In a challenging funding environment, Halifax-based RFINE Biomass Solutions has closed an over-subscribed equity funding round worth $1.7 million.

Creative Destruction Lab Atlantic posted on social media that RFINE – which upcycles spent coffee grounds into nutritious food ingredients – closed the round recently, having originally set out to raise $1.5 million. RFINE graduated from the CDL program in 2024.

“This milestone strengthens RFINE’s position to accelerate commercialization and scale its innovations in sustainable food technology,” said the post from CDL Atlantic. “With the raise complete, the team is now advancing toward new growth opportunities and further non-dilutive funding.”

Founded in 2022 by Quinn Cavanagh and Gordon Neal, RFINE works with coffee shops and other java vendors to retain and reuse their spent coffee grounds, which traditionally would be tossed away. Countless tons of these coffee grounds are thrown out each day around the world.

The RFINE system processes and stabilizes the spent coffee grounds, making sustainable ingredients that have ample shelf-life and can be used in food for humans or animals, the company says.

RFINE was able to close this funding round in a difficult environment, as several funding organizations are reporting that venture capital funding in general has dropped recently, and early-stage financing is especially scarce. The Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association’s most recent report showed that annual pre-seed and seed funding for Canada in the past four years averaged $133 million and $813 million respectively. However, in the first half of 2025, pre-seed funding amounted to $39 million while seed rounds totaled $258 million. Funding in these brackets would have to increase dramatically in the second half to reach the average of the previous four years. 

At Entrevestor, we’ve noticed that young companies are finding it especially hard to raise funds. In calendar 2024, we found that Atlantic Canadian startups launched in 2022-24 raised a mere $6.1 million in equity funding, or 4 percent of the private capital raised by all startups in the region. The recent RFINE raise is an example of one company bucking this trend.

One final thought on this raise: it continues the trend of Nova Scotian companies outside of the IT sector successfully courting investors. According to the CVCA, Nova Scotia is the only province in Canada in which IT is not the most active startup sector in terms of fundraising. The major rounds announced this year have mainly been in life sciences – Mara Renewable landing $9.1 million in funding and Sound Blade Medical raising US$16.5 million. RFINE’s $1.7 million round is another example of a non-digital company finding success with investors.