Canada

Snoop Dogg’s cannabis VC firm leads $2.5 mln funding of Trellis

Trellis Solutions Inc, a Canadian cannabis inventory management software provider, has raised about $2.5 million (US$2 million) in funding. The round was led by Casa Verde Capital, the venture capital firm of U.S. rapper Snoop Dogg. Additional funding was provided by cannabis incubator Gateway, an existing investor, as well as Argonautic Ventures, One Gun and others. Founded in 2014 by CEO Pranav Sood, Toronto-based Trellis leverages technology to help cannabis enterprises optimize operations and comply with regulations. It said it will use the funds raised to expand in the United States and scale to accommodate demand for its software.

Merchant Advance Capital unveils venture debt fund for SMEs

Merchant Advance Capital has partnered with Garron Helman, a financing and tax expert, in the launch of Venbridge, a source of venture debt and consulting services to small and medium-sized enterprises in Canada. Venbridge will offer venture debt, consulting services, digital media financing and revenue financing to software-as-a-service companies, and corporate tax financing to all companies. Merchant Advance Capital, a Canadian online small business finance firm, will provide the funding source and staffing for Venbridge.

Family organizer Picniic raises $2 mln from Norway's Telenor

Picniic, a Canadian family assistance technology platform, has secured $2 million in funding, a spokesperson for the company told PE Hub. The investor was Telenor Group, a Norwegian mobile telecommunications business, the source said. Founded last year by CEO Michael Cole and CTO Ivan Tung, Vancouver-based Picniic has created an operating system that helps family households become more organized, productive and connected.

Freshly seeded Zoom.ai acquires SimplyInsight

Zoom.ai, which earlier this year closed a seed-stage financing, has acquired SimplyInsight, a San Francisco-based automated data analysis and visualization company. No financial terms were released. Zoom.ai, a Toronto-based developer of an automated virtual assistant for the workplace, said the integration of SimplyInsight's data-querying technology with its platform will support increased employees' efficiency. Zoom.ai's $2.1 million seed round was led by Extreme Venture Partners and joined by BDC Capital, Betaworks NYC, Good News Venture Partners, MaRS IAF and other investors.

Kik's $100 mln in proceeds from token sale below expectations: Reuters

Kik Interactive, which created the global chat platform Kik, valued at US$1 billion, said this week it raised nearly US$100 million in the sale of its own token, below its expectations, Reuters reported. A volatile crypto-currency market has partially reduced demand for token offerings, the Waterloo, Ontario-based company said. In late August, Kik said it expected to raise US$125 million. Kik, a free chat and messaging application, is the first social media application to create its own digital currency. The company considers its token offering a success, noting that more than 10,000 people from 117 countries participated.

Digital health startup Analytics 4 Life closes $25 mln Series B

Toronto-based digital health company Analytics 4 Life has secured $25 million in a Series B financing. The round was backed by a syndicate of undisclosed accredited investors, including physicians, healthcare professionals and medical device experts. Founded in 2012, Analytics 4 Life is using artificial intelligence to advance a novel, radiation-free and exercise-free cardiac imaging technology intended to improve existing care pathways. The first application, CorVista, tests the presence of coronary artery disease. Analytics 4 Life, which has its U.S. headquarters in North Carolina's Research Triangle Park, is led by President and CEO Don Crawford.

Klue launches with $5 mln OMERS Ventures-led financing

Klue, a Vancouver provider of competitive intelligence for enterprise sales, has launched with the close of a $5 million financing. OMERS Ventures led and was joined by BDC Capital, Vancouver Founder Fund, SK Ventures and angel investors, including Hootsuite's Ryan Holmes, Foundation Capital's Jonathan Ehrlich and Daniel Debow, previously an executive with Salesforce. Founded in 2015 by CEO Jason Smith and CTO Sarathy Naicker, Klue's technology helps teams in B2B enterprises collect, curate and distribute external and internal content relevant to sales and competitiveness. Smith is the former president of Vision Critical.

Restaurant app Ritual secures $54 mln in Series B funding

Toronto-based restaurant app Ritual Technologies Inc has raised about $53.8 million (US$43.5 million) in a Series B financing, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. The round was led by U.S. venture capital firm Insight Venture Partners, the report said. The startup's other backers include Canadian venture capital firms Golden Venture Partners, Mantella Venture Partners and Mistral Venture Partners, as well as U.S. firm Greylock Partners, according to Crunchbase. Founded in 2014 by CEO Ray Reddy, Ritual offers a mobile order-and-pay platform that enables users to secure coffee and food orders quickly and easily. It will use the funds raised to add staff and further expand into the U.S. market.

Transit raises $5 mln Series A round led by Accel Partners

Montréal-based urban transportation app Transit has secured $5 million in a Series A financing. The round was backed by existing Canadian and U.S. venture capital firms, among them Accel Partners, which led. Accomplice, BDC Capital and Real Ventures also invested. Launched in 2013 by CEO Sam Vermette and CTO Guillaume Campagna, Transit's app helps millions of users in more than 130 cities navigate local transport options and plan trips. The company said it will use the funds raised to further develop and enhance its technology.

Deep Genomics lands $16 mln in follow-on round led by Khosla

Deep Genomics, a Toronto genetic medicine startup, has raised about $16 million (US$13 million) in follow-on financing. U.S. venture capital firm Khosla Ventures led the round and was joined by True Ventures, which led the company's $5 million seed financing in 2015. Spun out of the University of Toronto in 2014, Deep Genomics is building a biologically accurate, data- and artificial intelligence-driven technology platform that supports geneticists, molecular biologists and chemists in the development of therapies. It will use its platform to unlock new classes of anti-sense oligonucleotide therapies and advance them for clinical evaluation. Deep Genomics is led by CEO Brendan Frey.