The Business Development Bank of Canada related stories
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BDC SME clients top 30,000, bank deploys more to VC, growth capitalThe Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) has announced that it experienced a 6.7 percent increase in the number of Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises it serves as clients in fiscal 2014. These clients now total more than 30,000. According to the bank's 2014 annual report, it also committed around $862 million to the venture capital market, which is up from around $822 million in fiscal 2013. BDC's subordinate financing group, now known as growth and transition capital, also reflected a portfolio of $601 million in fiscal 2014, up from $566 million the year before.
Elastic Path secures funds led by BDC Venture CapitalEcommerce company Elastic Path Software has raised CDN$5.35 million led by BDC Venture Capital IT Fund. Yaletown Venture Partners and individual investors also participated.
BDC, Canada Media Fund partner to finance digital media venturesThe Canada Media Fund (CMF), which supports companies that promote Canadian creative content, is partnering with BDC Capital, an affiliate of the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), to increase the funding available to project commercialization in the digital media industry. Under this arrangement, BDC will provide eligible ventures in gaming and software with a convertible note worth $150,000 to complement investments already committed by CMF. One objective of the partnership will be to increase opportunities for these companies to secure additional private sector investments.
Elastic Path raises $5.35 mln to leverage experience-driven commerceVancouver-based e-commerce provider Elastic Path Software has raised $5.35 million in a new financing round led by BDC Venture Capital IT Fund and joined by Yaletown Venture Partners and several angel investors. The new funds will help Elastic Path position its digital technology platform and scale its operations to anticipate a major market shift in the direction of experience-driven commerce.
- Extreme Startups and GrowLab merge, launch new accelerator platform
Canadian startup accelerators Extreme Startups and GrowLab Ventures have merged and concurrently launched a new pan-Canadian accelerator platform called HIGHLINE. The platform is backed by Canadian venture capital firms BDC Capital and Relay Ventures, as well as several angel investors, including Amar Varma, a senior executive at Pivotal Labs, Clarity Digital Group president Leonard Brody, and Boris Wertz, general partner at Version One Ventures. HIGHLINE will begin hosting startups this fall in Vancouver and Toronto, focusing on early-stage digital company founders with global ambition to scale. It aims to create $10 billion in value over the next 10 years.
BDC Capital becomes founding partner of Creative Destruction LabBDC Capital, an investment arm of the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), has entered into a three-year partnership with startup accelerator Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), an affiliate of the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. CDL graduates will now be eligible for BDC's convertible note investment program, which since 2012 has invested $13.2 million in 87 Canadian companies, with private investors putting up a further $38 million. Founded two years ago, CDL has generated more than $100 million in equity value and aims to reach $1 billion. In June, BDC partnered /canada/2014/06/26/bdc-partners-with-accel-rx-to-seed-health-sciences-companies/ with Accel-Rx Health Sciences Accelerator to seed health sciences startups.
Fonds de solidarité FTQ's Gravel, Orbimed's Zakrzewski join Thrasos boardThrasos Therapeutics, a biotherapeutics company focused on delivering new treatments for kidney disease, has appointed Gaétan Gravel and Joe Zakrzewski to its board of directors. Gravel is the life sciences portfolio director at the Fonds de solidarité des travailleurs du Québec FTQ. Zakrzewski was between 2010 and 2011 a venture partner at U.S. venture capital firm Orbimed Advisors. In 2012, Montréal's Thrasos raised $35 million from SR One, GSK Canada Life Sciences Innovation Fund, SW Co, Advanced Technology Ventures, Fonds de solidarité FTQ, Lumira Capital, MP Healthcare Venture Management and Pappas Ventures.
Normand Chouinard tapped as Fonds de solidarité FTQ's exec VPNormand Chouinard has been appointed executive vice-president, investments, of the Fonds de solidarité des travailleurs du Québec FTQ. Chouinard, who joined the Fonds de solidarité FTQ in 1998, has since held a number of executive positions at the firm and at the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. Most recently, he was the Fonds de solidarité FTQ's senior vice-president, natural resources, industries and consumer goods, and head of investments. Last month, the Montréal-based firm named /canada/2014/06/26/gaetan-morin-named-fonds-de-solidarite-ftqs-president-and-ceo/ Gaétan Morin as its new president and CEO.
- Normand Chouinard tapped as Fonds de solidarité FTQ's exec VP
Normand Chouinard has been appointed executive vice-president, investments, of the Fonds de solidarité des travailleurs du Québec FTQ. Chouinard, who joined the Fonds de solidarité FTQ in 1998, has since held a number of executive positions at the firm and at the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. Most recently, he was the Fonds de solidarité FTQ's senior vice-president, natural resources, industries and consumer goods, and head of investments. Last month, the Montréal-based firm named /canada/2014/06/26/gaetan-morin-named-fonds-de-solidarite-ftqs-president-and-ceo/ Gaétan Morin as its new president and CEO.
D-Wave confirms $30 mln raise from BDC, DFJ, Harris & Harris, other VCsD-Wave Systems Inc has secured $30 million in additional funding from new and existing Canadian and U.S. investors, including BDC Capital, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Goldman Sachs and Harris & Harris Group. The announcement confirms an earlier report /canada/2014/07/11/sec-filing-shows-d-wave-systems-raising-additional-28-4-mln-in-vc/ about a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that said D-Wave had raised US$28.4 million. Founded in 1999, the Burnaby, British Columbia-based company said the new funds will be used to advance and scale its quantum computing technology, accelerate software development and build a software application ecosystem. D-Wave to date has raised $160 million in venture capital and government grants.