Private Equity
GreenSoil Investments, a global private equity and venture capital firm that opened a Toronto office in April 2014, has launched is third fund, GreenSoil Building Innovation Fund. The fund, which raised an initial US$25 million, will invest in North American and international companies that generate returns for real estate owners, operators, and developers through innovation, smart resource utilization, and efficiency improvements. It is targeted to raise US$80 million to US$100 million in a final closing. GreenSoil, which was founded by Alan Greenberg and Gideon Soesman in 2011, also has offices in Israel and the Netherlands.
3 min read · 21 May 2015
Ignition Partners has closed a $200 million sixth fund with a determination to stick with its “boutique” style of Series A enterprise-focused software investing. The firm said the new fund was $100 million oversubscribed
1 min read · 21 May 2015
Glilot Capital Partners said Thursday that its second fund raised $77 million. Glilot II will invest in seed and early stage Israeli software companies with a particular focus in cyber-security and enterprise software. Glilot Capital Partners, of Tel Aviv, Israel, is a venture capital fund offering seed and early stage investments.
3 min read · 21 May 2015
Avrio Capital and Clairvest Group are the 2015 recipients of the Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association's (CVCA) “Deal of the Year” awards. Calgary-based Avrio won in the venture capital category for last year's sale of Wolf Trax Inc, an agricultural technology provider, to Compass Minerals. The deal gave Avrio 15.4 times its invested capital and an internal rate of return (cash and total) of 138 percent. Toronto-based Clairvest won in the private equity category for last year's sale of KUBRA Data Transfer Ltd, a provider of outsourced billing solutions, to Hearst Corp. The deal gave Clairvest 13.4 times its invested capital and an internal rate of return (cash and total) of 40 percent.
4 min read · 20 May 2015
Vistara Capital Partners, a newly formed growth investor in late-stage technology companies, has raised most of the capital targeted for its inaugural fund in an initial close. The Vancouver-based firm announced this week that Vistara Capital Partners Fund I LP has secured $80 million in committed capital, putting it within reach of an overall goal of $100 million.
3 min read · 20 May 2015
Philadelphia area-based venture firm Osage University Partners has raised $215 million for its second fund, beating its $200 million target. OUP focuses on backing university research startups.
2 min read · 20 May 2015
The Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) has committed $3 million for Communitech Corp to establish the Open Data Exchange in Waterloo, Ontario. The project, which is expected to result in the incubation of 15 new data-driven companies, has a total of cost of about $6 million, with another $50 million to be leveraged from venture capital and other partners. Communitech, Desire2Learn Inc, OpenText Corp and the University of Waterloo have pledged to match FedDev Ontario's contribution.
4 min read · 19 May 2015
Opportunity funds have become a competitive tool for early-stage firms hunting for the next Uber. Expect more of them.
3 min read · 19 May 2015
Value of venture-backed M&A and IPOs also rise in the month, as deal activity slows
2 min read · 19 May 2015
A recap of recent venture-related fundraisings and filings; plus tables and data on closings worldwide
10 min read · 18 May 2015
