HALIFAX, Nova Scotia—Coloursmith Labs, a Halifax-based startup, announced that it has raised over $600,000 in pre-seed funding to advance the development of its optical filter platform. According to Gabrielle Masone, CEO of Coloursmith Labs, both private and institutional investors participated in this private placement financing, including Brigus Capital Inc., Island Capital Partners LP and Killick Venture Fund LP. In conjunction with the financing, Brigus Capital’s president, Wade Dawe, will join Coloursmith’s board of directors, along with Rhiannon Davies, former vice president and board member of GrandVision N.V (Euronext: GVNV).

Coloursmith said its platform technology enables the development of clinically beneficial filters for contact lenses. The company’s early-stage product pipeline includes an optical filter to enhance color vision for the color blind and an optical filter to protect eyes from harmful blue light.

Coloursmith has also previously secured $200,000 from pitch competitions and startup programs. Masone won the Volta Cohort Competition, Innovacorp’s Spark Innovation Challenge and the Atlantic Venture Forum, Life Sciences. She was also a finalist at Communitech’s Fierce Founders Competition and BioNova’s BioInnovation Challenge. Coloursmith is part of the Emera ideaHUB incubator at Dalhousie University.