Canada

Conexus Credit Union closes maiden fund at $30 mln

Conexus Credit Union has closed its inaugural venture fund at $30 million. The limited partners of Conexus Venture Capital Fund include credit unions, individual business leaders and a Saskatchewan-based retail venture fund with approximately 28,000 Saskatchewan-based shareholders. The fund will invest in Saskatchewan-based technology startups.

CTO.ai nets seed funding

Vancouver, British Columbia-based CTO.ai, a platform for rapidly scaling DevOps teams, has secured US$7.5 million in seed funding. The investors were Tiger Global, Slack Fund, Yaletown Partners, Pallasite Ventures, Panache Ventures and Jonathan Bixby. The capital infusion will be used for product development and personnel hiring. CTO was founded in 2017 by Kyle Campbell.

Enterprise smart lock maker Sera4 pulls in $1.5 mln

Waterloo, Ontario-based Sera4, an enterprise smart lock maker, has secured $1.5 million in financing. The investor was BDC Capital's growth and transition capital division. The capital infusion will be used for inventory, product development and sales and marketing. Sera4 was founded in 2014 by Jerod Klin, an ex-software engineer at BlackBerry.

District Ventures assumes ownership of Food Startup

District Ventures has assumed the ownership and operator of Food Startup, a Toronto-based food startup incubator and accelerator. No financial terms were disclosed. Food Startup has been renamed District Ventures Kitchen. District Ventures is a a startup incubator and accelerator of Canadian consumer venture firm District Venture Capital.

Brookfield closes fifth PE fund

Brookfield Asset Management Inc has closed its fifth private equity fund at US$9 billion, beating its US$7 billion target. BCP V's investors include public and private pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, financial institutions, endowments and foundations, family offices and private wealth investors. Brookfield's previous fund closed in 2016 at $4 billion. Brookfield is listed on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges under the symbols BAM and BAM.A, respectively.

RenoRun scores Series A

Montreal-based RenoRun, a technology-enabled construction material delivery service company, has secured C$22.5 million in Series A funding. Inovia Capital and Obvious Ventures led the round with participation from ScaleUp Ventures, Real Ventures, Maple VC and Silicon Valley Bank. The capital infusion will be used to scale RenoRun's business in each of the cities that the company operates as well as for personnel hiring.

CPPIB to buy power company Pattern Energy

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has agreed to acquire Pattern Energy, an independent power company, in a take-private transaction for US$26.75 per share or about US$6.1 billion. CPPIB has also agreed to merge Pattern Energy with Pattern Development, which is backed by Riverstone Holdings, to create a renewal energy company. Evercore and Goldman Sachs are financial advisers to Pattern Energy's special committee on the deal with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP serving as independent legal counsel. Pattern Energy is currently listed on the NASDAQ and Toronto Stock Exchange.

TandemLaunch collects about $30 mln for third fund

Montreal-based TandemLaunch has closed its third fund at about $30 million. TLVIII will back 20 new Canadian tech startups. The fund's investors include Fonds de solidarité, BDC Capital Harbor Street Ventures and the Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative. TandemLaunch is a start-up foundry and seed fund focused on creating, incubating and accelerating early-stage technology startups.

TODAQ to buy Quantius

TODAQ has agreed to acquire Toronto-based Quantius Inc, an intellectual property lender to tech companies. No financial terms were disclosed. TODAQ provides an ownership management platform to businesses, financial institutions and governments. TODAQ is based in Seoul, Dubai and Toronto.

Crown increases loan facilities to Touchstone and Triple Five

Calgary-based Crown Capital Partners Inc, a specialty finance company, has increased its loan facilities for two companies. Crown increased its loan facility to Touchstone Exploration from $15 million to $20 million. And, for Triple Five Intercontinental Group Ltd, Crown increased its loan facility by $7 million. Touchstone is a Canadian-based, international upstream oil and gas company currently active in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago while Triple Five is a diversified conglomerate, development and finance corporation with offices in major U.S., Canadian and global cities.