Private Equity
Financeit Inc has closed a $35 million renewable purchase facility and a $5 million warehouse line facility with Pacific & Western Bank of Canada (TSX: PWB). The facilities are intended to support Financeit's platform for enabling small businesses to offer financing to their customers. Founded in 2011, the Toronto-based company has signed up more than 3,500 retail, vehicle, home improvement and healthcare businesses that have processed more than $500 million in loans. Financeit raised US$13 million last year in a Series A round from U.S. venture capital firm TTV Capital and other investors, and previously secured angel funding.
3 min read · 09 June 2014
The Fonds de solidarité des travailleurs du Québec FTQ said the $650 million cap on labour-sponsored fund share issues announced in the 2014-2015 Québec budget will reduce its ability to invest in small businesses. The Fonds de solidarité FTQ currently finances close to 2,400 companies, of which 80 percent have fewer than 100 employees and 70 percent are in the regions. It also said the cap will reduce Québec workers’ ability to save for retirement. The Montréal-based Fonds de solidarité FTQ has committed close to $5.5 billion in investments over the 10-year period ending May 31, 2013.
3 min read · 06 June 2014
Seed investing is the game where those with the keenest eye make the biggest gains by taking the biggest risks, writes Cameron Chell, Canadian serial entrepreneur, investor and the co-founder and managing director of venture-backed startup Slyce. The rules are simple, yet there are innumerable complexities surrounding what fledgling startups will confront in their journey either to victory and success or their fall from grace at the first fence.
5 min read · 05 June 2014
Spinal Kinetics Inc has obtained US$34 million in new financing. Canadian life sciences venture capital firm Lumira Capital was one of the company's existing investors that led the deal. The others were U.S. firms Scale Venture Partners, De Novo Ventures, SV Life Sciences and HLM Ventures. Based in Sunnyvale, California, Spinal Kinetics is a medical device company focused on treatment of diseases of the spine. Funds raised will be used primarily to initiate an FDA-approved clinical trial of the company's M6-C artificial cervical disc and expand global commercialization and clinical programs.
4 min read · 05 June 2014
SceneDoc Inc, formerly known as Siamese Systems Inc, has raised $1.35 million of seed-stage financing. Investing in the round was MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund (IAF), which is managed by Canadian innovation hub MaRS Discovery District. With the deal's closing, MaRS IAF becomes the largest single and lead investor in the company, along with angel backers Tim Lett, Brice Scheschuk of WIND Mobile and others. Based in Toronto, Scenedoc provides secure mobile investigation and field documentation technology for law enforcement and public safety. Funding proceeds will go toward growing the company's revenues and innovation initiatives.
2 min read · 05 June 2014
Allocadia Software Inc, a provider of marketing performance management cloud software, has netted $7 million in a Series A financing round. The deal was led by U.S. venture capital firm Altos Ventures and Canadian firm iNovia Capital with the participation of Beehive Holdings, lluminate Ventures and other investors. Beehive and iNovia seeded the company in 2013. Allocadia will use the new funds to fuel growth in the CMO marketing cloud technology market, for sales and marketing and for product innovation. As a result of the deal, Altos Partners' Anthony Lee and iNovia's Kevin Swan will join the company's board of directors. Based in Vancouver, Allocadia was co-founded in 2010 by CEO Kristine Steuart.
4 min read · 05 June 2014
Radient Technologies Inc, a developer of microwave-assisted natural product extraction technology, has commenced trading common shares on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "RTI." The listing was the result of a recently completed arrangement with publicly traded Madison Capital Corp whereby the two companies merged into a new entity under Radient's name. Founded in 2001 and based in Edmonton, Alberta, Radient is backed by Canadian venture capital firms AVAC, Foragen Technologies Management and Foundation Equity.
2 min read · 05 June 2014
DIRTT Environmental Solutions Ltd (TSX: DRT), a Calgary-based manufacturer of highly customized interiors, and certain shareholders recently commenced a bought deal secondary offering of 6.2 million common shares at $2.60 per share. The investors, which include Expansion Capital Partners, Export Development Canada and Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, provided venture capital and private equity funding to the company in the past. Gross proceeds to the sellers will total $16.2 million and reduce their collective ownership to about 11.7 percent of total issued and outstanding shares. DIRTT went public in November.
3 min read · 05 June 2014
AmorChem, an early stage life sciences fund managed by Canadian venture capital firm GeneChem, has invested $1.5 million to develop new diagnostic and prognostic tools for acute myeloid leukemia. The project, which is led by Drs. Guy Sauvageau and Josée Hébert, both senior researchers and professors at the Université de Montréal, will focus on technology that helps predict how patients should be treated based on the genetic makeup of their tumor. AmorChem said it will work with the university's commercialization unit, IRIC-Commercialization of Research, to bring to market new tools that result from the project.
4 min read · 04 June 2014
Ed-tech specialist Pathbrite Inc has raised US$3.7 million. The deal was led by Cengage Learning, an educational content, technology and services provider, with the participation of ACT and Serious Change. San Francisco-based Pathbrite plans to use the funds to develop its portfolio learning platform by creating customized solutions for post-secondary and corporate partners. Based in Boston, Mass., Cengage is a portfolio company of OMERS Private Equity, an investment arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System. OMERS and Apax Partners acquired Cengage with Toronto-based Nelson Education Ltd in 2007.
4 min read · 04 June 2014
