Private Equity
What does a venture capital school have to teach Janet Bannister, general partner at Real Ventures, a former eBay executive, and founder of popular internet brand Kijiji? Plenty, Bannister tells PE Hub Canada. Last week, Bannister joined other investment pros in Vancouver at GP Academy, a program BDC Capital developed in consultation with Silicon Valley VC educator Kauffman Fellows. Launched in May, it provides a boot-camp-style learning environment that aims to buff up investors’ skills.
3 min read · 14 November 2017
Canadian early-stage venture capital firm Real Ventures has promoted Sam Haffar and Isaac Souweine to the role of partner. Haffar, an entrepreneur who joined the firm in 2014, was previously a principal. Souweine came to Real Ventures last year from Frank & Oak as an entrepreneur-in-residence. General Partner John Stokes described both as "passionate and effective mentors and investment professionals." Montréal-based Real Ventures also added to its team, hiring Roula Zaarour, formerly a CBC/Radio-Canada executive, as COO, and Lauren Jane Heller, formerly a BetaKit writer, as director of communications.
4 min read · 13 November 2017
Ride-hailing company Lyft Inc said this week it would launch its service in Toronto, marking the first international expansion for the U.S.-based rival of Uber Technologies Inc, Reuters reported. "Before you know it, Lyft will be coming to you live in Toronto," the company said in a blogpost, without giving a launch date. Lyft is crossing into Canada at a time when rival Uber has opted out of operating in Québec to avoid following tough new regulations for drivers. Lyft raised US$1 billion in October, in a round led by the growth investment fund of Alphabet Inc. One of the company's investors is Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments).
1 min read · 13 November 2017
EnerTech Capital has partnered with Pivotal Funds to form EnerTech Specialty Finance, a specialty finance vehicle that will target opportunities in the U.S. property assessed clean energy (PACE) market. The legislation-enabled PACE program helps commercial real estate owners secure private funding for renewable energy, energy efficiency and water conservation projects. The EnerTech PACE offering, managed by Pivotal's Howard Steinberg and Jonathan Globerman, will support a range of these projects. EnerTech, which has offices in Calgary, Montréal, Toronto and the United States, invests in energy and power technology companies.
3 min read · 13 November 2017
Angel network Anges Québec has made an initial investment in Enterface, a Saint-Jérôme, Québec-based developer of websites, mobile applications, web marketing, visual identity and software for small and medium-sized businesses. No financial terms were released for the deal, which was led by information technology entrepreneur Mario Ianniciello. Enterface, founded in 2014, plans to use the funds raised for a more "ambitious" growth and development strategy, CEO Mathieu Tousignant said.
2 min read · 13 November 2017
SpherePlay, a Montréal-based developer of media player software and video rendering engines, has raised $1.26 million in funding. The round was backed by 16 members of Québec angel network Anges Québec, Anges Québec Capital Fund and BDC Capital. SpherePlay has created a multi-platform solution that allows broadcasters and media companies to distribute virtual reality content on their own platforms. Launched in 2014 by CEO Christian Eve-Lévesque and CTO Stéphane Lévesque, the company will use the funds raised to continue optimizing its product and accelerate deployment.
4 min read · 10 November 2017
Deloitte announced the winners of its 2017 Technology Fast 50 program, which together showed an average four-year growth rate of 4,625 percent, up 74 percent from 2016. The list was led by Diply, a social entertainment media publisher, which achieved a growth rate of 92,881 percent. A survey of the winners found that sourcing talent was the top challenge. It also found that over half of Fast 50 employees are millennials and that women account for an increased share of new hires. Fast 50 respondents said they continue to emphasize artificial intelligence technologies, while 62 percent felt capital availability has improved of late.
5 min read · 09 November 2017
Solium Capital, the Calgary provider of financial reporting and compliance, this week announced the launch of Solium Analytics to produce 409A valuation reports and related services. The 409A reports are essential for any company in a venture-firm portfolio since they generate the value of common shares, such as when they are issued as incentives to employees and prior to public offerings. The company said Solium Analytics will be managed by a team formerly with SVB Analytics. Team members completed more than 5,000 409A valuations at SVB and have successfully helped 75 startups through their IPO processes.
2 min read · 09 November 2017
Toronto security startup studio Peloton Innovations has raised $3 million in a seed-stage financing. The round was led by Elevate Toronto CEO Razor Suleman, Globalive Capital and TD Ameritrade CEO Tim Hockey. Peloton is focused on creating B2B and B2C products and services used in the protection industry. The funds raised will support the company's spin out of a first security startup in early 2018. Launched last year, Peloton is majority owned by Craig Campbell, founder and CEO of Resilience Capital. Peloton's other backers include Klass Capital and Purpose Investments CEO Som Seif.
2 min read · 09 November 2017
TIMIA Capital Corp has provided a funding facility of $1.35 million to Realty Butler Technology Inc, a Vancouver-based artificial intelligence-powered marketing service for real estate agents. TIMIA, a Canadian revenue financing firm, will invest in two tranches over the next 12 months, as the company achieves certain milestones. Founded three years ago by CEO Chris Troelstra and COO Rebecca Troelstra, Realty Butler is also backed by Canadian venture capital firms Conconi Growth Partners and Pallasite Ventures. TIMIA's investment comes on the heels of its $2 million revenue funding deal with Rise People Inc.
3 min read · 09 November 2017
