Private Equity
Response Biomedical Corp (TSX: RBM)(OTCBB: RPBIF) has received a US$2.5 million term loan from Silicon Valley Bank. Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Response Biomedical develops, manufactures and markets rapid on-site diagnostic tests for use with its RAMP platform for clinical, biodefense and environmental applications. Update: The company plans to use funds from the loan to support working capital needs for growing its markets both in the United States and internationally, and for general corporate purposes.
4 min read · 12 February 2014
Acquisio Inc has received expansion funding from Canadian technology-focused venture capital firm Emerillon Capital. The financial terms of the deal were not published. Acquisio, ranked 7th in the 2013 Deloitte Fast 50™, will use investment proceeds to accelerate growth through strategic acquisitions. Founded in 2003, the Brossard, Québec-based company provides digital marketers with a performance media platform that enables them to optimize the results of their search, social, mobile, and display marketing programs. Venture-backed since 2011, Acquisio's other investors include the Fonds de solidarité des travailleurs du Québec FTQ and Tandem Expansion Fund. Emerillon Capital was established in 2013 through a partnership between Groupe Crédit Mutuel – CIC and Mouvement Desjardins.
3 min read · 30 January 2014
Novacap Technologies has agreed to buy Oxford Networks, a Lewiston, Maine-based provider of end-to-end telecommunications and IT solutions for businesses in New England and other U.S. regions, peHUB Canada has learned. A special meeting of Oxford shareholders last week approved the deal, which is intended to facilitate further expansion of the 113-year old company, and give it the opportunity to launch new product and service offerings. While the acquisition price was not disclosed, one source pegged it at around US$50 million. According to Novacap partner Ted Mocarski, the Oxford deal represents a continuation of its strategy of investing in select U.S. companies that fit the technology investment model it pioneered in Canada. Mocarksi likened Oxford to other telecom transactions recently done by Novacap. For example, last January the firm bought Host.net, a Boca Raton, Fla.-based provider of network infrastructure services focused on cloud computing, co-location and storage. And last May, it acquired Montréal's Fibre Noire, a specialist in fibre optic connectivity services for enterprises.
2 min read · 30 January 2014
Bonnefield Financial, a private equity firm that specializes in investing in Canadian farmland, has netted $261 million in the second close of its third partnership, Bonnefield Canadian Farmland LP III. The firm said the close was oversubscribed, and exceeded its original fund-raising target of $200 million. Fund III will focus on providing Canadian farmers with land-lease financing to support their growth and succession plans as well as to help them reduce debt and improve profitability. Last July, Bonnefield completed a major agricultural land deal, acquiring assets in Dufferin County, Ontario from the The Highland Companies. With offices in Ottawa and Toronto, the firm has to date secured around 35,000 acres of farmland for farmers in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick.
2 min read · 29 January 2014
Boris Wertz launched Version One Ventures with the aspiration of making it “one of the top 10 seed funds in North America.” Less than a year later, he appears to have realized that ambition. U.S. data platform Mattermark last month ranked Vancouver-based Version One as No. 8 on a list of 115 leading VC investors. PeHUB Canada Editor Kirk Falconer sat down with Wertz to find out his secret to success.
7 min read · 29 January 2014
Canadian private equity firm TriWest Capital Partners has in partnership with company management made an undisclosed majority investment in Landmark Cinemas, a Calgary-based movie exhibition chain with theatres and screens in cities across Western Canada. Concurrent with the investment, TriWest financed the equity for the company's buy of Western Canadian and select Ontario theatres of Empire Theatres. TriWest senior managing director Cody Church said the Empire deal creates the second largest movie exhibition company in Canada and the tenth largest in North America. The Landmark investment closely follows several TriWest deals done in late 2013, including the acquisition of Source Energy Services, the acquisition of Colter Energy, and the acquisition of Triple M Housing. All of these investments we made by TriWest Capital Partners Fund IV, which closed in 2012.
3 min read · 24 January 2014
ResponseTek Networks Corp, a provider of enterprise customer experience management (CEM) software solutions, has secured a $6 million round of financing from Beedie Capital Partners and GrowthWorks. Proceeds of the investment will be used to support the company's continued growth and expansion into the Middle East and Asia. Based in Vancouver, ResponseTek has implemented CEM programs using its ReponseTek Listening Platform™ in over 30 countries throughout North America, Europe and Asia, according to the company. ResponseTex has been venture-backed since 2001. Its other investors include BDC Venture Capital and MMV Capital Partners.
3 min read · 14 January 2014
Triphase Accelerator Corp, a cancer-focused biotechnology accelerator, has been formed by an investment partnership of Fight Against Cancer Innovation Trust (FACIT) and affiliates of commercialization and innovation hubs MaRS Innovation and MaRS Discovery District. With operations in Toronto and San Diego, Calif., Triphase aims to support differentiated products through proof of concept (Phase II) faster and more efficiently. Originally spun out of the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research in 2010, Triphase has entered into a strategic relationship with Celgene Corp, a manufacturer of drug therapies for cancer and inflammatory disorders with headquarters in Summit, New Jersey.
4 min read · 13 January 2014
Shopify Inc said Thursday that it has raised $100 million in Series C funding. OMERS Ventures and Insight Venture Partners led the round with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, FirstMark Capital, Georgian Partners and Felicis Ventures. According to the company, the capital infusion will be used to expand its recently launched offline retail offering. Based in Ottawa, Ontario, Shopify is an e-commerce and retail platform. Update: The Series C round raised by the company brings its total venture capital investment since 2010 to over $120 million.
5 min read · 12 December 2013
Canadian mid-market private equity firm TriWest Capital Partners has made an undisclosed investment in Source Energy Services (SES), a Calgary-based specialist in proppant sourcing and oilfield logistics. The deal, which was done in partnership with the company's existing shareholders and senior managers, will support the development of SES proppant distribution network, which delivers Wisconsin sand to the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin and other basins. The SES investment follows TriWest's acquisition of Triple M Housing, and its acquisition of Colter Energy, and is the fourth investment made to date by TriWest Capital Partners Fund IV, which was closed last year at $350 million.
3 min read · 06 December 2013
