🔋Sustainable energy closing soon, standout founders & fashion industry under pressure

🔔 Your campaign updates feed

🔋RheEnergise closing soon!

RheEnergise is is closing in 1 day! Be part of the clean energy future with High-Density Hydro®, an innovative form of pumped hydro. With strong customer demand, major government support, and a fast-approaching demonstration project, this is your last chance to invest before the next phase of growth.

Invest in RheEnergise | $3.2M Raised | 63% of target

🔔 Alumni updates

🚗HOVR’s founder and CEO, Harrison Amit, has been recognized in Maclean’s magazine as one of 40 young Canadian powerhouses. A new generation of leaders, who are redefining Canada, building new institutions and shaking up the old ones.

🇨🇦Little Canada is the winner of Attractions Ontario’s: Top Indoor Attraction for the fourth year in a row! Thanks to the passion of the Little Canada team and the incredible support of their fans, this beloved miniature world continues to inspire and amaze.

📦Boxabl has announced that over 200 of its modular housing units have been in development since May 2025, supported by a new large-scale manufacturing facility in Las Vegas. Read more here.

🤔 What’s on our minds

🧵What Ssense’s crisis tells us about the current fashion economics

Just a few years ago, Ssense was one of fashion’s fastest-rising disruptors. Known for its sleek editorial-driven e-commerce model and ultra-curated luxury catalog, the Montréal-based retailer had grown from a small startup into a global fashion force. At its peak, it generated over USD 1.3 billion in revenue and was valued at more than CAD 5 billion.

Now, that momentum has hit a wall.

This September, Ssense was granted creditor protection by the Québec Superior Court, marking a dramatic shift in its trajectory. With CAD 371 million in liabilities, rising operational costs, and a sharp decline in U.S. demand, the once-celebrated digital luxury platform is fighting to survive.

What Triggered the Crisis

The story of Ssense’s financial unraveling is one of shifting trade policies, overleveraging, and fragile supply chain dynamics.

One of the most significant blows came from the elimination of the U.S. de minimis tariff exemption, which previously allowed goods under 800 dollars to enter the country duty-free. This policy had long benefited Ssense’s U.S. customers, many of whom placed orders below that threshold. When the exemption was revoked, shipping costs and duties surged, making Ssense significantly less competitive in its most important market.

The company was also weighed down by high inventory levels, mounting interest obligations, and a dependency on suppliers who began demanding stricter payment terms. As sales softened and cash flow tightened, Ssense found itself unable to meet its loan payments or refinance its maturing debt.

Restructuring Over Liquidation

Rather than collapse, Ssense pursued a court-supervised restructuring under Canada’s Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act. The move shields the company from creditor lawsuits while it reorganizes its finances and operations.

Importantly, the court sided with the company’s founders, allowing them to retain control despite pressure from major lenders to force a sale. An interim financing package worth CAD 40 million has been approved, including CAD 25 million from the Atallah family and CAD 15 million from creditors. This gives Ssense a narrow window to stabilize, renegotiate with suppliers, and potentially attract new investors.

Final Thought

Despite its digital-native platform, global scale and cultural relevance, Ssense is now racing to preserve what it spent two decades building. But the company’s reliance on cross-border e-commerce, exposure to shifting U.S. tariffs, and rapid expansion during a period of rising inflation all contributed to its financial distress. Its centralized Montréal operations became a disadvantage as logistics costs rose.

This is not an isolated case. Even industry giants like Lululemon have warned that renewed U.S. tariffs on Chinese-made goods could hurt margins and force sourcing changes. For retailers dependent on global supply chains and U.S. consumers, policy risk is now a serious business concern.

For investors and fashion observers, Ssense’s crisis is a clear reminder that cash flow, policy exposure, and operational agility matter just as much as brand strength. Whether Ssense finds a way forward or fades into fashion history will depend on how quickly it can rebuild the business behind the brand.

🎙️ Hear from our latest founder feature

RheEnergise: Creating low-cost, secure, zero-carbon power grids with Dr. Tamás Bertényi

Q: For those who might not know, what exactly is the problem you’re solving?
Simply put: wind and solar are intermittent. The sun doesn’t always shine, the wind doesn’t always blow — and they rarely line up with when we actually need power. To fix that mismatch, we need massive amounts of energy storage. Right now, the world has built only about 2% of what’s required to hit 2040 climate goals. That’s staggering. Without scaling storage, we can’t scale renewables — and that means we can’t complete the energy transition.

Q: So what makes Re-energize’s solution different?
Most storage today is conventional pumped hydro — moving water up a mountain and letting it run back down through turbines. It works beautifully, but it’s slow and hard to scale. Projects take 18 years and billions of dollars, and you need just the right geography. Our breakthrough was swapping water for a fluid that’s 2.5x denser. That one shift means you don’t need mountains — hills will do. Suddenly, we unlock over a million viable sites around the world. That changes the game: projects can be smaller, faster, cheaper, and replicable.

Q: Finally, what’s your vision for Re-energize in the bigger picture of climate tech?
It comes down to one word: scalability. Our mission is to provide a storage solution that can scale as fast as renewables are growing. If we can enable the world to unlock hills instead of mountains, to build thousands of projects instead of dozens, then we’ll have played a real role in completing the energy transition. And that’s what drives us every day.

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📌 FrontFundr Bulletin

Blossom Investor Tour 2025 this weekend!

FrontFundr will have a booth at Blossom Socials Investor Conference 2025, Sunday September 21st from 11:30 AM to 6 PM in Toronto! Blossom is hosting Canada’s largest event for retail investors, live from the iconic Rogers Centre. Get your tickets here!

CHFA Now 2025 this weekend!

CHFA NOW is Canada’s largest conference and trade show for natural, organic, and wellness products. We’re excited to be invited by FrontFundr alumni VEGAIN, and look forward to connecting with founders, retailers, and investors who are shaping the future of health and wellness. Click here to learn.

Ecom North Toronto Summit 2025 next week!

FrontFundr will be attending the Ecom North’s Toronto Summit Tuesday September 23, 2025, in Toronto! Ecom North is Canada’s only event dedicated to ecommerce and we will be participating in the reverse pitch segment. If you’re interested, learn more here.

Coming Soon for FrontFundr Elite Circle Members

Next week, we’re launching a new community feature for Elite Circle members. More details to come soon.