Private Equity
Ecotagious, a Vancouver-based energy analytics and home energy management company, has secured undisclosed working capital. The financing was facilitated by the export guarantee program of Export Development Canada (EDC). EDC partnered in the deal with BMO and First West Capital. Founded in 2010 and led by CEO Bruce Townson, Ecotagious provides a software-as-a-service platform that helps utilities give appliance-level feedback and insights to customers. The funds raised will allow the company to scale and deliver on new contracts.
3 min read · 22 April 2019
Silicon Valley biotechnology investment firm Sofinnova Investments has hired Maha Katabi as a partner. Katabi, who has worked as a Canadian venture capital and public equities professional for more than 18 years, joined from Oxalis Capital, an innovative therapeutics investor she founded in 2018. Previously, she was a partner at Sectoral Asset Management, a vice president at Ventures West Management, and an associate at T2C2 Capital. With Katabi's hire, Sofinnova said it will open an office in Montréal, enabling the firm to work more closely with companies based in the Eastern United States, Europe and Canada.
3 min read · 22 April 2019
Canadian healthcare technology venture capital firm iGan Partners has secured $100 million in the final close of its first fund, iGan Fund I. The fund was backed by family offices and high-net-worth investors. Fund I will focus on early-stage companies in digital health, medical devices, healthcare IT and artificial intelligence, and other sectors. Toronto-based iGan Partners is led by Managing Partner Sam Ifergan, who founded the firm in 2013, and Partner Joel Finlayson. Its recent deals include a $2 million seed financing of OrbCare, a Toronto-based unified health cloud platform, and a $5 million Series A financing of Rna Diagnostics, a Toronto-based cancer therapy guidance platform. Both rounds were led by iGan Partners.
2 min read · 18 April 2019
After nine straight years of growth, Canada’s venture capital market showed no signs of slowing down in early 2019. The top 10 first-quarter VC financings drew $667 million from VC funds. While that’s down 28 percent from the $923 million raised by the top 10 deals a year earlier, it exceeds first-quarter results in other recent years. The estimate is based on PE Hub Canada’s list of the largest rounds announced from January through March, supplemented by preliminary data from Refinitiv. It suggests that despite increasing market uncertainty, trends in early 2019 reflect many of the same factors that drove soaring Canadian VC investment activity last year.
3 min read · 18 April 2019
Therillia Development Co, a Canadian affiliate of U.S. life sciences venture capital firm Sanderling Ventures, has acquired Tavec Pharmaceuticals, a New York-based therapeutic exosome company. No financial terms were disclosed for the deal, which will see Tavec relocated to Montréal. Founded in 2015, Tavec is developing anti-cancer gene therapies using injectable, miRNA-loaded exosomes. It is planning to initiate clinical trials in Québec in liver cancers and chronic liver diseases. Tavec is the eighth portfolio company Sanderling has helped establish in Montréal under Therilla in the past five years. Others include DalCor Pharmaceuticals and PreciThera.
3 min read · 18 April 2019
Concordia University Foundation (CUF) has agreed to invest in the portfolio of Inerjys Ventures, a Canadian clean technology venture capital firm. The agreement will see Inerjys invest, through limited partnerships, $1.2 million from CUF’s pool in three companies. They are AESP Green Energy, a Terrebonne, Québec-based provider of scalable off-grid solar solutions; Still Good, a Montréal-based maker of sustainable snacks; and Goliath Wind, an Estonian developer of modular wind turbines that will soon incorporate in Canada. The deal will also see Concordia University students and researchers exchanging with the companies at the operational level.
3 min read · 17 April 2019
Canadian life sciences venture capital firm AmorChem has made an undisclosed investment in a project to optimize antibiotic molecules developed at the Université de Sherbrooke. The project is based on research by François Malouin and Éric Marsault on tomatidine, a natural product with antibiotic properties that could potentially treat infections, including infections of cystic fibrosis patients. The deal is AmorChem's first with the Québec university. AmorChem is currently investing from its second seed-stage fund, AmorChem II Fund, launched in 2017 with the backing of Fondaction, Fonds de solidarité FTQ, Merck and others.
3 min read · 17 April 2019
Enerkem, a Montréal-based producer of biofuels and renewable chemicals from waste, has secured $76.3 million in a follow-on financing. New investor Suncor, a Calgary-based energy company, backed the round alongside existing investors. The latter include Braemar Energy Ventures, Cycle Capital, Fondaction, Fonds de solidarité FTQ, IQ, National Bank, Rho Ventures, Sunkem, Waste Management of Canada and Westly Group. Enerkem said the proceeds will fund development of its waste-to-energy facilities, including in Varennes, Québec, and Rotterdam, Holland. The round, combined with the company's $280 million deal in 2018, brings total financing to more than $676 million.
2 min read · 17 April 2019
Verdemed Holdings Inc, a Toronto-based medical cannabis company, has raised about $17 million (US$12.7 million) of mostly equity and convertible debt financing. The funding came from unidentified private investors located in Latin America. Led by President and CEO José Bacellar, Verdemed aims to provide a wide range of cannabinoid-based medications to address unmet clinical needs in Latin American countries. The company will use the deal's proceeds to acquire production assets in Colombia and Brazil and develop its business plans in Chile and Mexico.
4 min read · 17 April 2019
Toronto-based financial technology company Lendified has secured $15 million in its latest financing. The round was led by WD Capital Markets and INFOR Financial. It included funding from CI Financial Corp, Windsor Private Capital LP, FirePower Capital and high-net-worth investors, such as Glenn Murphy, founder of FIS Holdings and former CEO of Gap and Shoppers Drug Mart. Founded in 2015 by CEO Troy Wright and President Kevin Clark, Lendified provides online loans to Canadian small businesses and an SaaS credit platform to North American financial institutions. The funds raised will support the company's growth strategy.
3 min read · 17 April 2019
