# Richard Cloutier

> Richard Cloutier is a seed investor at Ecofuel (Montréal) backing Manufacturing and Chemical. See 13 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [Ecofuel](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/ecofuel)
- Location: Montréal, Canada
- Total investments: 13
- Last investment: Feb 2022
- Lead investor: 54%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardcloutier

Richard Cloutier is a seed investor at Ecofuel in Montréal focused on Manufacturing and Chemical. Richard is Managing Partner of the Ecofuel Fund. He has nearly 40 years of expertise in the deployment of innovation, business start-up and business development strategies.Richard was President and CEO of the Ecofuel Accelerator and of the Centre québécois de valorisation des biotechnologies (CQVB), an organization dedicated to innovation andtechnology transfer in the bio-industry sector. Previously, he was for 10 years the Founder, President and CEO of Gelkem, a private biopharmaceutical company involved in controlled drug delivery systems. He has also worked in attracting foreign investment, international partnerships and laboratory research.Richard was a lecturer in business start-ups and innovation, specializing in innovative start-ups and technology transfer at Laval University. He has served on several boards of directors, including that of the Fonds de Recherche Québec Nature et Technologies, as well as various private companies. Richard is frequently consulted for the development of strategies related to innovation.Richard holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Sherbrooke University and an MBA from Laval University.

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Manufacturing | 4 | 31% |
| Chemical | 2 | 15% |
| Advanced Materials | 2 | 15% |
| SaaS | 1 | 8% |
| Audio | 1 | 8% |

29 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Seed | 6 | 46% |
| Pre-Seed | 3 | 23% |
| Series A | 1 | 8% |
| Series B | 1 | 8% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Axya | Axya startup created an online platform connecting small and medium-sized shop owners with suppliers. It provides an easy-to-use marketplace that standardizes and centralizes the subcontracting process for the manufacturing industry. | $3.9M | Seed | Feb 09, 2022 |  |
| Brilliant Matters | Brilliant Matters was created by passionate material scientists to answer the need for a reliable supply of a new generation of organic semiconductors. By using innovative chemical processes, we provide value-added and environmentally friendly solutions to emerging printed electronics technologies. | $3.5M | Seed | Jul 01, 2021 |  |
| ORA Graphene Audio Inc. | ORA is a Montreal-based startup working with advanced nano-materials to produce unparalleled audio experiences. Their team of sound engineers, chemists and material scientists work with the exciting properties of *Graphene* (the strongest and lightest material known to man) to deliver smaller/lighter, more energy efficient speakers, all whileremarkably improving sound quality. With a simple drop-in replacement of the speaker’s membrane, GrapheneQ can 1) extend the battery life of a portable audio device by up to 70% b) generate up to 4x the volume and c) significantly reduce the overall size of the speaker, allowing for bigger batteries/thinner devices. ORA's technology is disrupting a technology that has seen little innovation since its invention in 1921: the loudspeaker! | $1.8M | Seed | May 01, 2021 |  |
| Axya | Axya startup created an online platform connecting small and medium-sized shop owners with suppliers. It provides an easy-to-use marketplace that standardizes and centralizes the subcontracting process for the manufacturing industry. | $1.5M | Seed | Apr 27, 2021 |  |
| Calogy Solutions | Calogy Solution is a developer of thermal management technologies designed to assist in electric transportation applications. The company's technologies include thermal and CFD calculations for electronics thermal management, custom-designed compact liquid cooling, heat pipes, and vapor chambers and a wide range of thermal characterization,testing and validation services by exposing microelectronic components to various temperature conditions, enabling clients to identify and thereafter rectify the thermal challenges in their products. | $1.2M | Pre-Seed | Jun 01, 2020 |  |
| Pyrowave | Pyrowave is a pioneer of the Plastic-to-Plastic microwave-based chemical recycling technology that allows post-consumer and post-industrial plastics to be regenerated and restored to their full value. Its patented high-power microwave catalytic depolymerization technology platform is the most advanced worldwide and is now at the forefront of thenew generation of plastics. By bringing plastics back to their molecular state identical to virgin materials, Pyrowave technology allows infinite recycling of plastics. |  | Series B | Apr 30, 2020 |  |
| Axya | Axya startup created an online platform connecting small and medium-sized shop owners with suppliers. It provides an easy-to-use marketplace that standardizes and centralizes the subcontracting process for the manufacturing industry. |  | Pre-Seed | Apr 30, 2020 |  |
| Axya | Axya startup created an online platform connecting small and medium-sized shop owners with suppliers. It provides an easy-to-use marketplace that standardizes and centralizes the subcontracting process for the manufacturing industry. |  | Pre-Seed | Jan 01, 2020 |  |
| AEPONYX | AEPONYX is a fabless micro optical switch semiconductor chips designer and manufacturer. AEPONYX chips are targeted at fiber optic access to the Cloud and optical switching in the Cloud.With its patented and patent pending technologies, combining planar Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS) and Silicon Photonics, AEPONYX is building thefastest, most affordable and smallest micro optical switches for use in disaggregated switching systems and enabling tunability in both transmission & reception in pluggable transceivers.This creates opportunities for optical circuit switching and a new generation of tunable transceivers, increasing the capacity on both ends of the optical fiber while lowering power consumption.By combining Silicon Photonics with MEMS, AEPONYX is creating a unique platform that can support the next generation of optical communications. | $5.8M | Series A | Mar 14, 2019 |  |
| Inno-3B | Inno-3B is smart farming technology in your hands. Their automated, scalable vertical growing systems are the turnkey solutions that will help you grow organic produce, berries and herbs locally, in an environmentally friendly and cost-effective way.Not only that, but their team of geniuses (experienced engineers and agronomic experts) are hereto help you learn to manage your growing process at every step. | $4.3M | Seed | Dec 18, 2018 |  |

10 of 13 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Real Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/real-ventures) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [Desjardins Venture Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/desjardins-venture-capital) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Fonds Innovexport](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/fonds-innovexport) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Investissement Quebec](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/investissement-quebec) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Next AI](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/nextai) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [TandemLaunch](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/tandemlaunch-technologies) — VC Fund, 2 deals together

## About Ecofuel

VC Fund · Montréal, Canada

Ecofuel offers an intensive program of training workshops, networking sessions, and an experienced mentor ecosystem. The objective of the program is to develop entrepreneurs and help in the successful creation of companies. In addition to seed financing of up to $150,000, participating companies are hosted in a dedicated facility in Montreal forthe duration of the program.

2 contacts available at Ecofuel.

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Richard Cloutier | Managing Partner & CEO | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/richard-cloutier |
| Catherine Bérubé | Head of Communications and Public Relations | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/catherine-b%C3%A9rub%C3%A9 |

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## FAQ

### What does Richard Cloutier invest in?

Richard Cloutier invests primarily in Manufacturing, Chemical and Advanced Materials startups, most often at Seed and Pre-Seed stage. Most of the 13 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in Canada. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### When did Richard Cloutier last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Richard Cloutier closed in Feb 2022. Shizune tracks 13 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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