Montréal junior mining company Falco Resources Ltd (TSX-V: FPC) has closed a private placement deal that generated gross proceeds of about $10.8 million. The investors were private equity funds managed or sponsored by Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Capital régional et coopératif Desjardins, Fonds de solidarité FTQ and the Québec government. The funds raised will be used to advance a de-watering program related to the development of Falco's Horne 5 gold project in the Rouyn-Noranda, Québec mining camp, exploration activity, and other priorities.
4 min read · 26 January 2017
National Technical Systems Inc (NTS), a portfolio company of U.S. private equity firm Aurora Capital Group, has bought Canadian testing laboratories Fiarex and CEM for an undisclosed sum. Chambly, Québec's Fiarex specializes in mechanical and environmental testing, while Boucherville, Québec's CEM specializes in electromagnetic compatibility and interference testing. Jean-Pierre Rioux, president of the two acquired companies, said the deal will provides customers with a broader scope of test and inspection capabilities. Aurora bought Calabasas, California-based NTS in 2013.
3 min read · 26 January 2017
Canadian energy infrastructure company AltaGas Ltd (TSX: ALA) has agreed to acquire WGL Holdings Inc (NYSE: WGL), the U.S. parent of natural-gas utility Washington Gas Light Co, in a deal valued at $8.4 billion. The acquisition, which is expected to close by Q2 2018, will be funded in part by a private placement transaction involving the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS). The OMERS investment will generate gross proceeds of about $400 million. Calgary's AltaGas said the acquisition of WGL, which will continue to reside in Washington, D.C., will give it growth opportunities in the midstream, power and utilities markets.
5 min read · 26 January 2017
Kik Interactive Inc has bought Rounds Inc, an Israeli provider of instant group video chat on mobile. No financial terms were disclosed. Waterloo-based Kik, the creator of chat platform Kik, said the acquisition will support the platform's expression and group video features. It will also grow the company's global presence and mark the opening of product and engineering centres in Tel Aviv and Toronto. Led by Founder and CEO Ted Livingston, Kik has secured more than US$120 million from venture capital investors, according to Crunchbase. Rounds raised US$24 million from Sequoia Capital, Samsung Ventures, Rhodium, Verizon Ventures, DFJ and others.
3 min read · 26 January 2017
Freshii Inc has filed a final prospectus with Canadian regulatory authorities for an initial public offering and secondary offering of 10.9 million Class A subordinate voting shares. The Toronto company priced the offerings at $11.50 per share for total gross proceeds of $125.35 million. An additional $18.8 million may be raised via an over-allotment option granted to underwriters. Founded in 2005 by CEO Matthew Corrin, Freshii operates a healthy fast-food restaurant chain that today includes more than 244 stores located in 15 countries. It is backed by Canadian growth equity firm Klass Capital.
3 min read · 25 January 2017
2 min read · 25 January 2017
ClickDishes Inc, a Canadian restaurant ordering app, has secured $1.6 million in financing. The round's backers were undisclosed angel investors based in Canada and Asia. Founded last year by Alec Wang, Tim Li, Vlad Sarpe and Vicki Zhou, the team responsible for online food service Nomme Inc, ClickDishes has developed a mobile app and platform that partners with local restaurants to help customers with take-out and in-restaurant ordering, including payment services. The company is planning to first launch its product in Calgary and Vancouver and then pursue North America-wide expansion.
3 min read · 25 January 2017
Venture capital invested in Canada in 2016 largely kept pace with trends of the year before, with more than $2.2 billion (US$1.7 billion) disbursed to 266 deals, according to the MoneyTree Report from PwC Canada and CB Insights. The report found Canadian investment activity last year contrasted "significantly with the global picture," where deals declined 10 percent and funding fell 23 percent relative to 2015. Chris Dulny, national technology sector leader at PwC Canada, said the domestic market's "standout" trends "underscore the strength of the Canadian tech sector."
5 min read · 25 January 2017
Pangaea Ventures, a Canadian pioneer of advanced-materials investing, has launched its fourth VC fund with an initial commitment from heavyweight strategic backers. In a newsletter issued this week, the Vancouver cleantech investor said Pangaea Ventures Fund IV secured roughly half its $105 million (US$80 million) target. If it raises the whole amount, Fund IV will be the largest in the firm’s 16-year history. The fund's initial limited partners included major corporations based in North America, Europe and Asia.
2 min read · 25 January 2017
NextAI, a NEXT Canada program intended to provide capital, mentorship and networking opportunities to Canadian artificial intelligence (AI) startups, has raised $5.15 million in funding. NextAI's corporate partners, Royal Bank of Canada, Magna International, BDC Capital and Scotiabank, made the investment. Founded last year, NextAI aims to bring global AI talent and entrepreneurs to Toronto, where they will work with corporate, academic and technology partners to create commercially-viable AI ventures. IBM Canada, Google and NVIDIA will back the program as technology sponsors.
5 min read · 25 January 2017
