Beacon Software, a Toronto-based artificial intelligence holding company that launched just last year, has raised US$250-million to fund its strategy of buying smaller software companies and using AI to grow them.

The Series B round, announced Tuesday, was led by U.S. investment firms General Catalyst, Lightspeed Venture Partners and D1 Capital. The latest infusion brings the total Beacon has raised to date to US$335-million, reflecting investors’ confidence in how AI-driven automations will transform essential industries.

According to Reuters, the funding valued the privately held company at $1-billion.

Beacon was co-founded by Canadian CEO Nilam Ganenthiran, who was previously president of Instacart, and its chief technology officer Divya Gupta, a former partner at Sequoia Capital.

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