hire good people who work efficiently.