Private Equity
The Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX) has announced this year's roster of 20 innovative companies to be inducted into the annual CIX Top 20 program. The companies were selected by a committee made up of technology experts and investors from across Canada and will appear at the CIX 2016 event in Toronto on November 22nd. They are: Blue J Legal, CareGuide, Drop Loyalty, Exact Media, Finn.ai, Gemba Software Solutions, Instant Financial, Landr, League, Medella Health, Overbond, Repayable, SweetIQ, TritonWear, TrustPoint Innovation Technologies, Unata, Wantoo, Zeitdice, Zensurance and Zoom.ai.
3 min read · 05 October 2016
Maple Leaf Angels and Maple Leaf Angels Capital Corp have launched their second angel investment fund, MLA48 Fund II. The fund will be limited to 48 limited partners and have an expanded size and scope relative to MLA48 Fund I. Terms were not released. Fund I was launched in October 2014 to finance early-stage companies in information, communications and entertainment sectors in southern Ontario. It invested in Orchard, Sharethebus, ConferenceCloud and Oneset. Founded in 2007, Maple Leaf Angels is a Toronto-based angel investment organization.
3 min read · 05 October 2016
Canada's Clearpath Robotics has raised US$30 million ($39.5 million) from backers, including the venture arms of Caterpillar Inc and its customer General Electric Co, to expand its industrial robot business, Reuters reported. The funding will power growth at the Kitchener, Ontario-based company's Otto Motors industrial division, created last year to provide self-driving vehicles to transport materials around warehouses and manufacturing facilities. Clearpath said while the likes of Tesla, Uber and Google are testing autonomous vehicles for use on public roads, its industrial vehicles are already commercially available.
1 min read · 05 October 2016
Clearpath Robotics Inc has secured about $39.5 million (US$30 million) in follow-on funding, adding to the $14 million raised in the company's Series A financing in early 2015. The latest round was led by Canadian venture capital firm iNovia Capital, with participation from Caterpillar Ventures, GE Ventures, Eclipse Ventures, RRE Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank. Founded in 2009, Kitchener, Ontario-based Clearpath is a provider of self-driving vehicle solutions to over 500 brands around the globe. Last year, it launched OTTO Motors to focus on vehicles for material transport inside manufacturing and warehouse operations. It plans to used the funds raised to grow the division.
4 min read · 05 October 2016
Northleaf Capital Partners has appointed Jon McKeown to the newly created role of director, investment solutions and distribution. McKeown will develop solutions to support the Toronto-based firm's global private markets investment strategies through new distribution channels, with a focus on pension funds, asset managers and financial institutions. McKeown joined Northleaf from asset manager Värde Partners, where he served as global head of strategy, risk and analytics. Prior to then, he was a principal with Bain & Co.
1 min read · 04 October 2016
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has appointed Jeff Kehoe as enforcement director, effective October 11th. Kehoe was formerly a managing partner and general counsel at Difference Capital Financial, a Canadian specialty finance firm. He currently chairs the Ontario Capital Growth Corp, a government agency that oversees the Ontario Emerging Technologies Fund and provincial interests in Ontario Venture Capital Fund and Northleaf Venture Catalyst Fund.
2 min read · 04 October 2016
GreenSoil Building Innovation Fund (GBIF), launched last year by GreenSoil Investments, has raised a US$20 million lead commitment from Grosvenor Group, a U.K.-based private property group. The investment is intended to leverage strategic opportunities with GBIF, a Toronto-based growth equity fund that invests in products, services and technologies which make real estate and infrastructure more productive, efficient and sustainable. The fund, which has so far raised US$55 million of a US$100 million target, said it has made its first two portfolio investments. GBIF is chaired by Alan Greenberg, a Greensoil co-founder.
4 min read · 03 October 2016
Canadian heavy-equipment rental company Dozr Inc has secured $2.5 million in a first-time equity financing, Waterloo innovation hub Communitech reported. The round was backed by FairVentures, the venture capital arm of Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. Dozr, a participant in the Communitech Rev accelerator program, provides a platform that connects owners of construction equipment with a network of renters. Founded in 2015, the Kitchener, Ontario-based company plans to use its partnership with FairVentures to expand beyond Canada and into the U.S. market, Communitech said.
6 min read · 30 September 2016
Capital régional et coopératif Desjardins (CRCD), a retail fund managed by Canadian private equity firm Desjardins Business Capital régional et coopératif, has secured $144.4 million in its 2016 fundraising year. The subscription level exceeded the $135 million ceiling set by the Québec government for tax-subsidized share sales. Montréal-based CRCD, now in its 15th year of operation, has nearly 100,000 shareholders and manages net assets of more than $1.6 billion. In the first half of 2016, the fund reports committing $62 million to deals across Québec.
3 min read · 30 September 2016
E-commerce company Brika said it has wrapped up its first major acquisition with the buy of Sonder Mill, a Toronto curated peer-to-peer online marketplace for furniture and housewares. No financial terms were disclosed. Brika, a retailer of well-crafted goods from the artisan and designer community, said the deal enables its entry into the furniture space and will broaden the scope of products on offer. Founded in 2011 by Jennifer Lee Koss and Kena Paranjape, Toronto-based Brika is backed by consumer venture capital firm BrandProject and other investors.
2 min read · 30 September 2016
