Mohr Davidow Ventures

Sunnyvale, California-based Webscale, a provider of converged software for hyperscale cloud automation, has secured $14 million in Series B financing. Mohr Davidow Ventures led the round with participation from Benhamou Global Ventures and Grotech Ventures.

Vancouver-based home-improvement technology provider BuildDirect has raised about $55 million (US$43 million), about $36 million of which is new with the rest converted from interim financing obtained during the company's recent creditor protection /canada/2017/11/venture-backed-builddirect-files-for-creditor-protection/ Mohr Davidow Ventures led the round. It was joined by new and existing investors, including Fidelity Investments Canada, Pelecanus Investments, Lyra Growth Partners and Beedie Capital. The fundraising, which wraps up BuildDirect's restructuring, and the company's exit from creditor protection this month, leave a "newly energized and well capitalized business poised for success," CEO Dan Park said.

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Silicon Valley-based Webscale Networks, a provider of multi-cloud web application delivery, has secured $12 million in funding. Mohr Davidow Ventures led the round with participation from other investors that included Benhamou Global Ventures, Grotech and Silicon Valley Bank. In conjunction with the funding, Jim Smith, a general partner at MDV, and Anik Bose, a general partner at BGV, have been added to Webscale's board of directors.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau has announced the federal government's new Advisory Council on Economic Growth. The council's 14 members include: Katherine Barr, general partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures and a former C100 co-chair; Angela Strange, partner at Andreessen Horowitz and a current C100 co-chair; and Ilse Treurnicht, CEO of MaRS Discovery District and a former venture professional. Michael Sabia, head of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, was also appointed, as was Mark Wiseman, president and CEO of Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board.

New York-based WorkFusion, an enterprise smart process automation company, has secured US$14 million in Series C financing. The round was led by U.S. venture capital firm Nokia Growth Partners and was joined by existing investors, including Canadian firm iNovia Capital, which led the company's Series A round in 2013. Mohr Davidow Ventures, Greycroft Partners and RTP Ventures also invested. WorkFusion's technology is used to automate high-volume, labour-intensive processes historically performed by business process outsourcing. It said it will use the new funding to accelerate growth and expand business development efforts.

Katherine Barr, general partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures, is stepping down this month as co-chair of the C100, the Silicon Valley-based non-profit organization established to support Canadian entrepreneurship. She will be replaced in that role by Angela Strange, partner at Andreessen Horowitz. Strange will work with existing C100 Co-Chair Scott Bonham, founding partner of GGV Capital. Barr, who said she will remain on the C100's board of directors, was last year interviewed by peHUB Canada /canada/2014/04/14/builddirect-and-startups-that-go-big-a-conversation-with-mdvs-katherine-barr/ at the time of BuildDirect's Series B financing, which was led by Mohr Davidow.

Vancouver, British Columbia-based BuildDirect, an online shopping platform provider for building professionals to amateurs, has secured $50 million in funding. The investors included Mohr Davidow Ventures, OMERS Ventures and BMO Asset Management.

The Colorado-based VC firm has invested in 61 companies across 30 years, leading to 28 exits and 10 IPOs.

BuildDirect, a Vancouver-based online building materials marketplace, has acquired Superb Flooring & Design, a Troy, Michigan-based full-service flooring retailer.

BuildDirect, a Vancouver-based online building materials marketplace, has closed a qualifying transaction as part of its reverse takeover.

BuildDirect, a Vancouver-based home-improvement technology provider, has agreed to go public on the TSX Venture Exchange through a reverse takeover.

American Express is in advanced talks to buy Kabbage, an online small business lender, reported Bloomberg.

Kabbage Inc has agreed to acquire assets of Radius Intelligence, a small business data platform. No financial terms were disclosed. Radius Intelligence's backers included Formation 8 Partners, Founders Fund, Glynn Capital Management, Slow Ventures, Western Technology Investments, Yuan Capital and Jared Leto. Kabbage is backed by SoftBank Vision Fund, BlueRun Ventures and Mohr Davidow Ventures.

Personalis Inc, a provider of advanced genomics solutions for cancer, has debuted its IPO after pricing its nearly 8 million shares at $17 per share. The stock began trading June 20, 2019 on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol "PSNL." Morgan Stanley, BofA Merrill Lynch and Cowen are the lead underwriters. Personalis' pre-IPO backers included Lightspeed Venture Partners, Abingworth and Mohr Davidow Ventures.