A new survey conducted by the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) has found that close to 80 percent of Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises intend to invest in new projects over the next 12 months. Planned areas of business investment included marketing, technology and operations optimization. R&D projects were ear-marked to receive the greatest amount of money, with over one third of respondents planning to invest more than $100,000. The survey also found that exporters were more inclined to invest in new projects than non-exporters.
4 min read · 27 November 2014
Amit Srivastava has joined Canadian venture capital firm Cycle Capital Management as a senior partner. Previously, Srivastava served as managing partner and CEO of Entrepia Ventures, a venture capital firm that manages technology funds in Canada and the United States. Prior to joining Entrepia in 2001, he worked at JP Morgan Chase, which included a senior investment role at JP Morgan Partners. Based in Montréal, Cycle Capital invests in clean technology companies. It currently manages $230 million in assets.
3 min read · 27 November 2014
Upland Software Inc (Nasdaq: UPLD) has bought Solution Q Inc, the Toronto-based maker of project portfolio management software Eclipse PPM. The acquisition's price was not disclosed, however, one source put it at about US$5.8 million. Based in Austin, Texas, Upland is a cloud-based enterprise work management software company. It said the acquisition of Solution Q is its seventh in three years. Earlier in 2014, Upland received an equity investment led by U.S. private equity and venture capital firm Activant Capital.
3 min read · 26 November 2014
Revenues of Vision Critical will shoot past the $100 million mark this year, CEO Scott Miller told peHUB Canada at last week’s Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX) 2014 in Toronto. He added that the Vancouver-based customer intelligence platform is preparing for an “imminent” growth opportunity that includes an opportunity to “take on more capital” – possibly through an initial public offering.
3 min read · 26 November 2014
Kinaxis Inc, a venture-backed company that went public in June, has launched a $45.9 million secondary offering on behalf of two investors. U.S. private equity firm HarbourVest Partners and Canadian venture capital firm TechnoCap will reduce their shares in the company to 8.7 percent and 13.8 percent of total issued and outstanding shares, respectively, as a result of the deal. HarbourVest and TechnoCap also sold shares at the time of the initial public offering. Based in Ottawa, Kinaxis is a provider of cloud-based subscription software.
4 min read · 25 November 2014
GrowthWorks Atlantic Venture Fund, an Atlantic Canada-focused affiliate of venture capital firm GrowthWorks, has suspended sales and redemptions of its shares until further notice. The fund's board of directors cited a number of factors influencing the decision, including the long term impact of Ottawa's announcement in 2013 to phase out the 15 percent federal labour-sponsored venture capital corporation (LSVCC) tax credit by 2017. Earlier this month, GrowthWorks Atlantic was selected to manage the new Venture Newfoundland and Labrador, a $15 million vehicle that will invest in entrepreneurs and startups in the province.
4 min read · 24 November 2014
Software analytics platform bitHound has raised a total of $2 million in seed-stage financing. The round was led by Michael Wekerle, co-founder and CEO of Canadian specialty finance firm Difference Capital, and was joined by BDC Capital and a number of angel investors. Headquartered in Kitchener, Ontario, bitHound provides developers with the information needed to deliver clean, efficient and maintainable software. The company, which was founded last year, said proceeds of the seed investment will help it to grow and hire new staff.
3 min read · 24 November 2014
Canadian venture capital firm iNovia Capital recently led a $1.2 million seed financing of Chronogolf. Chris Arsenault, an iNovia managing partner, believes the small-sized investment will ultimately result in some very big things. Indeed, the Montréal startup is seeking to disrupt the golf industry with its cloud-based software platform.
3 min read · 24 November 2014
The Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX) has announced the 2014 CIX audience choice at its 7th annual CIX forum, which occurred on November 18 at Toronto's MaRS Discovery District. From the original CIX Top 20 list, reported by peHUB Canada in October, Gallop Labs was selected by a committee of industry experts. Based in Toronto, Gallop Labs is a mobile marketing automation platform.
2 min read · 21 November 2014
Descartes Systems Group has acquired Airclic Inc, a provider of mobile solutions that help companies reduce the cost of delivering goods by automating traditional paper-based processes. The acquisition was priced at US$29.7 million. Descartes, a Canadian provider of on-demand, software-as-a-service solutions, said the deal adds vertically-focused mobile capabilities to its fleet management platform. Based in Trevose, Pennsylvania, Airclic was founded in 1999 and has been venture-backed since 2000. Its investors include U.S. private equity and venture capital firms JMI Equity, New Venture Partners and Zon Capital Partners.
3 min read · 21 November 2014
