Portable wind turbine maker Aurea lands WEL Manitoba backing
What's the deal? Women's Equity Lab (WEL) ManitobaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has invested in Aurea TechnologiesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a Dartmouth company that makes portable wind turbines for charging electronic devices. Neither party disclosed the size of the early-stage investment, announced in October 2026.
What's the endgame? Founded in 2017 by chief executive officer Cat Adalay and chief revenue officer Rachel Carr, Aurea makes the Shine turbine — a three-pound device that folds to roughly the size of a water bottle. It uses wind power to charge phones, tablets, lights, and portable power stations.
Why now? Aurea holds patents in Canada, the US, and the UK, and has signed agreements with major retailers in both Canada and the US, with product distribution forthcoming. The company had previously received backing from WEL AtlanticDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
WEL Manitoba made the investment through its third fund, which closed in May with $310,000 in commitments from 62 limited partners — the largest investor group in the national network's funds to date. Most are participating in angel investing for the first time.
Who's backing it? Katie Hall Hursh, managing partner of WEL Manitoba, brought Aurea to the fund's investment committee after seeing Adalay pitch at an angel investing summit earlier this year. The deal followed due diligence led by Johanna Chipman, including a summer visit to Aurea's Nova Scotia facilities.
"WEL Manitoba is backing a founder we believe in, a product that works, and a trajectory we can see," Hall Hursh said. She described Adalay as "an exceptional business operator, with one successful exit before Aurea under her belt."
Women's Equity Lab, a national network of women angel investors, said its members have deployed more than $7 million across 97 investments in 75 companies since 2017. About 72% of those companies are women-led, and its active portfolio carries a combined reported valuation of roughly $780 million.
The signal: Women-led businesses continue to struggle to access capital — female founders receive less than 4% of venture capital in Canada, according to figures cited in the WEL announcement. Networks like Women's Equity Lab aim to narrow that gap, with most of its newest fund's backers putting money into startups for the first time.
Read more: entrevestor.com
Image credit: *_*
