Artfox and Bolidea announce $375,000 in seed funding with Anges Québec and Fonds Soutien-Relève

Artfox a rapidly growing online network for professionals and companies in the arts, just completed its second round of financing. Artfox was initially funded and incubated by Bolidea where the project turned from idea to reality. The second $375,000 seed round has been provided by several members of Anges Québec, and FIER Soutien-Relève.

“Artfox is a promising company that solves a longstanding problem in the arts and entertainment industry and brings the community together” says Éric Lemieux president of FIER Soutien-Relève. “We strongly believe that the company will be a huge benefit to this high-growth industry in Quebec and in the entire world.”

“It was really important to find a group of investors who understood and believed in Artfox’s concept and vision,” said Raphael Ettore, Co-Founder and CEO of Artfox. “With this funding, we will bring to market revolutionary social features that will ultimately make it easier for artists to showcase their professional achievements, find and connect with exciting opportunities and contacts.

After a soft launch, Artfox was able to garner the interest of leading entertainment companies such as Alliance Vivafilms, Cirque du Soleil, EA Games, TV5, and Spectra among nearly 600 companies and 2 500 professionals that actively use Artfox’s services in 41 countries around the world. Artfox was also named Most Promising Company by investors and entrepreneurs at Capital Innovation 2010.

François Gilbert, President of Anges Québec, added: “We are very proud of this investment with Artfox, a startup with a worldwide potential. This shows the dynamism and the quality of our entrepreneurs and the importance of angel investments to support them.”

Anges Quebec – Invest and self invest – www.angesquebec.com

Anges Québec is a network of private investors (angels) who identify, fund and support high potential companies in Quebec. The members of Anges Quebec value promising company projects at early stage or beginning of commercialization by investing capital and expertise. To this end, Anges Quebec collaborates with several headlight organizations interested in technological innovations.

Bolidea – Giving Rise to Stellar Companies – www.bolidea.com

Bolidea is a startup accelerator with the mission of developing technology companies that provide solutions to real market problems. Bolidea’s Lab is a playground for developing and testing new ideas and see if they can be turned into stellar companies. In addition to investing in people that focus on getting things done, Bolidea provides all the resources and mentorship its startups need to rapidly build their products and test them on the market.

FIER Soutien-Relève

Fonds Soutien Relève brings a financial support to stimulate the transfer of companies and support all steps of acquisition, financing and business development. Thanks to this funds, entrepreneurs draw advantage of a financial assistance which can reach 250.000 $ in the form of stockholders’ equity, debentures or participative loans.