Canada

VC-backed SweetIQ acquires VC-backed Connectivity

Montréal's SweetIQ has acquired the local marketing division of Connectivity, a direct-to-business local marketing company based in Burbank, California. The terms of the all-cash purchase were not disclosed. SweetIQ, a local marketing automation company, said the deal accelerates its expansion in the United States and increases its market share. As a result, the company has opened a new office in Irvine, California. Established in 2010, SweetIQ is backed by Plaza Ventures, Real Ventures, Rothenberg Ventures and other investors. Connectivity's investors included Double M Partners, Greycroft and Rincon Venture Partners.

Financeit, Concentra buy TD's home improvement financing assets

Financeit Canada Inc has partnered with Concentra in the acquisition of TD Bank Group’s indirect home improvement financing assets. The deal has a book value of about $339 million. As part of the agreement, about 45,000 TD loans were purchased by Concentra and over 800 merchant dealers were assigned to Financeit. Toronto's Financeit, a cloud-based point-of-sale financing platform, said the acquisition is its first since entering the market in 2011. It follows the $100 million strategic partnership struck with Concentra in April. Last year, Financeit secured a minority equity investment led by Goldman Sachs.

Wellington Financial backs Unified with $10 mln in funding

Canadian specialty finance firm Wellington Financial has committed US$10 million in financing to marketing and analytics technology company Unified. Based in New York, Unified provides software that connects marketing data sets to create actionable intelligence for global brands and agencies. The latest investment follows last year's US$30 million Series B financing of the company. That round was led by iHeartMedia, with participation from Advance Publications, Upfront Ventures and Foundry Group. Wellington said its funding will support Unified's next stage of growth and product development.

Axine raises $8 mln Series B round led by Japan's Asahi Kasei

Axine Water Technologies Inc has secured $8 million in a Series B financing. The round, which brings the company's total funding to $15.7 million, was led by Japanese chemical company Asahi Kasei Corp. It was joined by existing investors Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital, BDC Energy Venture Capital and Roda Group. Vancouver-based Axine provides low cost, chemical-free solutions for treating ammonia and toxic organics in industrial wastewater. It said the funds raised, and the partnership with Asahi Kasei, will help scale-up commercial deployment, develop new applications, and expand the company's customer base.

VC vet Andrew Abouchar to lead TIMIA's Ontario operations

Vancouver-based specialty finance firm TIMIA Capital Corp has established a presence in Ontario with the hire of Andrew Abouchar as executive vice president, underwriting. Abouchar, a partner at Canadian venture capital firm Tech Capital Partners, will focus on expanding TIMIA's financing business in Ontario and across Canada. Abouchar co-founded Tech Capital in 1998 and has since helped lead the firm's investments in early-stage companies in the Toronto-Waterloo corridor. TIMIA provides financing to technology companies in exchange for a royalty on revenue.

Time Warner leads You.i TV's $12 mln Series B funding

Video app platform You.i TV has raised $12 million in a Series B financing. Time Warner Investments, a U.S. strategic investor, led the round and was joined by Canada's Vistara Capital Partners and Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, a U.S. private equity firm that invested $15 million in You.i TV last year. With the deal, Scott Levine of Time Warner will join the company's board. Founded in 2008, Ottawa-based You.i TV has developed technology that allows brand owners to build video applications across multiple devices. It plans to use the funds raised to respond to customer demand, enhance its app designer workflow IP, and continue to grow its partner channels.

AmorChem spins out Mperia, invests $1 mln in Series A round

AmorChem has spun out Montréal-based biotechnology startup Mperia Therapeutics Inc and invested $1 million in the latter's Series A financing. As part of the deal, AmorChem transferred to the company all rights to a novel immunotherapy based on CD36 technology, which addresses diseases involving chronic inflammation, such as age-related macular degeneration. Maxime Ranger was appointed Mperia's president and CEO, and the Université de Montréal's Dr. Huy Ong, its chief scientific officer. AmorChem is the seed-stage fund of Canadian life sciences venture capital firm GeneChem.

Real Ventures brings on Frank & Oak's Isaac Souweine as EIR

Isaac Souweine has joined Canadian early-stage venture capital firm Real Ventures as an entrepreneur-in-residence. He will operate from Montréal. Souweine has in recent years served in a number of entrepreneurial roles, including as director of product management at Frank & Oak, an online menswear retailer, between 2013 and 2015. He subsequently assumed a comparable position at Flatbook, a hospitality technology platform. In August 2015, Montréal-based Real Ventures raised $89 million for its third fund, Real Ventures III.

Quandl nets $12 mln in Nexus Venture-led Series B round

Canadian alternative data platform Quandl has secured $12 million in Series B financing, bringing its total funding to more than $20 million. India's Nexus Venture Partners led the Series B round and was joined by U.S. venture capital firm August Capital, which led Quandl's Series A financing in late 2014. With the deal, Naren Gupta of Nexus Venture has joined the company's board. Founded in 2012 by CEO Tammer Kamel and CDO Abraham Thomas, Toronto-based Quandl provides financial, economic and alternative data-sets to investment professionals. It plans to use the funds raised to expand its data coverage.

Subscription software provider Fusebill raises $6 mln in funding

Ottawa-based subscription software company Fusebill Inc has raised $6 million in financing. ScaleUp Ventures and Langdell Investments led the round. OMERS Ventures and BDC Capital also invested. ScaleUp GP Kent Thexton and Langdell Principal Pratik Budhdev joined the board as a result of the deal. Founded in 2011, Fusebill provides a software platform that simplifies subscription, one-off and customized billing management for small businesses by automating many manual accounting, financial processes and workflows. It plans to use the funds raised to support product development, accelerate sales, and anticipate increased demand.