Private Equity
Leaders Fund has launched an inaugural $100 million evergreen venture capital fund. Based in Toronto and Atlanta, Georgia, Leaders Fund will focus on making investments in enterprise software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies in those areas and in other markets in Canada and the United States. The new firm was co-founded by David Stein, founder and co-CEO of Rypple (acquired by Salesforce.com) and co-founder of Workbrain (acquired by Infor); Steve DeBacco, who most recently served as CRO of Applied Predictive Technologies (acquired by Mastercard) and was COO of Workbrain; and Gideon Hayden, previously a senior associate at OMERS Ventures.
4 min read · 13 January 2016
Canadian specialty finance firm Wellington Financial has extended US$7 million in venture debt financing to FinancialCAD Corp (FINCAD), a provider of enterprise valuation and risk analytics for multi-asset, multi-currency portfolios. Vancouver-based FINCAD, which provides its financial analytics software to more than 1,000 organizations worldwide, said it plans to use the funding to support its continued innovation and strategic growth. The company is also a portfolio investment of Beedie Capital Partners. In November 2015, Wellington closed its fifth fund, Wellington Financial Fund V, at its hard-cap target of $300 million.
2 min read · 12 January 2016
StormFisher Environmental Ltd has acquired London Energy Garden, an anaerobic digester, from a Canadian affiliate of Harvest Power Inc. No financial terms were released. Harvest Power, a Waltham, Massachusetts-based organics management business, developed London Energy Garden, which turns organic waste from southwestern Ontario into renewable energy and natural fertilizers. The company is backed by True North Venture Partners, Industry Ventures and Generation Investment Management.
2 min read · 12 January 2016
Diablo Technologies Inc, an Ottawa-based provider of memory technology solutions, has raised $19 million in a Series C financing. The round was led by a new investor, Israeli venture capital firm ICV. Existing Diablo investors Battery Ventures, BDC Capital, Celtic House Venture Partners and Hasso Plattner Ventures also participated. Founded in 2003, Diablo is focused on delivering products that enhance the performance and capability of memory system designs. It plans to use the proceeds of the Series C round to further accelerate customer deployments through expansion of sales, applications support and research. The company opened an office in Silicon Valley in 2014.
3 min read · 12 January 2016
Information Venture Partners, a venture firm launched in 2014 by former RBC principals, has secured most of the $100 million target set for its second fund, as investors show a growing appetite for opportunities in North America’s financial technology sector. The Toronto-based firm raised an initial $72.5 million for Information Venture Partners II from a group of LPs led by HarbourVest Partners.
3 min read · 12 January 2016
MLA48, a fund launched last year by Canadian angel organization Maple Leaf Angels, has led a pre-seed financing of ConferenceCloud Inc, a digital platform that provides a virtual solution for hybrid conferences, lectures and meetings. No financial terms were disclosed for the round. ConferenceCloud, a graduate of the 2015 University of Toronto Early Stage Technology (UTEST) program cohort, aims to help conference organizers take their content online and sell tickets to virtual attendees around the world. The Toronto-based startup was co-founded in 2014 by CEO Olivia Simmons and CTO John-Alan Simmons.
3 min read · 11 January 2016
Askuity Inc, a Canadian retail analytics software provider, has secured $2 million in a Series A financing. The investors included dunnhumby Ventures, the venture investment arm of dunnhumby, a U.K.-based customer science business, and a number of angel investors. The investment follows the company's $1.8 million seed-stage round of May 2014, backed by dunnhumby and MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund, among others. Toronto-based Askuity has developed technology that enables brands and product suppliers to turn retail data into better sales, marketing and supply outcomes. It said the new funds will help accelerate sales and marketing in new and existing markets.
3 min read · 11 January 2016
MMB Networks, a Canadian Internet-of-Things solutions provider, has secured $7 million in Series B financing. The round was led by Canadian venture capital firm Roadmap Capital, and was joined by the company's existing backers, Arctern Ventures and VentureLink Funds. NXP Semiconductors, a Dutch semiconductors manufacturer, also participated as a strategic investor. Founded in 2008, Toronto-based MMB has developed an embedded software platform that enables connected devices. It said it plans to use the funds to expand the company's customer base, product portfolio and global presence. MMB also agreed to co-develop a suite of NXP silicon-based hardware products.
4 min read · 08 January 2016
The Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (CVCA) and Thomson Reuters will publish their reports on Canadian venture capital market activity from 2015 in the coming weeks. PE Hub Canada has in the meantime compiled a list of the likely top 10 (disclosed) financings completed in the past year.
3 min read · 08 January 2016
Zymeworks Inc, which this week raised US$61.5 million in Series A financing, has entered into an optional merger agreement with Kairos Therapeutics Inc, a Vancouver-based specialist in antibody drug conjugates. The deal, announced concurrently with a strategic partnership between the two companies, would integrate their respective platforms, resources and pipelines to accelerate the development of novel anti-cancer biotherapeutics. As part of the strategic partnership, Vancouver-based Zymeworks announced it has made an undisclosed equity investment in Kairos. BDC Capital and Lumira Capital led the company's Series A round.
4 min read · 08 January 2016
