Vancouver-based specialty finance firm TIMIA Capital Corp has established a presence in Ontario with the hire of Andrew Abouchar as executive vice president, underwriting. Abouchar, a partner at Canadian venture capital firm Tech Capital Partners, will focus on expanding TIMIA's financing business in Ontario and across Canada. Abouchar co-founded Tech Capital in 1998 and has since helped lead the firm's investments in early-stage companies in the Toronto-Waterloo corridor. TIMIA provides financing to technology companies in exchange for a royalty on revenue.
3 min read · 14 September 2016
Video app platform You.i TV has raised $12 million in a Series B financing. Time Warner Investments, a U.S. strategic investor, led the round and was joined by Canada's Vistara Capital Partners and Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, a U.S. private equity firm that invested $15 million in You.i TV last year. With the deal, Scott Levine of Time Warner will join the company's board. Founded in 2008, Ottawa-based You.i TV has developed technology that allows brand owners to build video applications across multiple devices. It plans to use the funds raised to respond to customer demand, enhance its app designer workflow IP, and continue to grow its partner channels.
3 min read · 13 September 2016
Canadian electric and gas utility business Fortis Inc (TSX: FTS) has joined the strategic partner network of Energy Impact Partners (EIP), a U.S. private equity firm. Founded last year, New York-based EIP invests in companies that help optimize energy consumption and improve sustainable energy generation. Through its partnership with EIP, Fortis will make investments in emerging technologies of relevance to the utility industry. EIP's other strategic partners are Southern Company, National Grid plc, Xcel Energy Inc, Ameren Corp and Great Plains Energy Inc.
3 min read · 13 September 2016
2 min read · 13 September 2016
Caprion Biosciences Inc has bought the assets of ImmuneHealth ASBL's immune monitoring laboratory in Gosselies, Belgium. No financial terms were disclosed. Montréal-based Caprion said the acquisition will help expand its immune monitoring offering and strengthen its business partnerships and research collaborations in Europe. It will also diversify the company's services offering in the areas of infectious diseases and vaccine development. The add-on deal is Caprion's first since its acquisition in July by GHO Capital Partners. The seller was Chicago Growth Partners.
4 min read · 13 September 2016
ONCAP, the mid-market private equity arm of Onex Corp, has sold U.S. pizza-buffet chain Cicis, a portfolio company it held for close to a decade. The deal was announced last week by Cicis and its new investor Arlon Group, a U.S. private equity firm. No financial terms were released. ONCAP's sale comes on the heels of the firm's agreement in August to acquire U.S. roofing contractor Tecta America from Oaktree Capital Management.
2 min read · 13 September 2016
Shape Technologies Group Inc, a portfolio company of U.S. private equity firm American Industrial Partners (AIP), has acquired the garnet business of Opta Minerals Inc, a Canadian provider of custom process solutions and industrial mineral products. The deal's financial terms were not disclosed. Kent, Washington-based Shape said the acquisition will provide support and service to industrial users of its waterjet technology and ultrahigh-pressure process solutions. Opta Minerals, which is based in Waterdown, Ontario, was acquired in May by U.S. private equity firm Speyside Equity.
4 min read · 13 September 2016
AmorChem has spun out Montréal-based biotechnology startup Mperia Therapeutics Inc and invested $1 million in the latter's Series A financing. As part of the deal, AmorChem transferred to the company all rights to a novel immunotherapy based on CD36 technology, which addresses diseases involving chronic inflammation, such as age-related macular degeneration. Maxime Ranger was appointed Mperia's president and CEO, and the Université de Montréal's Dr. Huy Ong, its chief scientific officer. AmorChem is the seed-stage fund of Canadian life sciences venture capital firm GeneChem.
4 min read · 13 September 2016
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has partnered with U.S. private equity firm TPG Capital in a combined investment of US$500 million in Viking Cruises, a Los Angeles-based provider of destination-centric river and ocean cruises. The deal gives CPPIB and TPG a joint 17 percent stake in MISA Investments Ltd, the parent of Viking Cruises. Founded in 1997 by CEO Torstein Hagen, Viking Cruises operates more than 61 vessels based in 44 countries. The partnership with CPPIB and TPG is intended to support the company's expansion into new markets and continued innovation, and to strengthen its balance sheet.
6 min read · 12 September 2016
Isaac Souweine has joined Canadian early-stage venture capital firm Real Ventures as an entrepreneur-in-residence. He will operate from Montréal. Souweine has in recent years served in a number of entrepreneurial roles, including as director of product management at Frank & Oak, an online menswear retailer, between 2013 and 2015. He subsequently assumed a comparable position at Flatbook, a hospitality technology platform. In August 2015, Montréal-based Real Ventures raised $89 million for its third fund, Real Ventures III.
2 min read · 12 September 2016
