Point Laz Secures $3M for Automated Mine Shaft Inspections in Quebec
In underground mining, the shaft is not a metaphor. It is the spine. Shut it down and the entire body stops moving. For decades, inspecting that spine meant 8 hours of silence, risk, and people hanging in vertical darkness. Point Laz Mining Laser Expertise Inc. decided that was an expensive habit hiding in plain sight.
Founded in Quebec City in Nov 2020, Point Laz was built by Alexandre Grenier after years inside mines, not behind slides. Mining engineer, mine rescue worker, innovation project manager at Agnico Eagle Mines, the résumé reads like someone who got tired of asking humans to do jobs machines were ready to take. The result was Lazaruss, a name that does not whisper subtlety.
Lazaruss drops into a shaft and brings it back to life digitally. In under one hour, it delivers high resolution 360 imagery, 3D point clouds, guide alignment data, and a record that remembers every scan before it. Eight hours down to one. Weekly inspections without weekly shutdowns. Over 50 shafts inspected worldwide is not theory. It is muscle memory forming.
Point Laz closed a $3M round led by i4 Capital Fund, with participation from Fonds Impulsion, managed by Investissement Québec. Jean-François Grenon, Tim Tokarsky, Antony Acciarri, Antoine Bellemare, and Nadia Martel doubled down. Second check, same conviction.
The capital fuels production of commercial Lazaruss scanners and pushes the platform outward into Canada, the United States, South Africa, and Australia. The scanner itself is built for punishment. IP-67 rated, stainless steel, waterproof, drop tolerant, lithium-ion batteries approved for carry-on flights. This is not a lab toy. It is a tool that shows up to work.
Under the hood, Nicolas Lapointe drives the technical spine, while Joël Venne carries the story into markets that care about uptime more than hype. Early traction with Agnico Eagle Mines and Niobec proved the math. The partnership with Dwyka Mining Services opened Africa. The roadshow across South African shafts sealed intent.
Samuel Poulin and Alex Laverdière publicly backed the round because this is not just mining tech. It is infrastructure discipline. Predictive maintenance replaces guesswork. Data replaces bravery theater. Point Laz does not make mining safer by speeches. It makes danger boring through repetition and records.