Extendicare Inc (TSX: EXE), a Markham, Ontario-based provider of care and services for seniors, has secured an undisclosed investment from Sandpiper Group, a Canadian real estate private equity firm. The deal gave Sandpiper 9 percent ownership of the company's issued and outstanding shares. As a result, Extendicare will nominate Samir Manji, Sandpiper's founder and CEO, to its board. Established in 1968, Extendicare operates a network of 121 senior care and retirement living centres and home health care services across Canada.
4 min read · 23 April 2019
Voiceflow, a Toronto-based design and creation platform for voice apps, has secured about $4.7 million (US$3.5 million) in a seed-stage financing. The amount includes a US$3 million round led by True Ventures, a U.S. venture capital firm, and joined by a range of technology company founders. Voiceflow's other backers include Canadian venture capital firm Ripple Ventures. Founded last year by Braden Ream, Tyler Han, Michael Hood and Andrew Lawrence, Voiceflow helps teams design and build voice apps, without coding, for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. The company will use the funds raised to scale its platform and user base.
3 min read · 23 April 2019
Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan has launched a new platform focused on late-stage venture capital and growth equity investments in technology companies. Teachers' Innovation Platform (TIP), which will target global opportunities to disrupt incumbents and create new sectors, will be led by Senior Managing Director Olivia Steedman. Steedman, who joined the $191 billion Canadian pension fund in 2002, was previously managing director of the infrastructure and natural resources group. Steedman said TIP will take advantage of "significant opportunities to invest in the new businesses and sectors" emerging from "unprecedented change" in computing, materials science, robotics, medicine and other areas.
3 min read · 23 April 2019
Coconut Software, a Saskatoon-based enterprise scheduling solution, has raised $1.75 million in debt financing. The funding's source was CIBC Innovation Banking, the technology lending arm of Canadian financial institution CIBC. Founded in 2007 by CEO Katherine Regnier, Coconut provides a cloud-based SaaS appointment scheduling and lobby management solution that helps banks and credit unions engage with clients. The company will use the deal's proceeds to support its strategic plan and growth. Coconut is backed by Information Venture Partners, ScaleUp Ventures, StandUp Ventures and Neal Dempsey of Bay Partners, all of which participated in 2017's $4.2 million Series A round.
3 min read · 23 April 2019
Coconut Software, a Saskatoon-based enterprise scheduling solution, has raised C$1.75 million in debt financing. The funding’s source was CIBC Innovation Banking, the technology lending arm of Canadian financial institution CIBC. Founded in 2007 by CEO Katherine Regnier, Coconut provides a cloud-based SaaS appointment scheduling and lobby management solution that helps banks and credit unions engage with clients. The company will use the deal’s proceeds to support its strategic plan and growth. Coconut is backed by Information Venture Partners, ScaleUp Ventures, StandUp Ventures and Neal Dempsey of Bay Partners, all of which participated in 2017’s C$4.2 million Series A round.
2 min read · 23 April 2019
Mississauga, Ontario-based cannabis company TerrAscend Corp has launched a non-brokered private placement to raise up to $40 million (US$30 million). The offering will include a minimum lead-order investment of about $13.4 million (US$10 million) from JW Asset Management, a U.S. hedge fund manager. JW currently holds about 30 percent of TerrAscend's issued and outstanding common shares. TerrAscend operates several businesses active in the medical and legal adult-use cannabis markets in Canada and the United States. The company will use the offering's proceeds for its U.S. acquisition strategy, working capital and other priorities.
3 min read · 23 April 2019
Wynnchurch Capital has closed its 12th platform investment in Canada, buying a maker of products used in home and commercial hardscaping projects. The mid-market private equity firm said today it acquired Alliance Designer Products, a Mirabel, Québec-based maker of polymeric sand and installation products sold mainly to contractors, dealers and manufacturers. Terms weren’t disclosed. The seller was the Tutino family, including President George Tutino and Senior Vice President Jack Tutino, brothers who founded the business in 2003. Alliance’s market focus and strategy proved a draw for Wynnchurch, which will support the company’s “next stage of growth,” Managing Director Morty White told PE Hub Canada.
2 min read · 23 April 2019
Ecotagious, a Vancouver-based energy analytics and home energy management company, has secured undisclosed working capital. The financing was facilitated by the export guarantee program of Export Development Canada (EDC). EDC partnered in the deal with BMO and First West Capital. Founded in 2010 and led by CEO Bruce Townson, Ecotagious provides a software-as-a-service platform that helps utilities give appliance-level feedback and insights to customers. The funds raised will allow the company to scale and deliver on new contracts.
3 min read · 22 April 2019
Silicon Valley biotechnology investment firm Sofinnova Investments has hired Maha Katabi as a partner. Katabi, who has worked as a Canadian venture capital and public equities professional for more than 18 years, joined from Oxalis Capital, an innovative therapeutics investor she founded in 2018. Previously, she was a partner at Sectoral Asset Management, a vice president at Ventures West Management and an associate at T2C2 Capital. With Katabi’s hire, Sofinnova said it will open an office in Montréal, enabling the firm to work more closely with companies based in the Eastern United States, Europe and Canada.
3 min read · 22 April 2019
Acelity LP Inc, a San Antonio, Texas-based wound care and surgical applications company, said its affiliate KCI Holdings Inc has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering. The number and price of shares to be sold on the New York Stock Exchange has not been determined. Following the offering, KCI's owners, Apax Partners, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments), will continue to hold a majority stake, the filing said. Apax, CPPIB and PSP Investments acquired KCI in 2011 for US$6.3 billion.
2 min read · 22 April 2019
