Canadian cannabis investment firm Green Acre Capital has agreed to invest $10 million in The Friendly Stranger, a Toronto-based supplier of cannabis products and accessories. The deal is the first of Green Acre Capital Fund II, which raised more than $35 million in lead commitments earlier this year. It will allow Friendly Stranger to pursue a retail expansion plan intended to introduce dozens of stores across Canada, with an initial focus on Ontario. Established in 1994 by Robin Ellins and Joy Jacobsen, Friendly Stranger currently operates a single cannabis culture shop in downtown Toronto.
3 min read · 17 October 2018
Chefs Plate, a Toronto-based meal-kit delivery company, has agreed to combine its Canadian business with that of Germany's HelloFresh, which operates in the same sector. HelloFresh will acquire all shares of Chefs Plate for an undisclosed amount, creating a national company with targeted revenue to about $200 million. Founded in 2014 by CEO Jamie Shea and Patrick Meyer, Chefs Plate delivers kits of locally-sourced farm fresh ingredients and recipes to customers' homes. Its investors include Acton Capital Partners, BrandProject, Emil Capital Partners and InvestEco Capital Corp, as well as Comerica Bank. HelloFresh is also venture-backed, counting Insight Venture Partners and Rocket Internet among its investors.
3 min read · 17 October 2018
Canadian water-focused growth equity firm XPV Water Partners has invested in the merger of Monticello, Mississippi-based Atlas Manufacturing Company Inc and Slaughter, Louisiana-based Screening Systems International Inc. The transaction, the financial terms of which were not disclosed, created Atlas-SSI, a full-service producer of custom industrial water intake systems in North America. XPV said the new business will join its portfolio and gain access to additional resources needed to expand its relationships and product offering. The Atlas-SSI deal comes on the heels of XPV's recently announced investments in Metasphere Ltd and Mobiltex Data Ltd.
3 min read · 17 October 2018
Canadian growth equity firm Georgian Partners has led the US$25 million Series B financing of Stratifyd, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based end-to-end customer analytics platform. The round, which included existing investors, will see Georgian Partner Tyson Baber join the board. Founded in 2015, Stratifyd's platform utilizes artificial intelligence to help enterprises generate insights that lead to customer retention, improved products and services, and greater revenue. The funds raised will be used to deepen AI capabilities in unsupervised machine learning and natural language processing, and expand Stratifyd’s product offering to focus on key verticals.
3 min read · 17 October 2018
Canadian long-term private equity firm Altas Partners has agreed to acquire a minority stake in Hub International Ltd, a Chicago-based insurance brokerage. The deal, expected to close later this year, implies an enterprise value for Hub of more than US$10 billion. U.S. private equity firm Hellman & Friedman (H&F), which acquired Hub in 2013 for about US$4.4 billion, will remain the company's largest investor. The management team will also continue to hold an equity position. Hub was established in 1998 with the merger of 11 Canadian insurance brokerages. Altas Managing Partner Scott Werry said his firm will work with Hub and H&F to support the company's "numerous growth opportunities."
4 min read · 17 October 2018
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec has increased its interest in Azure Power Global Ltd, a New Delhi, India-based solar power producer, to 40 percent. The enhanced stake was the result of a US$100 million ($130 million) investment by the Caisse, bringing its total commitment to US$240 million ($310 million). Established in 2008, Azure Power has a pan-Indian portfolio of more than three gigawatts spread across 23 states. Emmanuel Jaclot, executive vice president, infrastructure, at the Caisse, said the additional investment reflects the pension system's view of India's solar power sector as a priority market.
3 min read · 17 October 2018
Canadian venture capital firm Version One Ventures has closed its third fund at about $57 million in committed capital. Version One Ventures III was backed by new and existing limited partners, including such institutions as Invesco, HarbourVest, Northleaf Capital Partners and Kensington Capital Partners. Commitments were also secured from entrepreneurs at Shopify, Slack, Hootsuite, Wattpad, Salesforce and other companies. Founding Partner Boris Wertz said Fund III will double down on the investment strategy followed by Vancouver-based Version One since its launch in 2012. It will lead or join pre-seed and seed rounds with cheque sizes of $500,000 to $750,000, backing North American startups and platforms that leverage network effects.
4 min read · 17 October 2018
Cott Corp (TSX: BCB, NYSE: COT) has acquired The Mountain Valley Spring Co, a Hot Springs, Arkansas-based producer and deliverer of bottled spring and sparkling water, for $78.5 million in cash. The seller was Great Range Capital, a U.S. private equity firm. Great Range invested in Mountain Valley in 2014. Cott, a Toronto-based water, coffee, tea, extracts and filtration service company, said the purchase will help build out its water solutions portfolio. Cott is currently pursuing acquisitions in the water and coffee segments.
3 min read · 16 October 2018
Brookfield Infrastructure has closed its acquisition of Enercare Inc (TSX: ECI), a Markham, Ontario-based home and commercial services and energy solutions company. The deal, announced in August, reflected a purchase price of $4.3 billion. As a result, Enercare's common shares will be delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange. Founded in 2002, Enercare provides water heaters, furnaces, air conditioners and other HVAC rental products, plumbing services, electrical services, protection plans and related services. It serves about 1.6 million Canadian and U.S. customers annually.
4 min read · 16 October 2018
Information Venture Partners has hired Toan Huynh as a venture partner, according to a news release. Huynh will soon be joining the Toronto investor from Citi Ventures, the venture capital arm of U.S. financial holding company Citigroup, where she is an entrepreneur-in-residence. Before then, Huynh held several entrepreneurial, executive and investment roles, including co-founder of Cloud Sherpas, a U.S. boutique cloud software advisory and consultancy. She will now lead Information VP’s new office in New York, assisting with sourcing, making and managing investments in the region.
1 min read · 16 October 2018
