A tiny Montreal company is turning to crowdfunding in hopes of moving its virtual reality headset from a working prototype to a mass produced rival to products from Facebook, Samsung and Sony. Vrvana Inc aims to raise $350,000 via website Kickstarter to make the first 1,000 units of its Totem headset, it said ahead of the month-long campaign's launch this week.
2 min read · 16 September 2014
Marqui Inc, a provider of content management services and digital design services and technology, has been acquired by Givex Corp. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Givex, a Toronto-based provider of cloud-based information services to enterprises, said the acquisition strengthens its product offering to customers. Founded in 2000, Marqui is based in Vancouver. It was a portfolio company of Canadian venture capital firms GrowthWorks and Ventures West Capital, the investments of which are now managed by Five Corners Capital.
2 min read · 16 September 2014
Carta Worldwide has received a $7 million tranche of a planned $12 million Series D funding round. The co-investors in the tranche included Canadian specialty finance firm Difference Capital Financial and U.K.-based media company D. C. Thomson & Co Ltd. Headquartered in Ontario, Carta is a mobile payment solutions provider. Update: The company said it plans to close the remaining $5 million raise in the coming weeks. Investment proceeds will help accelerate Carta's global expansion.
3 min read · 16 September 2014
Calgary and Toronto-based visual search technology company Slyce (TSX-V: SLC) said Tuesday that it has acquired BuyCode Inc for a total consideration of US$5 million in shares, cash and earn-out incentives. Based in Tel Aviv, Israel, BuyCode is the developer of the Pounce mobile commerce app and platform, which was backed by Entrée Capital, Gigi Levy-Weiss and Plus Ventures. Update: Slyce, which has also been backed by venture capital investors, recently completed a going public transaction.
5 min read · 16 September 2014
Kinnek, a New York-based online marketplace for small businesses to find suppliers and manage purchasing, has secured US$10 million in a Series A funding round. The round was led by U.S. venture capital firm Matrix Partners with participation from previous backers, including Canadian firm Version One Ventures, as well as CrunchFund, Sierra Ventures, TriplePoint Ventures and several angel investors. Proceeds of the deal will be used to grow Kinnek's marketing and engineering capabilities and fuel its expansion into new industries. The company was founded in 2012.
3 min read · 15 September 2014
Redfall Technologies Inc, which is also known as Vogogo Inc, has completed its amalgamation with capital pool company Southtech Capital Corp (TSX-V: STU.P) and will begin trading on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "VGO". Vogogo, which is a provider of payment services to the cryptocurrency industry and other businesses, raised $8.5 million last month for its going public transaction. The Calgary-based company has been a portfolio investment of Canadian early-stage venture capital firm AVAC since 2013.
5 min read · 15 September 2014
Tom Rand, managing partner at Canadian cleantech venture capital firm ArcTern Ventures, welcomes you to the Anthropocene—a new geological age built by us and defined by climate risk. In this age, Rand makes the case for new thinking on the part of funds and investors to address the facts of climate change. His solution: Put the market economy to work on the problem through a price on carbon.
5 min read · 12 September 2014
Themis Solutions, better known as Clio, appears to be making ample use of the substantial venture capital funding it raised a few months ago. The Vancouver-based startup, a specialist in cloud-based management tools for the legal industry, has made several starry hires of late, including former Google Canada marketing exec Neil Shankman.
2 min read · 11 September 2014
Liquid Light Corp, a U.S.-based developer of technology to make chemicals from carbon dioxide, has raised US$15 million in a Series B financing. Investors in the round included Canadian venture capital firm Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital as well as VantagePoint Capital Partners, BP Ventures, Osage University Partners and Sustainable Conversion Ventures. Funding proceeds will be used to complete Liquid Light's process development at pilot scale, which will help validate the technology and its uses. Chrysalix also participated in the company's Series A round in 2011.
3 min read · 11 September 2014
Tornado Spectral Systems Inc has secured undisclosed funding from venture capital firms BeauVest and Roadmap Capital. The deal, which adds to earlier financing of the company by undisclosed investors, is intended to support Tornado's continued growth in North America and globally. Founded in 2010, Tornado develops tools for measuring the chemical composition and structure of materials in real time for companies in industries such as biomedical, environmental, and security and defense. It is based in Toronto and has an additional office in Ithaca, New York.
3 min read · 11 September 2014
