Colorado-based company snaps up AI sustainability company Ensogo, bringing new risk management tools to Canada's industrial sectors
A Colorado-based safety and operational risk management software company is making its most aggressive push yet into Canada, acquiring a Toronto-founded artificial intelligence firm as its entry point into the country's manufacturing, construction, energy, and mining sectors.
Novara, which spun out of established environment, health, and safety (EHS) company KPA in January 2026 after six years of growth as a division, announced the acquisition of Ensogo on June 9. Ensogo, founded in Toronto, had built an AI-native sustainability platform designed to help organizations streamline environmental reporting and manage compliance requirements across jurisdictions.
"Canada is home to many industries where operational risk, safety, and sustainability are business-critical priorities," said Michael Bruns, CEO of Novara. "Canadian organizations are facing the same challenges that we've seen globally around reporting, compliance and risk visibility, which is what our software provides."
Why Canada, and why now
The acquisition was driven by three distinct goals, according to Bruns. The first was Ensogo's sustainability software, which fills a gap in Novara's existing platform. The second was Ensogo's AI-native architecture, which Novara sees as a foundation for deploying its own EHS capabilities in a more modern technical environment. The third was geography.
"We have some customers in Canada, but have not aggressively marketed to that country," Bruns said. "There is a wealth of opportunity in our ideal customer profile, which is middle market manufacturing, construction, oil and gas and mining companies."
Novara's flagship product, called Flex, is a mobile-first software-as-a-service platform used primarily by workers on manufacturing floors and in field environments. The platform helps organizations manage safety programs and operational risk, but it lacked built-in functionality for sustainability reporting. That is where Ensogo comes in.
"EHS systems often store Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions, waste generation, and water usage data," Bruns explained. "But we hadn't built out the functionality yet to help customers manage their sustainability reporting or understand their compliance requirements across different jurisdictions. That's what Ensogo did."
Building a Canadian footprint
Beyond the technology, Bruns emphasized that the acquisition is also an investment in Canadian talent. Ensogo co-founders Elie Mouzon and Tommy Ng, both Toronto-based, are joining Novara's executive team. Mouzon becomes chief strategy officer, bringing more than two decades of experience in the EHS and ESG software market, including previous roles at Intelex and Enablon. Ng becomes vice president of AI engineering.
Novara has said it plans to hire additional software developers and sales representatives in Canada to build out its local market presence.
"We intend to hire additional software developers, we intend to hire sales reps in Canada to really target and build our presence in the Canadian market," Bruns said. "We're looking at this not just as an acquisition and moving on with the technology, but as a real investment in the Canadian market."
The company already has approximately 20 Canadian customers, including Nucor, Canadian Solar, Infra-Metals, and Alpine Aerotek, and has said it is looking to grow that list significantly.
A new name with established roots
For safety professionals unfamiliar with the Novara name, Bruns points to the company's origins. Novara grew out of KPA, an EHS and compliance company that has operated for approximately 40 years. KPA was acquired by Providence Equity roughly eight years ago, at which point the company began expanding beyond its traditional auto dealership client base into industrial sectors. The acquisition of EHS software firm iscout in 2020 laid the groundwork for what became Flex, now Novara's core platform.
When the Novara division grew to match the size of KPA's original business, the decision was made to spin the two companies out separately. Novara launched as a standalone company in January 2026.
"The Flex product has been in the market for six years," Bruns noted. "So while Novara is a new brand, we've been around a while."
For Canadian safety leaders in high-hazard industries, the entry of an AI-driven operational risk platform with a growing Canadian presence and sustainability capabilities built in may signal a shift in how workplace safety and risk management technology is converging with environmental compliance demands. As organizations face mounting pressure to track and report on emissions data alongside traditional OHS obligations, platforms that bridge the gap between EHS and ESG reporting are likely to draw increasing attention from safety professionals across sectors.
This article is part of our Monthly Spotlight series, which in June focuses on prevention and risk management.
