Opus One Solutions, a Toronto-based smart grid software engineering company, has raised a Series B financing. The undisclosed round was led by Canadian impact venture capital firm Renewal Funds. It joins the company's strategic investors Energy Impact Partners and Engie. Founded in 2011 by President and CEO Joshua Wong, Opus One’s technology helps utility partners gain visibility into electricity distribution systems and better manage distributed energy resources. The funds raised will be used to expand offerings in North American and global markets. Opus One is the first investment of Renewal's fourth social and environmental impact fund.
5 min read · 14 December 2018
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec has partnered with Mila to create Espace CDPQ-Axe IA, a Montréal-based hub for artificial intelligence (AI) startups. Hub projects must show potential for technological acceleration at Mila, an AI partnership of the Université de Montréal and McGill University, with the support of HEC Montréal and Polytechnique Montréal. Selected companies will spend 12 months at Espace CDPQ-Axe IA, gaining access to advice, coaching and other resources to help commercialize their solutions. To date, nine startups have been invited to participate.
5 min read · 13 December 2018
Osprey Informatics, a Calgary-based provider of intelligent visual monitoring solutions for industrial operations, has raised $3.75 million in financing. The round was led by Shell Ventures, the investment arm of Royal Dutch Shell plc, and Evok Innovations, a partnership of BC Cleantech CEO Alliance, Cenovus Energy Inc and Suncor Energy Inc. They were joined by InterGen Capital and existing investors. Founded in 2011, Osprey's technology is used by more than 30 North American energy companies to manage field operations, assets and facilities. The funds raised will be used for sales growth and to market new artificial intelligence-enabled solutions.
4 min read · 13 December 2018
Vancouver-based grocery e-commerce company Sustainable Produce Urban Delivery Inc (SPUD.ca) has raised $11 million in a pre-initial public offering financing. The deal was led by CIC Capital Ventures, an investment arm of French private equity firm CM-CIC Investissement. It was joined by existing investors, including Walter Capital Partners, which backed SPUD.ca last year. The funds raised will be used to advance Food-X Urban Delivery Inc, an online grocery platform that allows retailers to access technology, warehousing, food preparation and delivery services. Food-X plans to open locations across Canada through 2019 and beyond. SPUD.ca and Food-X are led by CEO Peter van Stolk.
5 min read · 13 December 2018
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, the world’s biggest institutional investor in private equity, is reorganizing its program to access a broader set of PE opportunities in a challenging market environment. The initiative was set in motion nine months ago, when Senior Managing Director Shane Feeney was appointed global head of PE. Feeney’s job, a new one at the $368 billion pension fund, marked the end of two investment departments and created an amped-up PE platform that unites the once divided areas of direct investing, funds, secondaries and Asian investing. It amasses assets worth $80.3 billion and brings together more than 100 investment pros located worldwide.
1 min read · 12 December 2018
3 min read · 12 December 2018
3 min read · 12 December 2018
Yuri Navarro, CEO and executive director of the National Angel Capital Organization (NACO), is leaving his role in early 2019. Navarro, who joined NACO in 2012, will pursue a new career in the innovation ecosystem. Under Navarro's leadership, NACO said it grew and diversified membership, became a more Canada-wide organization, and added to angel education and best practice programs. Today, NACO represents more than 40 networks consisting of over 3,000 angel investors. NACO said its board has assembled a task force to search for a new CEO.
3 min read · 12 December 2018
Arctic Wolf Networks has acquired RootSecure Corp, a Kitchener, Ontario-based advanced cybersecurity risk assessment startup. No financial terms were released. Founded last year and led by CEO James Mignacca, RootSecure quantifies cyber and data risk, providing information technology and security teams with real-time, actionable insight. Sunnyvale, California's Arctic Wolf said the acquisition enhances its security-operations-center-as-a-service offerings. Earlier this year, Arctic Wolf raised US$45 million in Series C financing led by Future Fund.
3 min read · 12 December 2018
Black Diamond Therapeutics, a Stony Brook, New York-based cancer precision medicine platform, has emerged from stealth with a $20 million Series A financing. The round was backed by life sciences venture capital firm Versant Ventures. The company will use a share of the proceeds to set up operations in Toronto, giving it access to the city’s pool of computing talent. Black Diamond, the first startup launched out of Versant’s Swiss discovery engine, is developing precision medicines directed against allosteric mutant oncogenes.
4 min read · 12 December 2018
