Kirk Falconer

CDPQ, Fonds de solidarité FTQ invest in Stingray's NCC buy

Montréal-based media company Stingray Digital Group Inc (TSX: RAY.A-.B) has raised $40 million from its issue of private placement subscription receipts to Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. A shareholder of Stingray has also exercised and subscribed for subscription receipts, generating $15 million, which was funded by Fonds de solidarité FTQ and Investissement Québec. The deals, which are part of a $138 million financing, will back the company's previously announced buy of Newfoundland Capital Corp Ltd (NCC), the owner and operator of Newcap Radio, for $506 million.

Avrij Analytics raises $1.2 mln from NBIF, TVC, others investors

Avrij Analytics, a Fredericton-based sports analytics technology startup, has secured $1.2 million in financing. The round was led by New Brunswick Innovation Foundation (NBIF), which invested $500,000, and joined by Technology Ventures Corp (TVC) and several other private and public investors. Founded in 2016, Avrij provides sports organizations with a software platform to track, monitor and predict an athlete’s behaviour, helping them optimize team recruitment and management. Led by CEO Garfield Fisher, the company will use the funds raised to enhance its product, integrating video and photo analysis in addition to text.

TA Associates-backed Marc Anthony files Canadian IPO

MAV Beauty Brands Inc, the holding company for Toronto-based beauty specialist Marc Anthony Cosmetics Inc, has filed a preliminary prospectus with Canadian securities regulators for an initial public offering of common shares. The IPO has not yet been priced; however, Bloomberg earlier reported the company is looking to raise as much as $250 million. The IPO will include a treasury offering by MAV and a secondary offering by TA Associates, which acquired the company in 2016, as well as President and CEO Marc Anthony Venere and the Redmond Family. CIBC Capital Markets, RBC Capital Markets and Jefferies Securities are the joint bookrunners.

Kayne, Yaletown invest $16 mln in Circle Cardiovascular Imaging

Circle Cardiovascular Imaging Inc, a Calgary-based developer of advanced post-processing software for the cardiac imaging (CVI) industry, has secured $16 million in follow-on funding. The round was led by U.S. investor Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors and Canadian private equity firm Yaletown Partners. The proceeds will mostly be used to accelerate commercialization of Circle's CVI software suite for cardiologists and radiologists. Founded in 2007, Circle's product is used in more than 800 hospitals in over 40 countries. Led by CEO Greg Ogrodnick, the company is also backed by BDC Capital, Epic Capital Management, Foundation Equity and other investors.

Fiix raises $15.5 mln Series B financing led by BuildGroup

Toronto-based maintenance software provider Fiix has secured about $15.5 million (US$12 million) in a Series B financing. The round was led by BuildGroup, which also led the company's Series A in 2016. Founded in 2008 and formerly known as Maintenance Assistant, Fiix creates software that helps businesses organize their maintenance departments and turn data into actionable insights. Led by CEO Marc Castel, the company has served clients in manufacturing, wholesale trade, construction, and transportation and warehousing, and currently works with more than 20,000 users in 90 countries. Fiix's other backers include MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund.

Dooly seeded with $2 mln in ScaleUP Ventures-led round

Dooly, a Vancouver-based enterprise sales solution, has raised $2 million in a seed-stage financing. The round was led by ScaleUP Ventures and joined by Panache Ventures, Pallasite Ventures and New Avenue Capital. Launched in 2016 by CEO Kris Hartvigsen and CTO Justin Vaillancourt, Dooly is a developer of Salesforce-synced software that leverages artificial intelligence to automate the sales process by moving information to and from customer-facing teams in real time. It aims to eliminate 65 percent of the time spent on back-end customer relationship management (CRM) tasks. Dooly said the funds raised will help it reach more clients and add new features to the platform.

Engineering talent solution Terminal closes $13 mln Series A

Terminal, a Kitchener, Ontario-based builder of remote engineering teams, has raised $13 million in a Series A financing. The round included investments from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Thiel Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Atomic, Craft Ventures and Jerry Yang, founder of Yahoo. Launched in 2017 by Atomic's Jack Abraham and Luke Finney, 8VC's Joe Lonsdale and Eventbrite's Dylan Serota, Terminal recruits technical talent and establishes and manages remote work spaces for technology companies. Hiring Atomic's Clay Kellogg as CEO, Terminal will use funds raised to scale operations in its five Canadian and U.S. offices and expand into Latin America.

PE-backed Velvet Energy looks to buy Iron Bridge for $120 mln

Velvet Energy Ltd has begun an offer to acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Iron Bridge Resources Inc (TSX: IBR), a Calgary-based junior oil and gas company focused on a Montney Oil play in Western Canada. Velvet proposes to pay $0.75 per share, valuing Iron Bridge at about $120 million. Velvet, a Calgary-based oil and gas exploration and development company, said Iron Bridge's board and management have refused to engage in discussions about the all-cash offer, compelling Velvet to appeal directly to shareholders. Velvet is backed by Warburg Pincus, Trilantic Capital Partners, 1901 Partners Management and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

CDPQ to grow Invenergy Renewables ownership to 52.4 pct

Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) has agreed to acquire an additional interest in Invenergy Renewables LLC, a renewable energy business affiliated with Chicago-based Invenergy LLC. No financial terms were released for the deal, which will see CDPQ obtain a 52.4 percent economic ownership in Invenergy Renewables, building on an initial investment made in 2013. Invenergy will continue to be the company's managing member. Invenergy Renewables has developed wind and solar power generation and advanced energy storage projects of about 14,000 megawatts. It has a presence in the Americas, Europe and Asia.

Medical data company Canary Medical wins $33.2 mln in VC

Vancouver medical data company Canary Medical Inc has raised an investment of about $12.8 million (US$10 million) from the global health sciences fund of Canadian venture capital firm Quark Venture and China’s GF Securities Co Ltd. The deal is part of a broader financing round of about $33.2 million (US$26 million) that is also backed by BioScience Managers and Relentless Pursuit Partners. Canary develops implant and data management ecosystem technology used for remote patient monitoring. Led by CEO Bill Hunter, the company will use the funds raised for the development of a smart artificial knee implant through to commercial release.