Canada

Newly funded tenant screening platform Naborly buys LRANK

Naborly Inc, a Toronto software company specializing in residential tenant screening, has bought LRANK, a London-based real estate location intelligence search engine. Financial terms were not disclosed. Naborly said the acquisition of LRANK’s intellectual property will help its artificial intelligence system to automatically learn about neighborhoods in North America. With the deal, LRANK’s Dwight Follick has been appointed the company's new CTO. Founded in 2014, Naborly raised $1.25 million in seed funding last month. The round was led by ScaleUp Ventures and joined by Picus Capital and Harris Barton Investments.

Retarget Links acquires venture-backed Primeloop

Inbound Retargeting Technologies Inc, the Canadian company behind Retarget Links, has acquired Primeloop, a Las Vegas-based link retargeting specialist. No financial terms were disclosed. Primeloop holds patents for link retargeting technology, which allows advertisers to display banner ads in a more targeted fashion. Vancouver's Retarget Links said it has enhanced the product with an ad campaign management platform. Found in 2012, Primeloop was backed by 500 Startups, Tony Hsieh's Vegas Techfund, Seraph Group and other investors.

BDC Capital commits $50 mln more to women-led tech startups

BDC Capital has committed $50 million to support technology startups led by women entrepreneurs. The commitment is on top of the $700 million allocated by the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) last year to fund women-owned businesses. A total of $40 million of the new pool will go to women-led startups backed by BDC Capital or its partner accelerators. An additional $10 million will to regional initiatives. The first of these will engage MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund (IAF), the early-stage venture fund of Toronto's MaRS Discovery District. Michelle McBane, investment director at MaRS IAF, will lead the initiative.

Bert Clark to lead new $50 bln Ontario pension fund manager

Bert Clark has been hired as the first CEO of the Investment Management Corp of Ontario (IMCO), a manager of Ontario public pension funds. Clark, who assumed the role last month, previously served as president and CEO of Infrastructure Ontario and head of Scotiabank's North American infrastructure finance practice. IMCO was formed by the Ontario government in July and is expected to begin operations next year. Its two inaugural members, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) and Ontario Pension Board, provide it with initial assets under management of about $50 billion.

Calian joins seed funding of e-health tech provider Cliniconex

Calian Group Ltd (TSX: CGY) joined the seed-stage financing of Cliniconex Inc, an Ottawa-based patient outreach solutions vendor. The undisclosed round, announced last month, included investments by the Capital Angel Network and Wesley Clover International. With its investment, Calian's Scott Murray has been appointed to the company's board. Founded in 2011, Cliniconex has developed a software platform that supports medical clinics by automating patient outreach, such as booking notifications, reminders, cancellations, surveys and preventative care reminders.

Fintech company Zafin scores $13.4 mln in Vistara-led financing

Canada's Vistara Capital Partners, which raised its inaugural fund last year, has led a growth financing of Zafin, a Toronto-based financial software solutions provider. The round provided the company with about $13.4 million (US$10 million) in proceeds to be used to support continued expansion of its product and market development roadmap. Founded in 2002, Zafin has developed a platform technology called miRevenue to help banks deepen customer relationships by uniting customer, product, pricing and billing service functions in one solution. Zafin secured US$15 million from U.S. growth equity investor Kayne Partners in October 2014.

Wellington Financial among 2016's top performing debt managers

Canadian specialty finance firm Wellington Financial has been named to Preqin’s 2016 list of most consistent top-performing private debt fund managers. Preqin named Wellington and thirteen other firms for consistently generating first and second quartile returns since inception out of a global universe of 140 fund managers. It is the second time in three years that Wellington has made the list. Led by President and CEO Mark McQueen, Toronto-based Wellington provides term, venture, amortizing and unitranche loans of up to $40 million, primarily to technology-focused companies. Its latest fund, Wellington Financial Fund V, raised $300 million in late 2015.

CCI completes acquisition of VC-backed BLiNQ Networks

Communication Components Inc (CCI) has bought BLiNQ Networks, a Canadian provider of wireless backhaul solutions for small-cell networks and enterprise connectivity. No financial terms were released. CCI, a U.S. provider of antenna systems and RF solutions for wireless networks, said BLiNQ will operate as a branded business from its Toronto headquarters. BLiNQ was founded in 2010 following the buy of intellectual property and assets from Nortel Networks. It was backed by BDC Capital, Kensington Capital Partners, New Venture Partners, Summerhill Venture Partners and WIN, which invested in the company's US$15.1 Series B round in 2014.

Real Matters raises $41 mln, delays IPO plans: Reuters

Real Matters, a provider of real estate industry data, has raised $41 million in an equity funding round and pushed its plan to go public to the first quarter of 2017, sources told Reuters. The latest fundraising, which was a secondary offering led by investment bank BMO Capital Markets, will help drive growth at the quickly expanding company and values Real Matters at more than $1 billion, the sources said. This is a sharp jump from its $653 million valuation earlier in the year.

General Atlantic invests in medical device company Synaptive

Toronto medical device and technology company Synaptive Medical Inc has received a strategic investment from General Atlantic, a U.S. growth equity firm. No financial terms were disclosed. With the investment, David Caluori, a principal at General Atlantic, will join the company's board. Established in 2012, Synaptive develops integrated technologies, such as its BrightMatter neurosurgical products, to support the work of surgeons and hospitals. It said the partnership with General Atlantic will help accelerate commercialization of its solutions in global markets and fund new R&D development. Synaptive is led by President Cameron Piron.