Private Equity
Toronto education technology company Top Hat has increased its previously announced Series C financing to about $40 million (US$30 million). The top up was the result of a US$7.5 million investment by Canadian venture capital firm Leaders Fund, which launched an enterprise-software fund last year. Founded in 2009, Top Hat is the developer of a cloud-based student engagement and interactive teaching platform. Along with the investment, it announced the release of Top Hat Marketplace, a resource of affordable and customizable educational content. Union Square Ventures led Top Hat's Series C round.
4 min read · 15 June 2017
Vancouver medical device company Evasc Neurovascular Enterprises ULC has raised $10 million in a Series A financing, bringing its total funding to date to $27 million. Yonghua Investment Management, a Chinese private equity firm, led the round and was joined by undisclosed existing investors. Founded in 2008, Evasc is focused on the development of disruptive endovascular treatments for cerebral aneurysms. It plans to use the funds raised for the advancement and commercialization of its eCLIPs system, a device designed to treat 95 percent of cerebral aneurysm cases. Evasc is led by Dr Donald Ricci, the company's president and CEO.
3 min read · 15 June 2017
Slack Technologies Inc, a corporate messaging and collaboration software startup, has received inquiries about a potential takeover from technology companies including Amazon.com Inc, Reuters reported, citing a Bloomberg story. A deal could value the company at least US$9 billion. San Francisco-based Slack has raised more than US$500 million from venture capitalists. It was founded in 2014 by CEO Stewart Butterfield, a Canadian entrepreneur, and has an office in Vancouver.
1 min read · 15 June 2017
Capital croissance PME (CCPME) has invested $2.5 million in Lanla, a Mont‑Saint‑Hilaire, Québec-based marketing research platform. The investment is the third made by CCPME in the company. Founded in 2002 by President and CEO Luc Brousseau and CTO Christian Watier, Lanla specializes in measuring and managing customer experiences. It is currently expanding its services with a soon-to-be-released mobile app, Wizper, which analyzes survey results. CCPME is a private equity fund sponsored by Capital régional et coopératif Desjardins and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.
3 min read · 15 June 2017
Oatbox, a Montréal supplier of healthly breakfast products, has raised $1.55 million in a seed-stage financing. The strategic investors in the round were not disclosed. Founded in 2014, Oatbox has created a subscription-based model for delivering new granola mixes and breakfast cereal bars directly to its customers. By the end of this year, it plans to significantly increase the company's subscriber base in North America. Led by CEO Marc-Antoine Bovet, Oatbox will use the funds raised for marketing efforts, development of its product offering, increasing production capacity, and other priorities.
3 min read · 14 June 2017
EStruxture Data Centers Inc, a Montréal-based provider of network and cloud-neutral data centre solutions, has raised $80 million in an initial financing. Canderel, a Canadian real estate investment and management firm, and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec led the round. The funds raised will be used by eStruxture to expand its footprint across Canada by acquiring existing data centre operators and developing new ones. The company announced its first acquisition, Netelligent Hosting Services, a Montréal specialist in dedicated servers, colocation, cloud solutions and hosting services. EStruxture is led by President and CEO Todd Coleman.
4 min read · 14 June 2017
Canadian venture capital firm and accelerator Extreme Venture Partners (EVP) has unveiled a third fund focused on immigrating international startups. The fund and EVP's accelerator will work in conjunction with Ottawa's Startup Visa Program to vet the companies abroad. If accepted, up to five members of a startup team and their families will be immigrated to a Canadian location of their choice. Initial investments of $50,000 to $100,000 will be made in more than 30 startups, which will also receive mentoring and other resources. EVP said it expects the fund initiative to result in some $25 million invested privately in up to 50 companies.
5 min read · 14 June 2017
Figure 1, a Toronto-based knowledge-sharing platform for healthcare professionals, has secured about $13.2 million (US$10 million) in a Series B financing. Canadian alternative assets investor Kensington Capital Partners led the round. It was joined by Samsung NEXT Ventures, Manulife Financial's U.S. insurance subsidiary, Hedgewood and WTI. Existing investors Union Square Ventures, Rho Canada Ventures and Version One Ventures also participated. Founded in 2012, Figure 1 has developed crowd-sourced medical technology that allows healthcare professionals in more than 190 countries to communicate and collaborate. It is led by CEO Gregory Levey.
2 min read · 14 June 2017
Montréal artificial intelligence solutions company Element AI has raised about $137.5 million (US$102 million) in a Series A financing. The round, which Element AI said is the largest on record for an AI startup, was led by DCVC and joined by Real Ventures, BDC Capital, Fidelity Investments Canada, Hanwha Investment, Intel Capital, Microsoft Ventures, National Bank of Canada, NVIDIA, Tencent and several unidentified sovereign wealth funds. Founded last October, Element AI creates and incubates AI solutions in partnership with corporations and research institutions. It will use the funds raised to accelerate its capabilities and invest in AI projects internationally.
8 min read · 14 June 2017
The Fonds de solidarité FTQ said it will invest $1 billion in innovation and venture capital market activities over the next five years. The announcement was made at last week's Invest Canada '17 conference in Montréal, which was jointly sponsored by the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association and Réseau Capital. The Fonds participates in the domestic venture capital market via direct investments and commitments to specialized funds. It also backs a variety of ecosystem development programs. Based in Montréal, the Fonds oversees $12.2 billion in net assets.
2 min read · 13 June 2017
