Private Equity
State pension bets $1.4 billion on venture funds of funds
1 min read · 03 March 2014
Canada's provincial securities regulators are looking to extend their jurisdiction to cover crowdfunding, the grass-roots form of fundraising being pursued by a growing number of start-ups and small ventures, reports Reuters. The Canadian Securities Administrators , the council of provincial regulators, said on Thursday they aim to strike a balance between making more cash available to promising start-ups and ensuring investors aren't stretching beyond their means to invest in risky bets. The proposals, which are open to public comment until the end of May, include a framework to manage the growth of online crowdfunding sites pitching private opportunities to investors who might then decide to invest between C$20,000 (US$17,900) and C$150,000. The Ontario Securities Commission, the biggest of the country's provincial regulators, said the proposed amendments would require changes to its definition of so-called accredited investors, who can legally invest without seeing a prospectus.
2 min read · 28 February 2014
Abingworth has closed $375 million for its tenth life sciences fund. Asante Capital Group was the placement agent. Based in London, Abingworth is a VC firm focused on the life sciences and healthcare sector.
2 min read · 28 February 2014
Hatchbrands Ventures, a specialized micro-capital fund, has agreed to be acquired by iBrands Corp, a Roswell, Georgia-based holding company that acquires and operates niche market brands. The financial terms of the transaction, and the transaction's completion date, were not published. Founded in 2010, the Ottawa-based Hatchbrand makes pre-IPO investments in technology startups developed in accelerators and incubators found in post-secondary environments.
2 min read · 26 February 2014
RRE Ventures has begun raising a sixth fund with a target of $250 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The New York's firm's previous fund, RRE Ventures V from 2011, was $230 million in size and RRE Ventures IV from 2006 was $300 million, according to Thomson Reuters, publisher of peHUB.
1 min read · 26 February 2014
According to a blog post on its site, Collaborative Fund has raised $33 million for its second fund. The pool's LPs includes Tom McMurray, a former general partner at Sequoia Capital. Also, the company has added Jungju Kim as a venture partner. Based in New York, Collaborative Fund invests in startups. To read more details about the fundraising, visit here.
1 min read · 26 February 2014
Canadian venture capital firm Georgian Partners has secured a total of $100 million in the first close of its second partnership, Georgian Partners Growth Fund II. The lead investor was Northleaf Venture Catalyst Fund, managed by Canadian private markets investor Northleaf Capital Partners, which earlier this month announced that it had committed to Fund II. Additional backers of the first closing include BMO Financial Group, Kensington Capital Partners, Fondaction CSN, family offices and a large strategic software investor. Georgian Partners said the new fund will continue to invest in expansion-stage enterprise software, Internet and information companies that are exploiting applied analytics. One of the firm's portfolio companies, Shopify Inc, raised $100 million in a Series C round last December. Founded in 2008, Georgian Partners is based in Toronto.
3 min read · 25 February 2014
Anges Québec Capital Fund, an early-stage venture capital fund managed by Anges Québec (AQ), has been promised new commitments in the 2014-2015 Québec budget, tabled on February 20th by finance and economy minister Nicolas Marceau. The budget specified a $25 million commitment to Anges Québec Capital Fund. That is on top of the $30 million the fund received at the time of its formation in 2012. In partnership with the Montréal-based AQ and its network of private angel investors, Anges Québec Capital Fund has backed a number of technology startups over the past two years. At the beginning of 2014, the AQ network had 140 members and had invested in 35 early-stage companies.
1 min read · 24 February 2014
Majority of Capital Link’s venture funds advanced early last year
2 min read · 24 February 2014
1 min read · 21 February 2014
