Private Equity
Benevity Inc, a Canadian provider of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and employee engagement software, has acquired TrustCSR, a British CSR consultancy that serves enterprise clients. No financial terms were released. Calgary-based Benevity said the deal will add scale and geographic scope to its operations and allow the company to serve global customers through a new U.K. location. Founded in 2008 by CEO Bryan de Lottinville, Benevity processes donations and volunteering time to charities worldwide. In January, it secured an investment from U.S. growth equity firm General Atlantic. Benevity is also backed by JMI Equity.
4 min read · 27 February 2018
Vancouver-based cancer genomics company Contextual Genomics Inc has secured $12 million in a facility provided by PacBridge Capital Partners (HK), a Hong Kong growth-stage investment firm. PacBridge's James Lumsdaine will join the board as a result. Founded in 2012, Contextual is a developer of solutions that harness the clinical and genomic data of cancer patients to improve diagnosis and present expanded treatment options. The funds raised will be used for global distribution of FIND IT, a molecular hotspot assay, and development of FOLLOW IT, a mutation detection assay. Contextual is led by Executive Chairman Chris Wagner.
4 min read · 26 February 2018
PenderFund Capital Management Ltd has held the first close of a new fund earmarked for investments in mid-stage private and public technology companies primarily located in Western Canada and Western United States. The amount raised by Pender Technology Inflection Fund I was not disclosed. The fund will be co-managed by Maria Pacella, Pender's senior vice president, private equity, and David Barr, the firm's president and CEO. It will target opportunities for developing "fundamental technologies," such as the convergence of health and technology, as well as data-driven technologies. Vancouver-based Pender is a mutual funds manager.
3 min read · 26 February 2018
Upchain, a Toronto-based collaborative product development platform, has secured $7.4 million in a Series A financing. Canadian venture capital firms OpenText Enterprise App Fund (OTEAF) and BDC Capital led the round. OTEAF General Partner Richard Black and BDC Partner Sean Brownlee will join the board as a result. Launched in 2015 by CEO John Laslavic, Upchain provides product life-cycle management solutions to a range of stakeholders in the product development chain, as well as post-sales support. The funds raised will be used for product enhancement and to expand the company's sales, marketing and customer success teams.
3 min read · 26 February 2018
500px, a Toronto photo community and marketplace, has been acquired by Visual China Group (VCG) for an undisclosed sum. Founded in 2009, 500px provides an online platform for sharing, buying and selling photography created by professional and hobbyist photographers from more than 195 countries. VCG has been a strategic partner to the company, leading 500px's $13 million Series B round in 2015 and helping distribute its visual content in China. VCG said the buy is a "further investment in an already-successful partnership." Led by CEO Andy Yang, 500px was also backed by Andreessen Horowitz, ff Venture Capital, Harrison Metal Capital and others.
4 min read · 26 February 2018
Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) reported a net investment return of 11.5 percent last year, compared to a benchmark of 7.3 percent, and a net return of 10.3 percent in 2016. Investments, which generated close to $10 billion of net income, helped grow OMERS' net assets to $95 billion at the end of December, compared with $85 billion a year ago. Among OMERS' private asset classes, private equity investments returned 11.1 percent in 2017, down from the year before, while infrastructure investments returned 12.3 percent, which is up. The Toronto-based pension fund will issue its 2017 annual report in March.
2 min read · 23 February 2018
LegUp Computing Inc has raised undisclosed seed-stage financing led by Intel Capital, the venture investment arm of U.S. technology giant Intel Corp. Based in Toronto, LegUp provides a cloud platform that allows software developers to program, deploy, scale and oversee field-programmable gate array (FPGA) devices for accelerating high performance applications. It will use the round's proceeds to commercialize its open-source synthesis tool, which is based on research at the University of Toronto. LegUp was founded in 2015 by Dr. Andrew Canis, Dr. Jongsok Choi, Ruolong Lian and Professor Jason Anderson.
4 min read · 23 February 2018
D-Wave Systems Inc has received a commitment from Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) for an additional $25 million (US$20 million) of a US$50 million convertible notes facility. D-Wave raised US$30 million with the facility's announcement last year. The Vancouver quantum computing systems and software company said it completed a prototype of a next-generation quantum processor with the help of PSP's initial investment. The facility's second tranche will support bringing the product to market. D-Wave, which is led by CEO Vern Brownell, said the deal brings its total funding to about $280 million (US$220 million).
3 min read · 22 February 2018
Greenlight Financial Technology Inc, an Atlanta, Georgia-based developer of a smart debit card for kids, has secured US$16 million in a Series A financing. The round was led by TTV Capital, a U.S. venture capital firm. It was joined by existing investors, including Canadian mobile venture capital firm Relay Ventures, which led the company's US$7.5 million seed financing last year. Greenlight, launched in 2014, said it will use the Series A's proceeds to fuel growth and advance its goal of strengthening financial literacy among kids by investing in new talent and new solutions.
4 min read · 22 February 2018
Brightspark Ventures is generating market buzz with a sophisticated and fast-growing funding model that taps into the wealth of a once overlooked capital source. Brightspark, a nearly 20-year investor in North American early-stage tech companies, since 2014 has capitalized its deals by drawing on the resources of a network of accredited investors and family offices. The firm’s strategy, adopted as an alternative to raising a third institutional fund, is dubbed “democratic” because it relies on a large population of small investors, most them new to the venture market, Managing Partner Sophie Forest told PE Hub Canada.
3 min read · 22 February 2018
