Private Equity
Solegear Bioplastic Technologies Inc (TSX-V: SGB) has agreed to acquire the bioplastics division of Ex-Tech Plastics Inc for $1.33 million in common shares of the company at a price of $0.20 per share. Vancouver-based Solegear, a developer of bioplastics from renewable plant-based sources, said the deal will provide it with annualized revenues of about US$2 million and accelerate product commercialization. Earlier this year, the company secured the second tranche of an investment from The Hillcore Group. Solegear went public in 2015, but remains a portfolio company of Canadian venture capital firm Yaletown Venture Partners.
6 min read · 17 March 2016
Toronto-based digital health company QoC Health Inc has secured $700,000 in seed-stage financing. Epic Capital Management, a Canadian healthcare venture capital firm, and Bayshore HealthCare co-led the round and were joined by a number of unidentified angel investors. Founded in 2011, QoC Health aims to enable patient-centered care with mobile solutions, new service delivery models, and cloud computing. It plans to use the proceeds of the round to continue the company's expansion and invest in its technology platform.
3 min read · 17 March 2016
Canadian fintech startup Flexiti Financial Inc has agreed to establish a new credit facility with Liquid Capital Corp. The deal will give the company access to an initial $25 million in senior debt. Founded in 2013, Toronto-based Flexiti is a provider of point-of-sale consumer financing in Canada. It said the new capital, along with its receivables warehousing facility, will help the company grow across market segments, and expand into other products and services. Flexiti also said it is planning for an equity financing round in the near future. Liquid Capital is a provider of working capital, asset-based lending and trade finance solutions.
5 min read · 17 March 2016
Skyport Systems Inc, a U.S.-based provider of secure computing infrastructure for enterprise applications, has obtained US$30 million in financing. The round was led by GV and joined by a number of venture capital investors, including Thomvest Ventures, the US$250 million fund of Canada's Peter Thomson. Skyport, which is headquartered in Mountain View, California, said it will use the funds raised to expand sales and marketing and accelerate its research and development programs. The company was founded in 2013.
5 min read · 17 March 2016
U.S. private equity and venture capital funds posted negative returns in the third quarter of 2015, but both bested public market equity returns, according to benchmarks published by Cambridge Associates LLC. For the quarter ending September 30, 2015, the Cambridge private equity index posted a negative return of 1.4 percent, while the venture capital index showed a negative return of 0.4 percent. By comparison, the Nasdaq Composite lost 7.4 percent in the third quarter.
7 min read · 16 March 2016
Toronto-based CrowdRiff has secured $2.7 million (US$2 million) in seed-stage financing from Canadian venture capital firms BDC Capital and Gibraltar Ventures and U.S. firms High Alpha Capital and Foundation Capital. Founded in 2014, CrowdRiff is a provider of visual and social marketing solutions for destination and travel brands. Its customer base saw growth of 400 percent in 2015, the company reported. Led by Co-founder and CEO Dan Holowack, CrowdRiff plans to use funds raised to drive product innovation, accelerate hiring in sales and marketing, and build out its technology platform.
4 min read · 16 March 2016
Averna has acquired Belgium's Test & Measurement Solutions Group (T&M Solutions), a provider of technology solutions for the quality control of diverse products and production processes. No financial terms were released. Averna’s primary investors, Tandem Expansion Fund and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), contributed to the deal's financing. Montréal-based Averna, a developer of test solutions and services for communications and electronics device makers, said the acquisition represents a major expansion by the company into the European market. Last April, Tandem, a Canadian late-stage venture capital firm, bought a majority stake in Averna.
4 min read · 15 March 2016
Librestream Technologies Inc has secured $11 million in financing. Emerald Technology Ventures led the round and was joined by BDC Capital and other investors. Based in Winnipeg, Librestream provides mobile video collaboration solutions to energy, field service, manufacturing, and public sector industries. Its Onsight platform is deployed on over 10 million devices worldwide. Librestream said it would use the round's proceeds to advance growth plans through the addition of sales and marketing resources and acceleration of the product road-map. With the investment, Emerald's Charles Vaslet and BDC's Geoff Catherwood have joined the company's board of directors.
3 min read · 15 March 2016
QLess, a U.S.-based customer experience and queue management software company, has secured US$3.5 million in funding from Canadian specialty finance firm Wellington Financial. Headquartered in Pasadena, California, QLess helps businesses optimize their customer experience process by providing an interactive platform for employees to manage customer service flow. It said it will use the funds supplied by Wellington to accelerate the company's growth and "support our vision to eliminate customer lineups around the planet.” Last November, Wellington closed its fifth fund, Wellington Financial Fund V, at its hard-cap target of $300 million.
3 min read · 14 March 2016
Vanedge Capital has held an initial close of its second information technology fund on the strength of several big portfolio wins, including last year’s sales of MediaCore, Metafor and Recon. Vanedge II raised $104 million in committed capital in January, Vanedge Managing Partner Moe Kermani told PE Hub Canada. That puts the fund over half way to meeting its $200 million target.
3 min read · 13 March 2016
