Rozvelt raises $2.19M seed as defence buyers eye its hunting mask
What's the deal? Montréal startup RozveltDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has raised US$2.27M (roughly $2.19 million) in seed funding led by Benoit RobertDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a partner at wealth management firm EvovestDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, alongside other angel investors. The company, which makes a breath-filtering mask for recreational hunters, plans to use the money to expand into the military, law enforcement, and first-responder markets.
What's the endgame? Rozvelt's consumer headgear, Vektr, filters odour particles that the wearer exhales, letting hunters conceal their scent. Prompted by interest at the US SHOT Show in Las Vegas, the company now wants to make the mask dynamic — switching between filtering exhales and inhales — so it can protect wearers from hazards like airborne lead from ammunition.
Why now? Co-founder and chief executive officer Nicholas Monette said defence demand came first and drew the company to major industry shows in Poland, Luxembourg, and Japan. The round also lands as Prime Minister Mark Carney's government commits tens of billions to defence and expands support for dual-use companies.
Monette said Rozvelt's position as a Canadian startup with civilian and military applications has made it attractive to investors in Europe and Asia. One example is a planned distribution agreement with Japan's Seaprex, an industrial marine manufacturer. "Everywhere we go, we see strong interest in Canadian defence innovation," he said.
What could go wrong? The defence interest remains an opportunity, not a contract. A helmet-mounted respiratory platform for combat exposures is a far more demanding proposition than masking odour for hunters, and testing, certification, and procurement will decide whether the pivot works. Rozvelt says it wants to sell to the Canadian Armed Forces as soon as possible and is open to US deals.
The company also plans to start producing the consumer Vektr in Canada this fall. It launched last year during the Canada-US trade war, which Monette called possibly the "worst time" to raise money for a hardware company.
The signal: By seed-round standards, the raise is modest — it ranks in roughly the 34th percentile by amount. The more telling detail is the pull from defence buyers, pointing to a possible pivot from niche outdoor gear into a much larger dual-use market long before any military deployment is proven.
Read more: betakit.com
Image credit: Rozvelt
