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Team performance startup Nudge Rewards closes $5 mln Series AToronto-based employee performance platform Nudge Rewards Inc has secured $5 million in a Series A financing. U.S. venture capital firm Generation Ventures led the round, giving President Alistair Mitchell a seat on the board. BDC Capital's Women in Tech Fund, Brightspark Ventures, StandUp Ventures and new and existing angel investors also participated. Founded in 2012 by CEO Lindsey Goodchild and CTO Dessy Daskalov, Nudge Rewards provides a mobile solution to improve frontline team performance for retail, food service, and hospitality brands. It will use the funds raised to fuel expansion in select Canadian and U.S. markets.
Canadian VC sustains strong pace with $1.6 bln invested in H1 2017Venture capital investment in Canadian technology companies sustained a strong pace in the first half of 2017, according to a report by the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (CVCA). VC funds invested a total of $1.6 billion in 260 financing rounds at the end of June, not far behind the $1.7 billion invested in 275 rounds in H1 2016. Activity in the second quarter was especially robust, with $913 million going to 131 rounds, up 28 percent from Q2 2016. CVCA said H1 2017 was also notable for the return of major venture-backed exits in Canada, led by the sale of Luxury Retreats to Airbnb and initial public offerings of Real Matters and Zymeworks.
Fonds de solidarité FTQ discloses $13.4 mln Clementia financingFonds de solidarité FTQ has disclosed a March 2017 investment in Clementia Pharmaceuticals Inc, a Montréal clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. The investment provided Clementia with about $13.4 million (US$10 million) in funding. Fonds de solidarité FTQ also said it is participating in the company's initial public offering, which was priced this week to raise as much as /canada/2017/8/vc-backed-4/ $172 million (US$138 million). Clementia, which was launched in 2010, is developing treatments for patients suffering from debilitating bone and other diseases.
Biotech boom continues with Repare’s $90 mln Series A, Zymeworks IPOCanada’s life sciences sector is on a roll. Current levels of venture capital investment are unprecedented. This week another major deal was announced, with Repare Therapeutics, a Montréal developer of precision oncology drugs, securing about $90 million in a Series A financing. One of the sector’s other big stories is the IPO of biotherapeutics provider Zymeworks. The company, which last month raised about $86 million on the Toronto and New York exchanges, is now being talked about as Canada’s next biotech anchor company.
Venture-backed Zymeworks files for Canadian and U.S. IPOVancouver-based biotherapeutics company Zymeworks Inc has filed with Canadian and U.S. regulatory authorities for an initial public offering of its common shares. The IPO, which will give the company a listing on the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “ZYME”, has not been officially priced; however, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission notes a proposed offering size of as much as $100 million (US$75 million). Last year, Zymeworks closed one of Canada's largest venture capital rounds, raising about $87 million (US$61.5 million) /canada/2016/1/zymeworks-scores-61-5-mln-series-a/ It was led by BDC Capital and Lumira Capital and joined by multiple other investors.
Artificial intelligence program NextAI raises $5.15 mln in fundingNextAI, a NEXT Canada program intended to provide capital, mentorship and networking opportunities to Canadian artificial intelligence (AI) startups, has raised $5.15 million in funding. NextAI's corporate partners, Royal Bank of Canada, Magna International, BDC Capital and Scotiabank, made the investment. Founded last year, NextAI aims to bring global AI talent and entrepreneurs to Toronto, where they will work with corporate, academic and technology partners to create commercially-viable AI ventures. IBM Canada, Google and NVIDIA will back the program as technology sponsors.
Why Canadian venture capital is the right bet for investorsIn an exclusive PE Hub Canada feature article, OMERS Ventures Managing Director Jim Orlando poses the question of why investors should pay closer attention to Canada's venture capital asset class. He answers the question with evidence of improving Canadian venture returns and opportunities based on an increasingly self-sustaining ecosystem, more risk-taking entrepreneurs and better-capitalized funds.
- Top 2016 Canadian VC deals rake in more than $1.1 bln
Canada’s top 10 venture-capital financings in 2016 drew more than $1.1 billion from investors, more than twice the $534 million that went into the top 10 deals in 2015. That number is based on PE Hub Canada's list of the largest deals announced last year, supplemented by preliminary Thomson Reuters data. The list is headed by BlueRock Therapeutics, Thalmic Labs, DalCor Pharma and Real Matters, which were responsible for the biggest crop of $100 million-plus financings in Canada since the dot.com era.
Manulife helps push Information VP II over the top in $106 mln closeInformation Venture Partners wrapped up its second VC fund at $106 million with the help of a fourth strategic investor as well as increased commitments from existing limited partners. Information Venture Partners II, which invests in fintech and enterprise-software companies in Canada and the United States, closed late last month, General Partners Robert Antoniades and David Unsworth told PE Hub Canada. The fund edged past its $100 million target thanks mostly to a commitment from Manulife Financial, a Canadian insurer and financial-services firm.