Canadian software company Embotics Corp has secured $12.1 million in growth funding from Arrowroot Capital, a U.S. growth equity firm. Founded in 2006, Ottawa-based Embotics offers a multi-cloud management platform for enterprise information technology and managed service providers that allows them to automate and control their virtualized and cloud environments. It plans to use the funds raised to drive expansion through increased investment in sales and marketing initiatives as well as product development. Embotics has previously raised financing from Canadian investors, including Covington Funds and VentureLink.
3 min read · 09 June 2016
Canadian software company Embotics Corp has secured $12.1 million in growth funding from Arrowroot Capital, a U.S. growth equity firm. Founded in 2006, Ottawa-based Embotics offers a multi-cloud management platform for enterprise information technology and managed service providers that allows them to automate and control their virtualized and cloud environments. It plans to use the funds raised to drive expansion through increased investment in sales and marketing initiatives as well as product development. Embotics has previously raised financing from Canadian investors, including Covington Funds and VentureLink.
3 min read · 09 June 2016
Auld Phillips Ltd, a women's fashion retailer operating in Western Canada, has secured an undisclosed investment from Stern Partners, a Canadian private equity firm. Founded in 1965 in Chilliwack, British Columbia, Auld Phillips has a network of 56 retail stores under the brands Auld Phillips, Suzanne's, Jenny's, Suzanne's and Jenny's, and Top Shop. The deal aims at supporting the company's continued growth in Canada's specialty retail fashion market. Stern Partners' investment in Auld Phillips comes on the heels of its investment last month in Thinkingbox, a Vancouver-based creative and digital production studio.
3 min read · 08 June 2016
Vancouver-based biotechnology startup ImStar Therapeutics Inc has obtained $1.8 million in seed-stage financing. Canadian health sciences accelerator Accel-Rx and venture capital firm BDC Capital led the round with investments of $500,000 each. The rest was accounted for by AviTx Inc and other private investors. Founded in 2012, ImStar is a developer of treatments for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and other neurodegenerative disorders. The company's technology is based on the research of Dr. Jean Pierre Julien of Université Laval. ImStar said the funds raised will be used to advance pre-clinical work for its lead therapeutic program.
5 min read · 08 June 2016
Vancouver-based Social Nature, a marketing platform for progressive brands, has raised $1 million in a seed-stage financing. The round was backed by Shopify Co-Founder Scott Lake, the Pereira-Wharton family, Conconi Growth Partners, Highline VC, BDC Capital and several other investors. Founded in 2014 by CEO Annalea Krebs, Social Nature provides a social sampling community that promotes quality natural product brands. More than 100,000 people have joined the community to date, Social Nature said. The proceeds of the seed funding will be used to support the startup's continued growth across North America.
2 min read · 08 June 2016
U.S. private equity firm Sentinel Capital Partners has closed a recapitalization deal involving The Luminaires Group (TLG), a Canadian designer, maker and distributor of specification-grade and architectural lighting fixtures in North America. No financial terms were released. Founded in 1987, Montréal-based TLG offers three branded lighting product lines: Amerillum, Cyclone and Eureka. TLG said the investment partnership with Sentinel will support the company's organic and acquisition-led growth and opportunities to enter new markets. Last October, Sentinel sold Canadian craft yarn maker Spinrite LP to TorQuest Partners.
4 min read · 08 June 2016
Ilse Treurnicht, CEO of Canadian innovation hub MaRS Discovery District, will step down at the next annual general meeting in June 2017. Treurnicht, who headed Toronto-based MaRS for almost twelve years, said the organization is entering a next phase of growth and that it is the right time "for a new leader to take the helm.” MaRS' board has appointed a special committee to direct a search process for a new CEO. Treurnicht joined MaRS in 2005 after serving for over six years as CEO of Primaxis Technology Ventures, a Canadian venture capital firm.
3 min read · 08 June 2016
Canadian beverage producer Cott Corp (NYSE: COT, TSX: BCB) has agreed to acquire Eden Springs International, a Swiss provider of water and coffee services to workplaces in Europe. The deal reflects a purchase price of €470 million ($682 million) and is expected to close in the third quarter of this year. Eden Springs' seller is U.S. private equity firm Rhône Capital, which acquired the company in mid-2013. Toronto-based Cott said the deal is consistent with its diversification strategy to expand in home office and delivery beverage and filtration services. The acquisition will also broaden the company's European business. Cott recently bought Aquaterra Corp, a portfolio investment of Birch Hill Equity Partners.
9 min read · 08 June 2016
Calgary-based oil and gas company Wayfinder Corp has secured an undisclosed equity investment from ARC Financial Corp, a Canadian energy private equity firm. Founded in June 2015, Wayfinder is focused on servicing the oil and gas industry in Western Canada with solutions that improve productivity and bring down the cost of hydraulic fracturing treatments. It said the funds raised will support the construction and commissioning of a resin-coating plant and transload facility. ARC is investing in Wayfinder via ARC Energy Fund 8, which raised $1.5 billion last year. The firm's other recent deals include its take-private transaction with Boulder Energy Ltd, closed in April.
3 min read · 08 June 2016
Canadian online investment platform NexusCrowd has collaborated with Downing Street Financial on a $15.5 million 1st mortgage investment on a property in the Greater Toronto Area. NexusCrowd raised $540,000 in debt capital from investors for the mortgage, the proceeds of which will be used to consolidate existing debt and provide bridge financing for the Phase I development of a multi-phase residential condominium project. Downing Street is Toronto-based real estate investment manager and merchant bank.
3 min read · 07 June 2016
