Private Equity
RtTech Software Inc, which raised its Series A financing in February, has received this year's BDC Innovation Award at the 2015 annual conference of the Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (CVCA). The award recognizes an early-stage company that has shown an ability to bring innovation to market and to help reshape a sector in new ways. RtTech Software, a developer of software apps that provide operational intelligence for industrial facilities, has its headquarters in Moncton, New Brunswick. It is backed by Canadian venture capital firm McRock Capital, which led its Series A round, and New Brunswick Innovation Foundation.
3 min read · 21 May 2015
GreenSoil Investments, a global private equity and venture capital firm that opened a Toronto office in April 2014, has launched is third fund, GreenSoil Building Innovation Fund. The fund, which raised an initial US$25 million, will invest in North American and international companies that generate returns for real estate owners, operators, and developers through innovation, smart resource utilization, and efficiency improvements. It is targeted to raise US$80 million to US$100 million in a final closing. GreenSoil, which was founded by Alan Greenberg and Gideon Soesman in 2011, also has offices in Israel and the Netherlands.
3 min read · 21 May 2015
Canadian e-commerce software maker Shopify Inc said its U.S. initial public offering was priced at US$17 per share, valuing the company at about US$1.27 billion, Reuters reported. The venture-backed startup's IPO of of 7.7 million class A subordinate shares raised about US$131 million, after it was priced above the top end of the expected range. The company sold all the shares in the offering.
2 min read · 21 May 2015
Avrio Capital and Clairvest Group are the 2015 recipients of the Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association's (CVCA) “Deal of the Year” awards. Calgary-based Avrio won in the venture capital category for last year's sale of Wolf Trax Inc, an agricultural technology provider, to Compass Minerals. The deal gave Avrio 15.4 times its invested capital and an internal rate of return (cash and total) of 138 percent. Toronto-based Clairvest won in the private equity category for last year's sale of KUBRA Data Transfer Ltd, a provider of outsourced billing solutions, to Hearst Corp. The deal gave Clairvest 13.4 times its invested capital and an internal rate of return (cash and total) of 40 percent.
4 min read · 20 May 2015
Vistara Capital Partners, a newly formed growth investor in late-stage technology companies, has raised most of the capital targeted for its inaugural fund in an initial close. The Vancouver-based firm announced this week that Vistara Capital Partners Fund I LP has secured $80 million in committed capital, putting it within reach of an overall goal of $100 million.
3 min read · 20 May 2015
The Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) and Futurpreneur Canada have named Jeff Ryzner as the winner of the 2015 BDC Mentorship Award, which provides recognition of outstanding mentorship activity that has contributed to the growth of Canadian innovative companies. Ryzner is the president of The Eureka Project, Manitoba’s technology accelerator, and a founding partner of three technology startups. He also founded the consultancy Endgame Business Strategy.
3 min read · 20 May 2015
Ascenta Health Ltd, a Canadian manufacturer of natural health products, has been bought by Nature's Way, an affiliate of Germany's Dr. Willmar Schwabe Pharmaceuticals. The financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Founded in 2003 by CEO Marc St-Onge, Ascenta Health is a developer, producer and marketer of omega-3 supplements for human and animal health. Based in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, it has been a portfolio investment of Canadian venture capital firm Avrio Capital since March 2009. Avrio invested $4 million in the company.
3 min read · 20 May 2015
The Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) has committed $3 million for Communitech Corp to establish the Open Data Exchange in Waterloo, Ontario. The project, which is expected to result in the incubation of 15 new data-driven companies, has a total of cost of about $6 million, with another $50 million to be leveraged from venture capital and other partners. Communitech, Desire2Learn Inc, OpenText Corp and the University of Waterloo have pledged to match FedDev Ontario's contribution.
4 min read · 19 May 2015
General Fusion Inc has netted an additional $27 million in venture capital funding. The round was led by Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the Malaysian government's strategic investment fund, and was joined by the company's existing investors. They include: BDC Capital, Bezos Expeditions, Braemar Energy Ventures, Cenovus Energy, Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital, Entrepreneurs Fund, GrowthWorks, SET Ventures and Sustainable Development Technology Canada. The Vancouver-based General Fusion said the deal's proceeds will be used to further develop its commercial fusion energy technology. It also said the round will see a second close later this year. General Fusion was founded in 2002 by Dr. Michel Laberge.
3 min read · 19 May 2015
Kik Interactive, a Canadian username-based smartphone messenger that facilitates chat networks, has named Josh Jacobs as president of Kik Services. Previously, Jacobs was global CEO of Accruen, a programmatic advertising agency. Last November, Kik Interactive raised $38.3 million in Series C funding. U.S. venture capital firm Valiant Capital Partners led the round with participation from Millennium Technology Value Partners, SV Angel, Foundation Capital, RRE Ventures, Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures.
3 min read · 19 May 2015
