Private Equity
Toronto-based financial technology startup Payment Rails has closed a seed-stage financing, bringing its total funding to $1.1 million. The seed round was backed by angel investors, including financial executives like Scott Thompson, the former president of PayPal. With the deal, Thompson joins the company as a board advisor. Founded in 2015 by President Ferhan Patel and CEO Tim Nixon, Payment Rails has developed an API-first payouts platform that enables companies to send payments to on-demand workers, employees and suppliers globally. It is currently in public beta, with an official launch scheduled for next month.
4 min read · 10 October 2017
Toronto-based millennial-focused rewards program Drop has secured $5.5 million in a seed-stage financing. The round was led by U.S. venture capital firm Sierra Ventures with participation from White Star Capital, ff Venture Capital, Power Corp's Portag3 Ventures and HOF Capital. Founded in 2015 by CEO Derrick Fung, Drop provides a free mobile rewards app that allows millennials to earn rewards while shopping. It at the same time helps brands gain knowledge about new consumers. Drop plans to use the funds raised to launch its technology platform in the United States.
3 min read · 10 October 2017
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Desjardins Group have created a venture capital fund focused on opportunities in the financial technology sector and the application of artificial intelligence to finance. The fund, which will be based in Montréal, will receive $50 million from its sponsors and is expected to reach a maximum size of $75 million in part through institutional commitments made prior to a first close later this year. Operating independently, it will back the growth of Québec and Canadian companies offering technology products that impact investments, payments, client acquisition and retention, data analysis, deposits and loans, security or insurance.
4 min read · 10 October 2017
Swept, a Halifax-based provider of software solutions for the janitorial industry, has raised about $2.5 million (US$2 million) in funding, according to a report by Entrevestor. Canadian venture capital firm iNovia Capital and U.S. firm Afore Capital co-led the round, the report said. Founded in 2014 by CEO Michael Brown and COO Matt Cooper, Swept, formerly known as Clean Simple, designs software that helps commercial cleaning businesses attract and retain staff and customers. The startup plans to use the round's proceeds to accelerate sales growth and improve its product.
1 min read · 10 October 2017
Halifax-based corporate security software provider LifeRaft has raised $1.45 million in a non-dilutive Series A financing. The round, which follows LifeRaft's $2 million financing last year, was led by Mike Durland, head of Melancthon Capital, a Canadian investment and advisory firm. As a result, Durland will join the startup's team. Launched in 2014, LifeRaft has built a technology platform that identifies potential security threats to people and business assets by gathering actionable intelligence from open-source channels. It will use the funds raised to expand sales and marketing, drive product development, and add to its global customers.
3 min read · 06 October 2017
U.S. clinical-stage biotechnology company Visterra Inc has wrapped up its Series C financing, raising US$46.7 million in total. The round was backed by existing and new investors. The latter include CTI Life Sciences, a Canadian life sciences venture capital firm. Founded in 2007, Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Visterra is the creator of the Hierotope platform, which identifies unique disease targets and designs and engineers effective therapeutics. The company will use the round's proceeds to focus on its two lead product candidates and further leverage its platform.
4 min read · 05 October 2017
Bluecore Inc, a New York-based decisioning platform for retail and brand marketers, has closed a US$35 million Series C financing. The round was led by U.S. venture capital and growth equity firm Norwest Venture Partners. Bluecore's existing investors also participated. They included Canadian growth equity firm Georgian Partners, which led the company's US$21 million Series B round in 2015. Launched in 2013, Bluecore supports e-commerce marketers by unifying customer and catalog data. It will use the funds raised to accelerate the delivery of its platform to customers and enable product development.
4 min read · 05 October 2017
Sophie Forest, managing partner at Brightspark Ventures, has won the 2017 Canadian Angel of the Year Award, the National Angel Capital Organization (NACO) announced. The award, which is sponsored by BDC Capital, recognizes an individual who has made a significant contribution to the evolution of angel investing in Canada. Since joining Brightspark in 2003, Forest has led and managed more than 50 investments in technology companies. She played an especially key role in growing Radian6, acquired in 2011 by Salesforce for US$326 million. Prior to Brightspark, Forest was a partner at CDP Capital Technology Ventures.
4 min read · 05 October 2017
Canadian private-markets investor Northleaf Capital Partners said Jeff Lucassen has joined the firm as CFO and COO. Lucassen will lead corporate financial and operational activities from Northleaf's Toronto office. He previously served as a partner at U.S. private equity firm Carlyle Group. He was also COO of Carlyle Liquid Markets, formerly known as Diversified Global Asset Management (DGAM). Lucassen co-founded DGAM in 2004 and served as the hedge fund's COO until it was acquired by Carlyle in 2014. Prior to then, he was the controller at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.
2 min read · 04 October 2017
Canadian software company Latitude Geographics Group Ltd has secured a "significant" investment from Battery Ventures, a U.S. venture capital firm. No financial terms were disclosed. Founded in 1999, Latitude provides advanced, web-based mapping software, called Geocortex, and related Geographic Information System (GIS) capabilities. Used by more than 1,400 organizations worldwide, the technology helps government and industry customers maximize their use of Esri's GIS platform. Led by CEO Steven Myhill-Jones, Victoria, British Columbia-based Latitude will use the funds raised for global growth.
3 min read · 03 October 2017
