BDC Capital, the investment arm of the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), authorized $253.1 million in venture capital investments in fiscal 2016. That's up 36 percent from the $185.4 million authorized the year before. BDC Capital also reported $259.1 million in growth and transition financing going to clients in fiscal 2016, which is up 12 percent. The group contributed to the bank's overall financial results with $121.1 million in net income, which is also higher year over year. BDC Capital's Jérôme Nycz recently wrote a feature article for PE Hub Canada about increasing risk capital for high-growth Canadian technology companies.
4 min read · 24 August 2016
TMX Group announced it is funding an independent working group, the Advancing Innovation Roundtable, to examine ways to increase access to growth capital for Canadian innovative companies. Launching next month, the roundtable will deliver recommendations in early 2017. Members of the roundtable will include senior investment professionals. It will be chaired by Salil Munjal, a general partner at Yaletown Partners. PE Hub Canada interviewed Munjal earlier this year about the capital gap facing late-stage technology companies in Canada, as well as Yaletown's plans to raise a $135 million emerging-growth fund.
4 min read · 24 August 2016
Canadian content marketing software provider ScribbleLive has acquired Linkdex, a British enterprise search engine optimization (SEO) platform, for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition, which follows ScribbleLive's buy of Visually in January, will help marketers manage a complete life-cycle of their content and expand ScribbleLive's global presence, the company said. Founded in 2008, Toronto-based ScribbleLive has raised more than $60 million in funding, including its $38 million Series D round led by OpenText Enterprise Apps Fund last year. Linkdex was backed by U.K. technology investment firm Amadeus Capital Partners and other investors.
4 min read · 23 August 2016
Orlando, Florida-based technology repair specialist uBreakiFix has launched a partnership to more than double its presence in Canada. The deal, the terms of which were not disclosed, will see UBIFNorth, a franchisee of uBreakiFix, open 22 store locations in Alberta, Ontario and Atlantic Canada. The roll-out began in Toronto in January and will continue over a two-year period. Founded in 2009, uBreakiFix provides same-day repair services for a range of electronics. UBIFNorth is majority-owned by G3 Capital Corp, a Canadian hedge fund, venture capital and private equity investor.
4 min read · 23 August 2016
Alberta Investment Management Corp (AIMCo), Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan have agreed to sell 1.8 million common shares each in TMX Group Ltd, which owns and operates the Toronto Stock Exchange. The shares, priced at $57.70 per share, represent a combined 9.9 percent of TMX's issued and outstanding shares. Following the sale, AIMCo, CDPQ and Ontario Teachers' will each continue to hold about 5 percent of shares and each have a nominee on the board. The pension funds invested in TMX as part of company's acquisition for $3.8 billion in 2012.
3 min read · 23 August 2016
Alberta Investment Management Corp (AIMCo) has agreed to acquire up to US$500 million of Series B preferred units of Howard Energy Partners (HEP), a San Antonio, Texas-based diversified midstream company. AIMCo has already bought US$300 million of the company's units and has committed to buy an additional US$200 million of units in the future. Founded in 2011, HEP has assets in the Eagle Ford Shale region of South Texas, as well as in the Marcellus Shale region in Pennsylvania. U.S. infrastructure investment firm Alinda Capital Partners acquired a 59 percent interest in the company in late 2013. HEP is also backed by EnLink Midstream.
3 min read · 22 August 2016
Canadian venture capital firm Impression Ventures has raised $20 million for its second fund, earmarked for investments in early-stage financial technology companies. Anchor investors in Fund II include FairVentures, a subsidiary of Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd, as well as several family offices. Toronto-based Impression, founded in 2013 by Managing Partner Christian Lassonde, said the new fund will build on the record of Fund I, which backed online investment advisor Wealthsimple, receipt solutions provider Sensibill, and parking payments specialist HonkMobile. Impression said it will partner with FairVentures in insurance-related deal opportunities.
2 min read · 22 August 2016
West Face Capital said it has been vindicated by the dismissal of a lawsuit that alleged the firm misused confidential information when purchasing a stake in Wind Mobile Corp two years ago. The lawsuit, launched by Catalyst Capital Group, was dismissed by an Ontario Superior Court of Justice last week. Catalyst is expected to appeal the ruling, the Financial Post reported. In 2014, West Face and other private equity investors backed Globalive Capital's buy of Vimpelcom Ltd's interest in Wind Mobile. Wind Mobile was subsequently acquired by Shaw Communications Inc.
2 min read · 22 August 2016
Brookfield Asset Management has wound up a consortium that invested in General Growth Properties Inc (NYSE: GGP), a U.S. retail-focused real estate investment trust. The consortium was formed by Brookfield in 2010 to recapitalize GPP and has so far generated US$10 billion of gains to investors, the Toronto-based firm reported. Brookfield said its subsidiary Brookfield Property Partners will continue to own GPP stock and warrants, representing about 34 percent of outstanding shares. Reuters reported in February that Brookfield was exploring an acquisition of GPP. The Chicago-based business was then said to have a market value of US$24 billion.
4 min read · 22 August 2016
PerfectlySoft Inc has closed its seed-stage financing at $1.5 million with the help of Canadian angel organization York Angel Investors. The investment added to the $1.2 million round led by Canadian venture capital firm Impression Ventures earlier this year. Founded in late 2015, Newmarket, Ontario-based PerfectlySoft is the creator of Perfect, a server-side Swift development framework that helps full-stack mobile developers streamline their projects. The company said it will use the funds raised to advance and scale its product in anticipation of Apple's release of Swift 3.0 later this year.
3 min read · 22 August 2016
