Canadian specialty finance firm Wellington Financial has added Rob Helm and Sean Lynden to its team of professionals. Previously with U.S. private equity and venture capital firm Gold Hill Capital, Helm and Lynden have joined Wellington as partners. They will operate from the firm's newly established office in San Jose, California. Wellington also announced that Craig Netterfield, a partner since 2005, recently left the firm to join a startup. Based in Toronto, Wellington provides term, venture and amortizing loans up to $30 million. It is affiliated with Canadian mid-market private equity firm Clairvest Group.
3 min read · 08 September 2014
The Funding Portal Inc has partnered with Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) to launch a new online platform to help clean technology companies raise financing for their R&D and commercialization efforts. The new platform, which is found at TheFundingPortal.com/CleanTech, gives startups access to services for securing funds from both government and private sector sources. Among the potential venture capital sources will be SDTC's SD Tech Fund and SD Natural Gas Fund. In June, the Funding Portal and University Health Network launched a similar platform to support the early-stage financing of healthcare companies.
4 min read · 08 September 2014
Breather has raised $6 million in Series A round. RRE Ventures led the round with participation from other investors that included Vayner/RSE, Real Ventures and SOS Ventures. Based in Montreal, New York City and San Francisco, Breather is an app that lets users rent private rooms.
3 min read · 05 September 2014
CelluFuel, a Halifax-based developer of synthetic renewable fuels from forestry resources at a cost and quality comparable to diesel, announced this week that it has raised a $5 million round of financing to construct its demonstration-scale plant. Investors included Innovacorp, Quebec-based alternative energy producer Boralex and the Ontario trucking company Tatro Group.
3 min read · 04 September 2014
Frank & Oak, a Montreal-based retailer of menswear online, announced this week that it has raised US$15 million in a round of financing from Greenoaks Capital, Investissement Quebec, Rho Canada Ventures, Real Ventures, Version One Ventures, Lightbank, and Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments, among other individuals including John Currie, CFO of LuluLemon. Frank & Oak previously raised a $5 million round of financing in 2012.
3 min read · 04 September 2014
San Francisco-based Bare Snacks, a provider of health-focused snack food, announced this week that it has raised $9.25 million in a round of financing led by NGEN Partners, and including participation from Silas Capital and Calgary-based Avrio Capital. The proceeds will be used for expanding capacity and building the management team and brand.
2 min read · 04 September 2014
Vancouver-based Hootsuite, a provider of a social media management platform, announced this week that it has continued its expansion through the acquisition of Brightkit, a company providing advertising campaign management through social media. Financial terms were not disclosed. Hootsuite acquired UberVu earlier this year, had one of Canada's largest VC rounds last year at US$165 million, and is a portfolio company of Blumberg Capital Ventures, OMERS Venture Capital, Accel Partners and Insight Venture Partners, among others.
2 min read · 04 September 2014
Investment activity in Canada’s venture capital market showed continued growth in the second quarter of 2014, according to data released today by Canada’s Venture Capital and Private Equity Association. VC funds deployed a total of $505 million to deals across the country in this period, or 11 percent more than the $455 million invested during the same period in 2013. Disbursement levels in the quarter were also up 31 percent from the $385 million that was invested in the first quarter of this year. The number of VC-backed financing rounds also increased between April and June. Canadian innovative companies were financed by 130 deals in total this time around, up 17 percent from the 111 deals done in the second quarter of 2013. Financings completed in the second quarter of this year were also slightly higher than they were between January and March.
4 min read · 03 September 2014
Legend3D, a California-based 3D visual effects company, announced this week it has closed on a US$10 million round of financing led by Toronto-based Northwater Capital Management and Monaco-based Augustus Ventures. The proceeds will be used for an expansion of a new facility in a low cost jurisdiction. Northwater has been an investor in Legend3D since 2011.
2 min read · 03 September 2014
L-SPARK, a new Ottawa-based business accelerator, has opened its application process and will be accepting its first entrepreneurs at its launch later this year. L-SPARK is a partnership between Wesley Clover, Invest Ottawa, and Terry Matthews.
3 min read · 02 September 2014
