# Charles Haythornthwaite

> Charles Haythornthwaite is a seed investor at Chrysalix Venture Capital backing Mining. See 15 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [Chrysalix Venture Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/chrysalix-energy)
- Total investments: 15
- Last investment: Dec 2022
- Lead investor: 47%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-haythornthwaite-a4b9b

Charles Haythornthwaite is a seed investor at Chrysalix Venture Capital focused on Mining and Manufacturing. Charlie joined Chrysalix EVC in 2008 and has a strong technology, sales and marketing background.Previously, he helped found Soliant Energy, a Californian solar energy startup. As VP of Product Management, he was responsible for product strategy and customer development. The company develops PV modules with the leading rooftop energy densityfor commercial buildings and Charlie successfully won Soliant a $5M award from the US Department of Energy’s Solar America Initiative.Before moving to North America, Charlie lived in Britain where he held several business development and marketing positions in fast growing technology companies. At Biral, he built strategic partnerships with key customers and led the product marketing for the company’s new optical sensor technology for homeland defense. He was also the UK representative on a NATO technical committee for long-range optical detection of chemical and biological warfare agents.Charlie has a PhD in laser physics and material science from the University of Southampton in the UK. He also has an MBA from Berkeley where he was a Haas Venture Capital Fellow and a Sainsbury Management Fellow, a highly competitive scholarship from the UK Royal Academy of Engineering.

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Mining | 2 | 13% |
| Manufacturing | 2 | 13% |
| Mining Technology | 2 | 13% |
| Energy | 1 | 7% |
| Battery | 1 | 7% |

13 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Seed | 3 | 20% |
| Series A | 3 | 20% |
| Series B | 2 | 13% |
| Series D | 2 | 13% |
| Series C | 1 | 7% |

8 stages tracked in total.

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Canada | 2 | 13% |
| United States | 1 | 7% |
| United Kingdom | 1 | 7% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| MineSense Technologies | MineSense Technologies is a developer of a data analytics platform intended to monitor and improve the productivity and recovery of mines. The company's platform provides businesses with real-time, sensor-based sorting of low-grade ore to a level of sensitivity and to identify differences in mineralogy, enabling the mining industry to sortores easily and enhance mineral planning.MineSense Technologies was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. | $42M | Series E | Dec 07, 2022 |  |
| Luffy AI | Luffy AI uses Adaptive Intelligence to evolve robotic control systems. |  | Seed | Jul 18, 2022 |  |
| Q5D Technology | Q5D manufactures tools to automate the production of wiring harness for all industrial sectors. | $2.7M | Seed | Feb 02, 2022 |  |
| Novamera | Novamera is a venture backed start-up that is developing an innovative technology/process, called Sustainable Mining by Drilling, to recover ore from steeply dipping, narrow vein deposits that are considered uneconomic when applying traditional extraction methods. | $5M | Series A | Jul 27, 2021 |  |
| Novamera | Novamera is a venture backed start-up that is developing an innovative technology/process, called Sustainable Mining by Drilling, to recover ore from steeply dipping, narrow vein deposits that are considered uneconomic when applying traditional extraction methods. |  |  | Apr 28, 2020 |  |
| Novamera | Novamera is a venture backed start-up that is developing an innovative technology/process, called Sustainable Mining by Drilling, to recover ore from steeply dipping, narrow vein deposits that are considered uneconomic when applying traditional extraction methods. |  | Seed | Apr 28, 2020 |  |
| MineSense Technologies | MineSense Technologies is a developer of a data analytics platform intended to monitor and improve the productivity and recovery of mines. The company's platform provides businesses with real-time, sensor-based sorting of low-grade ore to a level of sensitivity and to identify differences in mineralogy, enabling the mining industry to sortores easily and enhance mineral planning.MineSense Technologies was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. | $16.3M | Series D | Aug 08, 2018 |  |
| MineSense Technologies | MineSense Technologies is a developer of a data analytics platform intended to monitor and improve the productivity and recovery of mines. The company's platform provides businesses with real-time, sensor-based sorting of low-grade ore to a level of sensitivity and to identify differences in mineralogy, enabling the mining industry to sortores easily and enhance mineral planning.MineSense Technologies was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. | $19M | Series C | Feb 23, 2017 |  |
| MineSense Technologies | MineSense Technologies is a developer of a data analytics platform intended to monitor and improve the productivity and recovery of mines. The company's platform provides businesses with real-time, sensor-based sorting of low-grade ore to a level of sensitivity and to identify differences in mineralogy, enabling the mining industry to sortores easily and enhance mineral planning.MineSense Technologies was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. | $12M | Series B | Oct 01, 2016 |  |
| MineSense Technologies | MineSense Technologies is a developer of a data analytics platform intended to monitor and improve the productivity and recovery of mines. The company's platform provides businesses with real-time, sensor-based sorting of low-grade ore to a level of sensitivity and to identify differences in mineralogy, enabling the mining industry to sortores easily and enhance mineral planning.MineSense Technologies was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. | $2.2M | Convertible Note | Feb 04, 2016 |  |

10 of 15 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Cycle Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/cycle-capital) — VC Fund, 5 deals together
- [Prelude Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/prelude-ventures-llc) — VC Fund, 5 deals together
- [Aurus](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/aurus) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [Export Development Canada](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/export-development-canada) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [DBL Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/dbl-investors) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [I2BF Global Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/i2bf-global-ventures) — VC Fund, 2 deals together

## About Chrysalix Venture Capital

VC Fund · Vancouver, Canada

Chrysalix is an early-stage industrial innovation venture capital firm that connects market-driven problems to breakthrough solutions.It invests in and supports compelling technologies and entrepreneurial management teams that address the changing demands of the global industry and actively work with their clients and support them with deepindustry and technical knowledge, management and board assistance, organized networking with industrial and financial partners, management of intellectual property, and direct access to capital.In 2001, Wal van Lierop established the firm in Vancouver, British Columbia.

5 contacts available at Chrysalix Venture Capital.

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Alfred Lam | Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/alfred-lam |
| Charles Haythornthwaite | Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/charles-haythornthwaite |
| Fred van Beuningen | Managing Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/fred-van-beuningen |
| Dr. Wal Van Lierop | President & CEO | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/wal-van-lierop |
| Richard MacKellar | Managing Director | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/richard-mackellar |

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## FAQ

### What does Charles Haythornthwaite invest in?

Charles Haythornthwaite invests primarily in Mining, Manufacturing and Mining Technology startups, most often at Seed and Series A stage. Most of the 15 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in Canada. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### When did Charles Haythornthwaite last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Charles Haythornthwaite closed in Dec 2022. Shizune tracks 15 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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