Earlier this year, Techcouver reported on former federal defence minister Harjit Sajjan and technology entrepreneur Hunter Scharfe launching Juno Industries, a Vancouver-based defence technology company focused on developing autonomous systems for Canada and allies.
The company, which positions itself at the intersection of national security, sovereignty, and emerging defence technologies, closed a $3 million seed financing round in 2025 from a slew of investors that included Geordie Rose, founder of D-Wave and Sanctuary AI, who is serving as a senior advisor to the company.
Now Juno Industries has secured another $12 million in an oversubscribed round from unnamed institutional and angel investors.
The financing will support expansion of the B.C. firm’s workforce, research and development, and deployment of solutions, according to chief executive officer Scharfe.
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“This round, supported by an engaged and mission-aligned group of Canadian investors, accelerates our ability to build the technology and teams required to establish Canada as a serious, sovereign defence power,” he stated.
“We are pleased to partner with this group of investors and we are proud to broaden our work with the Armed Forces as we work to build Canada’s modern defence prime,” commented the CEO.
Scharfe believes that “Canada and our NATO allies are at a turning point in national defence.”
Canada has committed $80 billion over the next five years to modernize its defence capabilities, he notes.
Juno Industries “exists to be a leader of that transformation,” Scharfe says.
Last month, the company announced development of its Arctic-ready autonomous platform Polar Nexus, designed to fortify and modernize communications and enhance sensing and intelligence capabilities across defence and commercial markets with an initial focus on the Canadian North.
Built on Juno’s existing Nexus Platform, which has already seen international commercial deployments, Polar Nexus will be adapted specifically for Arctic conditions.
The platform—a collaboration with Critical Infrastructure Technologies—is expected to support long-range communications and persistent sensor integration, delivering capabilities such as real-time imaging, optical surveillance, geological reconnaissance, and emergency response coverage, offering improved range, accuracy, and payload capacity versus existing solutions.
Beyond military use, the dual-use nature of the technology opens the door to broader applications, including environmental monitoring and infrastructure support in remote regions.
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