Claridge and Ivanhoé Cambridge have agreed to partner in a $100 million vehicle set up to invest in mid-sized real estate development projects in Montréal. The vehicle, which will invest alongside private property developers, will typically deploy between $5 million and $15 million to projects focused on residential, mixed-use, light industry and low-density office buildings. The partnership will be managed by Claridge Real Estate. Claridge is a private equity firm that invests on behalf of the Stephen Bronfman family. Ivanhoé Cambridge is the real estate investment arm of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.
3 min read · 18 May 2016
Canadian virtual healthcare app Akira has been launched with $500,000 in seed-stage funding. The investors included Tobias Lütke, founder and CEO of Shopify, Mike Silagadze, founder and CEO of Top Hat, and Canadian venture-backed accelerator Highline. Founded in 2015 by Dustin Walper and Dr. Taha Bandukwala, Toronto-based Akira has developed a mobile platform that connects patients to family doctors on demand. During a closed beta test this spring, over 2,000 people signed up for Akira and had over 750 doctor consultations, the company reported. Currently available in Ontario, Akira's technology will soon be made available elsewhere in Canada.
4 min read · 18 May 2016
Norway’s Siem Offshore AS has acquired the 50 percent interest in Secunda Canada LP held by Birch Hill Equity Partners, a Canadian mid-market private equity firm. No financial terms were released for the deal, which resulted from a recapitalization of Secunda, an operator of harsh-weather offshore support vessels servicing the oil and gas industry. Secunda, which has offices in St. John's, Newfoundland and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, was established by Birch Hill in March 2012, following the investor's buy of marine assets owned by McDermott International Inc. Siem Offshore acquired an initial 50 percent stake in the company in September 2013.
2 min read · 18 May 2016
A new report by the Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (CVCA) found robust investment trends in Canada’s venture capital (VC) market in the first quarter of 2016. A total of $838 million was invested by VC funds in somewhat fewer financing rounds in Q1 2016, which is nearly double the amount invested the year before, the CVCA reported. Larger-sized tech deals drove the growth, with five financings accounting for 40 percent of all disbursements. In contrast, the CVCA found lower investment levels in Canada's private equity (PE) market between January and March. Generally slower PE deal-making captured just under $3 billion in values in this period, down from $7 billion reported at the same time in 2015.
5 min read · 18 May 2016
Opsens Inc (TSX-V: OPS), a Québec City-based maker of fiber optic sensors, has obtained gross proceeds of about $5 million in a private placement transaction. The lead investor was Lumira Capital, a Canadian life sciences venture capital firm. Founded in 2003, Opsens has developed technology that is mainly focused on the measure of fractional flow reserve in interventional cardiology. Its optical-based pressure guidewire, called OptoWire, aims at improving results for patients with coronary artery disease. The company plans to use funds raised to execute its sales and marketing strategy and support continued research and product development.
3 min read · 17 May 2016
Canadian web development platform PerfectlySoft Inc has secured $1.2 million in a seed-stage financing. The round was led by Impression Ventures, a Canadian venture capital firm. Headquartered in Newmarket, Ontario, PerfectlySoft is the creator of Perfect, a server-side Swift development framework that helps full-stack mobile developers to streamline their projects. The startup plans to use the proceeds of the seed round to scale its team and technology infrastructure, and to continue introducing its product to markets. Founded last year, PerfectlySoft is led by CEO Sean Stephens. Last October, Impression led the seed funding of HonkMobile.
3 min read · 17 May 2016
GuestLogix Inc (TSX: GXI) recently wrapped up its sale of OpenJaw Technologies Inc to TravelSky Technology Ltd. The deal, announced last month, provided GuestLogix with net proceeds of approximately US$38.5 million after adjustments, but before fees and expenses. The OpenJaw transaction resulted from a court-approved sale and investment solicitation process conducted under creditor protection legislation. Based in Toronto, GuestLogix is a provider of merchandising, payment, and business intelligence technology to the passenger travel industry. It closed a credit deal last June with Vistara Capital Partners and Beedie Capital Partners.
4 min read · 17 May 2016
U.S. private equity firm Quad-C Management has wrapped up its sale of InterWrap Inc, a Canadian manufacturer and distributor of synthetic roofing underlayment and packaging materials. The deal, announced earlier this year, saw Owens Corning (NYSE: OC), a U.S. producer of insulation, roofing and fiberglass composites, acquire the company for US$450 million. Established in 1984, Vancouver-based InterWrap is led by CEO Eduardo Lozano and operates facilities in the United States, Canada, India and China. It received an initial investment from Quad-C in November 2013.
3 min read · 17 May 2016
2 min read · 17 May 2016
Q4 Inc, formerly known as Q4 Web Systems Inc, has closed a $22 million Series B financing, bringing the company's total funding so far to $30 million. Investors in the Series B round included OpenText Enterprise Apps Fund, Information Venture Partners, HarbourVest Partners, Emerillon Capital and Kensington Capital Partners. Plaza Ventures, which led Q4's Series A round in February 2015, also invested, as did Accomplice. Founded in 2006, Toronto-based Q4 is a software-as-a-service platform focused on communication and intelligence solutions for the investor relations market. It said funds raised will be used to expand the company's engineering, sales and marketing teams. Q4 has offices in Chicago and New York.
5 min read · 17 May 2016
