VersionOne

DemandStar, a marketplace for bidding on government contracts, has secured $2 million in seed funding.

Canadian early-stage venture capital firm Version One Ventures has launched Version One Ventures Opportunity Fund I with C$25m in commitments, according to a blog post.

Canadian early-stage venture capital firm Version One Ventures has hired Max Webster as an associate, according to a company announcement.

Version One Ventures has invested in Dolly, a Seattle, Washington-based same-day retail delivery service. Version One, a Canadian early-stage venture capital firm, backed the US$7.5 million financing of Dolly, announced this month. The round was led by Unlock Venture Partners and joined by Maveron. Launched in 2014 and led by CEO Mike Howell, Dolly provides a peer-to-peer marketplace to connect individuals and businesses with local truck owners to move, deliver or haul items. It will use the funds raised to enter new markets and facilitate plans to expand nationally and globally.

Kobalt Security, a Vancouver-based cybersecurity company, has raised an undisclosed investment from Canadian early-stage venture capital firm Version One Ventures. The investment was part of a financing led by two of Kobalt's co-founders, Pankaj Agarwal and Boris Wertz, Version One's founding partner. BetaKit reports https://betakit.com/cybersecurity-startup-kobalt-closes-1-million-cad-founders-round/ the round's total value at $1 million. Launched in 2018 and led by CEO Michael Argast, Kobalt is focused on bringing cybersecurity monitoring-as-a-service to small and mid-sized organizations. Kobalt is Version One's first cybersecurity deal and the first startup the investor has helped incubate.

Gencove, a low-pass genome sequencing platform, has secured $3 million in funding. Spero Ventures led the round with participation from Alexandria Venture Investments, Burst Capital, Third Kind Venture Capital and Version One Ventures. In addition to the funding, Shripriya Mahesh, a partner at Spero, will join Gencove's board of directors.

Toronto-based automated customer service Ada has raised $19 million in a Series A financing. The round was led by U.S. venture capital firm FirstMark Capital. It was joined by Leaders Fund and Burst Capital, as well as Bessemer Venture Partners, Version One Ventures and Barney Pell, which backed last year's $2.5 million seed deal /canada/2017/07/3463705/ Founded in 2016 by CEO Mike Murchison and Head of Design David Hariri, Ada's platform allows customer service teams to build and manage artificial intelligence-enabled chatbots to automate interactions. It will use the funds raised to expand into new global markets and sectors, enhance the platform, and grow the team.

Version One Ventures is growing its franchise. The Vancouver firm, founded in 2012 by renowned seed investor Boris Wertz, made the decision to expand when raising its third fund. One result was the September promotion of Angela Tran Kingyens to general partner. A further step will soon be taken with the hire of an associate. In an interview with PE Hub Canada , Wertz said the increased resources will help deploy Version One Ventures III, which raised about $57 million last month. He also told us more about Version One's growing franchise, Fund III, recent deals and the firm’s evolving strategy.

The funds raised will support Jobber's continued growth through investments in R&D, sales and marketing, and new customer acquisition.

The investors include Alberta Enterprise Corp, Ontario Capital Growth Corp, Investissement Québec, BMO Financial Group and TELUS Ventures.

Port Coquitlam, British Columbia-based Moment Energy, a creator of energy storage systems from retired electric vehicle batteries, has raised C$3.5 million in seed financing.

Waterloo, Ontario-based EnPowered, an on-bill payment platform for the energy industry, has secured C$12 million in two financings.

Venture capital investing in Canadian technology companies continued its record-setting pace in 2021, with C$3.7 billion invested in 147 financings in the third quarter.

South Korean internet conglomerate Naver has closed its acquisition of Wattpad, a Toronto-based social storytelling platform.

Ada, a Toronto-based provider of automation customer experience solutions, has secured $130 million in a Series C financing.

Wattpad, a Toronto-based entertainment company focused on original stories, has agreed to be acquired by South Korea's Naver.