Xiplinx Technologies, a New Brunswick company that helps manufacturers monitor compliance activities in their production lines, has drawn about $500,000 of funding, and could double that amount by early May.

All in, the company that graduated from the Launch36 accelerator’s first cohort last June is hoping to book about $1 million in equity and non-dilutive funding in its first round, said CEO Brent MacDonald in an interview.

Xiplinx (pronounced Zip-links) allows manufacturers to use hand-held devices to record and analyze in real time what is happening on the factory floor to improve such compliance activities as inspections.

Such companies have a major problem: their plant managers monitor operations with paper-based data, which is cumbersome, lacks meaningful analytics and is not cost-effective.

Xiplinx’s cost-effective technology allows workers on the factory floor to input information using mobile devices, then tabulates and analyzes the information to make sure everything is operating as it should. Then it shares the data throughout the organization, optimizing plant operations.

MacDonald said the company initially hoped to raise about $500,000 and has achieved that goal. The New Brunswick Innovation Foundation has committed $100,000, and various angels in Atlantic Canada are good for about $250,000. The company has also brought in about $150,000 from such programs as the National Research Council’s Industrial Research Assistance Program, which do not dilute the interests of equity investors.

 “We’ve done it, but we had other investors come to us and say they were interested, which gave us a pretty good shot at a million (dollars),” said MacDonald, who first announced the $500,000 target last June. “So we’re keeping the round open until the end of April, possibly until early May.”

He added that almost all the angels are from Atlantic Canada, though there may be an American backer.

MacDonald said that one thing that excited investors was the news the company attracted Joel Vautour, who had been an early employee at Q1 Labs of Fredericton. Vautour joined the company in November as COO and invested in the enterprise, which now has five employees.

Xiplinx has continued to develop the product by increasing its flexibility so it can be used by a range of industries. Its early adopters have mainly been food and beverage manufacturers but MacDonald said the company hopes to roll it out to other segments.

The company is completing beta tests with five early adopters and is in talks with each early adopter about proceeding on to pilot projects. It is also in talks with four major and three medium-sized manufacturers about doing trials.

 “Now it’s a matter of turning the corner with them to go from beta testing and going to full pilot,” said MacDonald. He added the company is proceeding prudently to make sure everything goes smoothly with each client.