MaRS Discovery District, Communitech, the University of Waterloo's Velocity, the C100 and RBC have teamed up to launch Canada House, a new Silicon Valley hub for visiting Canadian technology entrepreneurs. Based in San Francisco, Canada House will as of January 27th provide later-stage startups partnering with sponsor organizations with a short-term co-working space. The aim is to give startups more opportunities for raising capital and meeting potential customers.
5 min read · 27 January 2016
Primus Telecommunications Canada Inc, which sought and obtained creditor protection earlier this month, has agreed to be bought by Birch Communications Inc, a U.S.-based provider of IP-based communications, broadband, cloud and IT services. No financial terms were disclosed. Founded in 1997, Toronto-based Primus is a telecommunications service provider in the domestic market. It was acquired by U.S. private equity firm York Capital Management in a US$129 million deal in May 2013.
1 min read · 27 January 2016
Whitby, Ontario-based 360incentives, a channel marketing software provider, has raised $10 million in follow-on financing. Leaders Fund, a recently launched enterprise software venture capital fund, and Economic Development Canada led the round. The company's existing investors OMERS Ventures, leader of its $7.65 million funding round in early 2013, and Klass Capital also participated. Founded in 2008, 360incentives' software platform assists brands in creating, measuring and managing their incentives programs, such as sales incentives, rebates and co-op/mdf initiatives. It will use its new funds to further develop the platform. 360incentives is also backed by Round 13 Capital.
3 min read · 27 January 2016
San Francisco-based AppDirect has acquired Radialpoint, a Canadian tech support provider that has been backed for nearly eight years by U.S. private equity firm TA Associates. It is the fifth acquisition of AppDirect, a cloud service commerce platform founded in 2009 by Montréal-born entrepreneurs Daniel Saks and Nicolas Desmarais.
3 min read · 27 January 2016
U.S. private equity firm Lightyear Capital and Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) have agreed to acquire AIG Advisor Group Inc, a subsidiary of American International Group (AIG). No financial terms were disclosed. Headquartered in New York, AIG Advisor Group is a network of independent financial advisors with more than 5,200 independent advisors and US$160 billion in client assets under administration. With the deal, Lightyear and PSP will take the majority of the seats on the company's board of directors. PSP's Guthrie Stewart said the Montréal-based pension fund manager sees "multiple growth levers" to drive AIG Advisor Group's future performance.
5 min read · 26 January 2016
Kitchener, Ontario-based video platform Vidyard has secured about $50 million (US$35 million) in a Series C financing. The round was led by U.S. venture capital firm Battery Ventures and was joined by existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Salesforce Ventures, OMERS Ventures, iNovia Capital and SoftTech VC. With the deal, Michael Brown, general partner at Battery Ventures, will join the company's board of directors. Founded in 2010, Vidyard helps business marketing and sales teams generate more pipeline and investment returns with online video content. It said it plans to use the funds to develop new innovative products. To date, Vidyard has raised over US$60 million in total financing.
5 min read · 26 January 2016
Canadian mid-market private equity firm Birch Hill Equity Partners has closed its fifth fund, Birch Hill Equity Partners V LP, at $1.3 billion in committed capital. The oversubscribed fund, backed by a mix of North American and European institutional investors and family offices, surpassed the $1.04 billion raised by Fund IV in 2011. As reported by PE Hub Canada in 2014, Birch Hill was expecting to raise close to the same amount for Fund V as its predecessor. The Toronto-based firm said it will probably make investments ranging from $30 million to $600 million, across 10 to 12 companies within Fund V. Birch Hill reports having delivered an 18 percent cumulative average rate of earnings growth over the past 20 years.
2 min read · 26 January 2016
Newfoundland and Labrador’s public pension funds are creating a first-time allocation to alternative assets with the help of Caledon Capital Management, a Toronto-based portfolio management and advisory firm. Newfoundland and Labrador Pooled Pension Fund, which oversees $9 billion in assets, decided on a market strategy in 2013 that called for a target allocation of five percent each for private equity and infrastructure.
2 min read · 25 January 2016
TierPoint LLC has agreed to buy Cosentry Inc, a provider of cloud, colocation and managed services based in Omaha, Nebraska. No financial terms were released. The seller in the deal is U.S. private equity firm TA Associates, which bought Cosentry in 2011. Upon the acquisition's close, TA Associates will become a "significant investor" in TierPoint, joining the company's existing backers, including Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. Ontario Teachers became an investor in late 2014, when it supported St. Louis, Missouri-based TierPoint's acquisition of Xand.
3 min read · 21 January 2016
Montréal-based iNovia Capital has exceeded the target set for its fourth venture fund, thanks to a group of new and repeat limited partners that included many of the firm’s best known founders. Fund IV secured $175 million in committed capital, iNovia Managing Partner Chris Arsenault told PE Hub Canada. That’s 17 percent more than its goal of $150 million.
3 min read · 21 January 2016
