Toronto-based Profound Impact recently announced the successful close of $3.125 million pre-seed funding round, surpassing its second tranche target for its AI-powered platform that helps academic and industry researchers find and access grants. Female investors accounted for nearly all of Profound Impact’s second tranche, including many first-time angel investors.

This second tranche of financing will enable Profound Impact to expand into the United States.

Founded in 2018, Profound Impact offers Research Impact, an AI-powered platform helps academic and industry researchers find the funding match. With over $300 billion in research funding opportunities, 100,000 industry partners and 8.8 million researchers globally, finding the optimal grant for academic and industry innovators is often overwhelming and unnecessarily time-consuming.  

Profound Impact said Research Impact is more than just a search engine. The platform offers automatic, targeted and timely matching. Profound Impact’s customers include top North American research institutions, universities and industry partners.  

CEO and Founder Sherry Shannon-Vanstone is a serial technology entrepreneur with an unparalleled track record. She has had five successful start-ups and exits in Silicon Valley and Canada, including two IPOs and two acquisitions.