Private Equity
U.S. venture capital firm Versant Ventures, which this week closed its sixth life sciences fund at $538 million, has appointed Mary Haak-Frendscho to the role of venture partner based in Toronto. Haak-Frendscho, who joined Versant in 2016 as CEO of Toronto incubator Blueline Bioscience, will support the firm's efforts to build a Canadian biotech portfolio in partnership with academics and entrepreneurs. Versant also appointed Lloyd Segal, formerly a managing partner at Canadian healthcare private equity firm Persistence Capital Partners, as a Montréal-based entrepreneur-in-residence.
6 min read · 05 January 2017
Toronto medical device startup Exact Imaging has secured $21.5 million in a Series C financing. The round was co-led by Canadian venture capital firm Lumira Capital and Luxembourg's Vesalius Biocapital with participation from new investors, including PMV, and existing investors, including iGan Partners. With the financing, Lumira's Peter van der Velden, PMV’s Dr. Alexandra Tolia and Vesalius' Dr. Gaston Matthyssens will join the board. Founded in 2013 by Sam Ifergan and Randy AuCoin, Exact develops micro-ultrasound technology that enables real-time imaging and biopsy guidance for the prostate. It plans to use the funds raised to commercialize its new ExactVu system.
4 min read · 05 January 2017
Klipfolio, an Ottawa-based provider of dashboard software, has secured $12 million in a Series B financing. The round, which brings the company's total funding so far to $19.4 million, was led by OMERS Ventures. Additional round investors included BDC Capital, Mistral Venture Partners, Fundfire, BOLDstart Ventures, Acadia Woods and Converge Venture Partners. Launched as a cloud dashboard platform in 2011, Klipfolio helps businesses monitor their performance in real-time. It currently serves over 7,000 global customers. Led by President and CEO Allan Wille, Klipfolio will use the funds raised to enhance its product and expand its use.
3 min read · 05 January 2017
Global venture capital investment topped US$100 billion in 2016 for the second year running, with US$134 billion supporting 9,717 deals, according to Preqin. The solid performance was down 6.3 percent from an even stronger 2015. About half the total, or US$61 billion, was deployed in North America, Preqin found. China accounted for US$48 billion, or 36 percent of the capital, and Europe and India saw US$12 billion and US$4 billion invested, respectively.
1 min read · 04 January 2017
Venture capital investment in Canadian financial technology companies hit its highest level in almost two decades last year, even as the flow of funds into major fintech markets like the United States declined, Reuters reported. According to PitchBook, venture capital financing in Canadian fintech was US$137.7 million in 2016, up more than 35 percent on the year. Figures compiled by Thomson Reuters show a rise of nearly 74 percent from 2015 to 2016, to $264.8 million (US$197.41 million), its highest level since 2000. Related investments declined at least 30 percent in the United States in 2016, while in the United Kingdom they fell nearly 25 percent and Singaporean fintech investment sank 65 percent.
3 min read · 03 January 2017
U.S. venture capital firm Versant Ventures has closed its sixth life sciences fund, Versant Venture Capital VI, at its hard-cap target of $538 million (US$400 million). Fund VI, which was oversubscribed, secured commitments from both new and existing limited partners, including Canadian investors Teralys Capital, Northleaf Capital Partners, HarbourVest Canada Growth Fund and Fonds de solidarité FTQ. The fund will invest in up to 25 healthcare companies with an emphasis on novel therapeutics in the United States, Canada and Europe. Versant co-led Canada's largest venture round in 2016, the US$225 million financing of Toronto's BlueRock Therapeutics.
3 min read · 03 January 2017
Canada’s venture industry in 2016 had its best fundraising year since the dot-com era, thanks to greatly improved supply-side conditions. Some 25 funds banked more than $2.2 billion in committed capital this year, according to preliminary data from Thomson Reuters and supplementary data compiled by PE Hub Canada. That’s up 86 percent from $1.2 billion raised in 2015. In fact, the data suggest fundraising levels in 2016 are the highest in Canada since 2002, when $2.5 billion was secured.
3 min read · 27 December 2016
Halifax drug development startup Appili Therapeutics Inc has raised $2.15 million in a follow-on round. New and existing investors backed the deal, including Canadian venture capital firm Innovacorp and others that joined the company's $3.27 million seed financing in May. Founded last year with the support of Bloom Burton & Co, Appili is a developer of novel therapeutics for infectious diseases. It will use the latest funds raised to advance the company's lead product candidate, an antibiotic designed to treat anaerobic infections, into clinical trials. Appili also plans to add to its anti-infective pipeline.
3 min read · 22 December 2016
Boris Wertz’s career as a venture investor is less than a decade old, but he has acquired a market influence that belies that brief timespan. Wertz was an angel investor before founding Version One Ventures, an early-stage tech VC firm, in 2012. Within a year, the Vancouver firm ranked among North America’s top seed investors. It has backed 32 startups, among them some of the hottest names in Canada and Silicon Valley. PE Hub Canada sat down with Wertz to discuss the progress of Version One's latest fund, its recent deals, and growth in Canada’s VC market.
4 min read · 21 December 2016
TeraXion has repurchased the equity held by its long-time venture capital investors Fonds de solidarité FTQ, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Fondaction CSN and Accès Capital. The buyback deal, the terms of which were not disclosed, was financed by BDC Capital's Growth and Transition Capital and Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). Québec City's TeraXion said it has undergone a business review and restructuring since it sold its integrated photonics division to Ciena Corp in early 2016. It added that BDC and RBC will support its continued growth and development.
2 min read · 20 December 2016
