Private Equity
BenchSci, a Toronto-based biomedical artificial intelligence (AI) technology company, has raised an undisclosed investment from Gradient Ventures, Google’s AI fund. The deal brings total funding to $27.2 million. BenchSci last year closed a Series A financing led by Inovia Capital and joined by Gradient, Golden Ventures, Afore Capital, Real Ventures and Radical Ventures. Founded in 2015, BenchSci develops technology that enables scientists to run more successful experiments to accelerate drug discovery. Its first product is an AI-assisted antibody selection platform. BenchSci will use the funds raised to expand its Toronto team and global sales force to meet demand from pharmaceutical companies.
5 min read · 25 June 2019
Supreme Cannabis Co Inc said it will launch a new platform for investing in Europe's cannabidiol (CBD) health and wellness sector. Supreme Heights will make strategic investments in and lend support to U.K. and European health and wellness businesses with focused brands and CBD offerings, including vaporizers, edibles and beverages, topicals and ancillary services. Based in London, Supreme Heights will be led by CEO Patrick Morton, co-founder of Cannabis Invest UK. Toronto-based Supreme Cannabis is a provider of cannabis products for commercial and medical use.
6 min read · 25 June 2019
BDC Capital has supplied $1.25 million of mezzanine financing to TickTrade, a Toronto-based provider of a software-as-a-service foreign exchange (FX) trading platform. BDC invested through its Growth and Transition Capital division. The deal was led by Director Kyle Feucht. Founded in 2013 by CEO Baha Ohcebol and COO Alexander Culiniac, TickTrade provides its FX trading and payments solutions to the global financial services industry. The proceeds of the financing, TickTrade's first from an institutional source, will be used to hire additional sales and marketing personnel as the company begins further U.S. and European market penetration.
3 min read · 25 June 2019
Vancouver-based carbon capture technology company Inventys has wrapped up its Series C financing, raising about $34 million (US$26 million). Inventys received an additional $13 million (US$10 million) from U.K.-based fund OGCI Climate Investments, which led the Series C's first tranche last year, and BDC Capital's clean technology practice, with existing investors Husky Energy Inc, Roda Group and Chevron Technology Ventures also contributing. The funds raised will allow Inventys to complete its 30-tonne-per-day CO₂ capture plant demonstration project with Husky, due to begin operations in Q3 2019. They will also support scale-up activities for the manufacturing of the company's filter beds and rotating adsorption machine.
5 min read · 25 June 2019
Canadian healthcare technology venture capital firm iGan Partners has exited its investment in Rhythm Xience, an Eden Prairie, Minnesota-based medical device company. The exit resulted from Rhythm's acquisition by Carlsbad, California's Acutus Medical, a venture capital-backed arrhythmia care provider. Founded in 2014, Rhythm designs, develops and makes solutions used in catheter-based cardiac rhythm management. Toronto-based iGan, which earlier this year closed its first fund, iGan Fund I, at $100 million, led Rhythm's last financing in 2018.
2 min read · 24 June 2019
Chrysalix Venture Capital, a Canadian industrial innovation venture capital firm, has invested in Feasible, an Emeryville, California-based battery analytics platform company. Terms weren't disclosed. The investment is the first made by Chrysalix RoboValley Fund. Founded in 2015, Feasible is the developer of EchoStat, which uses sound waves to provide real-time analytics and insights for solving challenges in battery design, manufacturing and product management. Chrysalix RoboValley Fund was launched in 2018 with a target of US$120 million ($158 million). It invests in early-stage intelligent systems companies focused on improving productivity and critical business processes.
3 min read · 24 June 2019
Opus One Solutions, a Toronto-based smart grid software engineering company, has raised additional capital for its Series B financing. The undisclosed second tranche was led by Canadian growth equity firm MacKinnon Bennett & Co (MKB) and Export Development Canada (EDC). Canadian venture capital firm Renewal Funds, which led the round's undisclosed first tranche in December, added to its investment. The funds raised will be used by Opus One to accelerate growth in North American and global markets. Founded in 2011 by President and CEO Joshua Wong, Opus One provides transactive energy and distributed energy management solutions to utilities and other market participants.
4 min read · 24 June 2019
Ackroo Inc (TSX-V: AKR), an Ottawa-based gift card and loyalty marketing technology and services provider, has secured a $4 million debt facility from BDC Capital. The facility's proceeds will be used for acquisitions. They include Ackroo's acquisition of certain assets of I.Q. 7/24 Inc, the digital marketing and business intelligence business of Mobi724 Global Solutions Inc. The $2.7 million deal is expected to close next month. Founded in 2012, Ackroo provides its in-store and online automated marketing solution to automotive, petroleum, hospitality and retail merchants.
3 min read · 24 June 2019
Xanadu, a Toronto-based photonic quantum computing and AI startup, has raised $32 million in a Series A financing. The round brings the company's total funding to date to $41 million, according to a news release. The Series A was led by OMERS Ventures. OV, the venture arm of $97 billion Canadian pension fund OMERS, also led Xanadu’s seed financing last year. Also participating were Georgian Partners, Radical Ventures, Real Ventures, Silicon Valley Bank and individual investor Tim Draper, founder of DFJ. Launched in 2016 by CEO Christian Weedbrook, Xanadu is focused on leveraging the discovery that quantum computing can make use of photons, or particles of light, to rapidly perform complex calculations at room temperature.
2 min read · 24 June 2019
Nikon Corp has invested about $10 million (US$7.5 million) in Wrnch, a Montréal-based provider of computer vision tools. Nikon, a Japanese maker of optical instruments, said the investment will help expand the range of its imaging business. Launched in 2015 in partnership with Canadian seed investor TandemLaunch, Wrnch provides an artificial intelligence software platform to digitize and analyze human motion and behaviour from standard video in real time. It is led by CEO Paul Kruszewski. Wrnch closed a $1.8 million Series A financing in 2016. It was led by Mark Cuban’s Radical Ventures and joined by Aligo Innovation, gr0k Technologies and TandemLaunch.
2 min read · 21 June 2019
