Zoom.ai Inc, a Toronto-based workplace automation solutions startup, has raised an additional $3.1 million for its seed-stage financing, bringing the round's total to $5.2 million. Evolution Equity Partners, a U.S. venture capital firm, led the second tranche. As a result, Evolution's Dennis Smith will join the board. Existing investors Betaworks, BDC Capital, Good News Ventures, Two Small Fish Ventures and North Spring Capital also participated. Led by CEO Roy Pereira, who founded Zoom.ai in 2016, the company will use the second tranche's proceeds for product development and new hires to help meet increased U.S. and European demand.
3 min read · 11 April 2018
Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan has agreed to acquire a 40 percent minority stake in European Camping Group (ECG), an Aix-En-Provence, France-based provider of mobile-homes holiday rentals. No financial terms were released for the deal, which is expected to close in Q2 2018. The sellers are Carlyle Group and Montefiore Investment, which acquired ECG in September 2014. Carlyle and Montefiore will continue to be the company's majority shareholders. ECG owns and operates a rental fleet of more than 20,000 units, of which more than 90 percent are mobile homes.
5 min read · 11 April 2018
Canadian venture capital firm iNovia Capital has hired Patrick Pichette and Dennis Kavelman as general partners. Among the new GPs’ former financial and operational roles, Pichette served as senior vice president and CFO at Google LLC, while Kavelman served as CFO and COO at Blackberry Ltd. Additionally, Montréal-based iNovia said it is expanding into Europe by opening an office in London, where Pichette will be based. Kavelman will operate from the firm’s Toronto-Waterloo office. INovia said it is also adding team members to its San Francisco location. Finally, iNovia said it plans to expand its market strategy to include growth equity investing.
3 min read · 11 April 2018
Canadian venture capital firm iNovia Capital has hired Patrick Pichette and Dennis Kavelman as general partners. Among the new GPs' former financial and operational roles, Pichette served as senior vice president and CFO at Google LLC, while Kavelman served as CFO and COO at Blackberry Ltd. Additionally, Montréal-based iNovia said it is expanding into Europe by opening an office in London, where Pichette will be based. Kavelman will operate from the firm's Toronto-Waterloo office. INovia said it is also adding team members to its San Francisco location. Finally, iNovia said it plans to expand its market strategy to include growth equity investing.
3 min read · 11 April 2018
Veerum has raised $3.9 million in a seed-stage financing. The round was led by U.S. venture capital firm Brick & Mortar Ventures. It was joined by Blackhorn Ventures, Creative Ventures and several unidentified strategic investors in Alberta. Founded in 2014 by CEO Steve Fisher, COO Scott Benesh and Product and Strategy Manager Amit Varma, Calgary-based Veerum develops digital technologies to help manage capital projects. It plans to use the funds raised to expand into the United States and adapt solutions tested in the energy industry to other, large-scale industrial projects, such as facility construction and mining.
3 min read · 10 April 2018
Clarivate Analytics has acquired Kopernio Ltd, a London-based artificial intelligence-enabled manager of journal articles. No financial terms were released. Clarivate, a Philadelphia-based owner and operator of subscription-based businesses, said the deal will create a publisher-neutral platform for research workflow and analysis for scientific researchers, publishers and institutions worldwide. Clarivate was launched in 2016 with the US$3.55 billion acquisition of Thomson Reuters' intellectual property and science unit by Onex Corp and Baring Private Equity Asia.
5 min read · 10 April 2018
Dominion Colour Corp, a Toronto-based supplier of colour pigments, dispersions and preparations to the coatings, plastics and ink industries worldwide, has merged with Pearl River, New York-based Lansco Colors, which operates in the same sector. No financial terms were disclosed. U.S. private equity firm HIG Capital, which acquired Dominion Colour in 2016, said the combined entity will have greater geographic presence, particularly in North America and Europe, and provide a complete solution to pigment-consuming customers. Lansco's management will remain with the merged business. CEO Mark Vincent has led Dominion Colour since HIG's acquisition.
5 min read · 10 April 2018
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) has invested $185 million in Island Star Mall Developers Pvt Ltd (ISMDPL), an Indian retail development investment platform co-owned with Mumbai's The Phoenix Mills Ltd. The deployment, which adds to one made a year ago, brings CPPIB's total investment in ISMDPL to $328 million, giving the pension system a 49 percent stake. The additional funding will allow the platform to undertake new developments and acquisitions, creating new retail-led mixed-use assets. ISMDPL's debut acquisition in Pune, India was made last August.
4 min read · 10 April 2018
Plus Products, a U.S. branded cannabis products maker, has raised US$6 million in a Series B financing. The round was led by Serruya Private Equity, which invests on behalf of Canada's Serruya family, and Navy Capital Green Fund, a U.S. cannabis investor. Founded in 2015, Plus Products manufactures cannabis-infused edibles from a 12,000 square-foot facility in Adelanto, California. The company will use the funds raised for rapid production capacity expansion, factory automation, working capital, and new product development.
3 min read · 10 April 2018
Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) has partnered with Crestpoint Real Estate Investments to acquire a portfolio of 12 office and industrial buildings located in the Vancouver region. The deal forms part of a $500 million package of property acquisitions made by Crestpoint, a commercial real estate investor, since January. The Vancouver assets include the head office of Mountain Equipment Co Op. Crestpoint is an affiliate of Toronto-based asset manager Connor, Clark & Lunn Financial Group Ltd.
4 min read · 10 April 2018
