Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Desjardins Group have created a venture capital fund focused on opportunities in the financial technology sector and the application of artificial intelligence to finance. The fund, which will be based in Montréal, will receive $50 million from its sponsors and is expected to reach a maximum size of $75 million in part through institutional commitments made prior to a first close later this year. Operating independently, it will back the growth of Québec and Canadian companies offering technology products that impact investments, payments, client acquisition and retention, data analysis, deposits and loans, security or insurance.
4 min read · 10 October 2017
Swept, a Halifax-based provider of software solutions for the janitorial industry, has raised about $2.5 million (US$2 million) in funding, according to a report by Entrevestor. Canadian venture capital firm iNovia Capital and U.S. firm Afore Capital co-led the round, the report said. Founded in 2014 by CEO Michael Brown and COO Matt Cooper, Swept, formerly known as Clean Simple, designs software that helps commercial cleaning businesses attract and retain staff and customers. The startup plans to use the round's proceeds to accelerate sales growth and improve its product.
1 min read · 10 October 2017
Halifax-based corporate security software provider LifeRaft has raised $1.45 million in a non-dilutive Series A financing. The round, which follows LifeRaft's $2 million financing last year, was led by Mike Durland, head of Melancthon Capital, a Canadian investment and advisory firm. As a result, Durland will join the startup's team. Launched in 2014, LifeRaft has built a technology platform that identifies potential security threats to people and business assets by gathering actionable intelligence from open-source channels. It will use the funds raised to expand sales and marketing, drive product development, and add to its global customers.
3 min read · 06 October 2017
Birch Hill Equity Partners’ recent wrap-up of its buy of CCM Hockey signals the start of a potentially fierce contest between hockey brands acquired this year by private equity firms. Birch Hill agreed in July to purchase CCM, a storied, 118-year old Canadian hockey equipment maker, from Adidas for US$110 million in cash and a secured note. The Toronto investor told PE Hub Canada the deal closed last month. It marks 2017's third PE acquisition of one or more hockey brands in North America.
4 min read · 06 October 2017
U.S. clinical-stage biotechnology company Visterra Inc has wrapped up its Series C financing, raising US$46.7 million in total. The round was backed by existing and new investors. The latter include CTI Life Sciences, a Canadian life sciences venture capital firm. Founded in 2007, Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Visterra is the creator of the Hierotope platform, which identifies unique disease targets and designs and engineers effective therapeutics. The company will use the round's proceeds to focus on its two lead product candidates and further leverage its platform.
4 min read · 05 October 2017
Bluecore Inc, a New York-based decisioning platform for retail and brand marketers, has closed a US$35 million Series C financing. The round was led by U.S. venture capital and growth equity firm Norwest Venture Partners. Bluecore's existing investors also participated. They included Canadian growth equity firm Georgian Partners, which led the company's US$21 million Series B round in 2015. Launched in 2013, Bluecore supports e-commerce marketers by unifying customer and catalog data. It will use the funds raised to accelerate the delivery of its platform to customers and enable product development.
4 min read · 05 October 2017
Canadian alternative assets manager Sprott Inc (TSX: SII) has partnered with Ceres Partners, a U.S. farmland private equity firm, in the launch of a new institutional farmland fund. The Ceres-Sprott Institutional Farmland Fund will focus on acquiring and leasing farmland assets in the United States. Other details of the fund, such as its expected size, were not disclosed. Ceres manages Ceres Farms, a fund that owns nearly 100,000 acres of U.S. farmland with total assets of about US$620 million. In July, Canadian farmland private equity firm AreaOne Farms closed its third fund at $130 million.
3 min read · 05 October 2017
The Canadian Business Growth Fund has appointed George Rossolatos as its CEO effective January 2018. Rossolatos, formerly a partner at Canadian private equity firm TorQuest Partners, will work alongside Dale Ponder, the fund's newly appointed chair. Rossolatos co-founded TorQuest in 2002 and served with the firm until 2009. He later founded and led Riverdale Capital Corp, an investor in lower mid-market opportunities. Launched earlier in 2017 by a group of banks and insurers, the Canadian Business Growth Fund plans to invest up to $1 billion in long-term minority deals backing small and medium-sized companies.
4 min read · 05 October 2017
Icynene Inc, a Canadian maker and distributor of spray polyurethane foam (SPF) insulation products, has agreed to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Lapolla Industries Inc, a Houston, Texas-based company operating in the same industry. The deal is valued at US$160 million, including debt. The combination of Icynene and Lapolla will create a leading SPF products business serving residential, commercial, remodelling, and specialty non-construction insulation project needs worldwide, the companies said. Founded in 1986, Icynene was bought in 2014 by U.S. private equity firm FFL Partners, formerly known as Friedman Fleischer & Lowe.
5 min read · 05 October 2017
Sophie Forest, managing partner at Brightspark Ventures, has won the 2017 Canadian Angel of the Year Award, the National Angel Capital Organization (NACO) announced. The award, which is sponsored by BDC Capital, recognizes an individual who has made a significant contribution to the evolution of angel investing in Canada. Since joining Brightspark in 2003, Forest has led and managed more than 50 investments in technology companies. She played an especially key role in growing Radian6, acquired in 2011 by Salesforce for US$326 million. Prior to Brightspark, Forest was a partner at CDP Capital Technology Ventures.
4 min read · 05 October 2017
