Private Equity
Wattpad, also known as WP Technology Inc, has secured $46 million in a Series C financing round led by OMERS Ventures, the venture investment arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System. The round was also joined by August Capital, Raine Ventures and Northleaf Venture Catalyst Fund, as well as existing investors Union Square Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Jerry Yang of AME Cloud Ventures, Golden Venture Partners, and Boris Wertz of Version One Ventures. Based in Toronto, Wattpad is a social platform that creates direct connections between readers and writers. The company said it will use its latest funding to expand its Toronto team and to support product development and platform growth.
3 min read · 08 April 2014
BTI Systems Inc has named Colin Doherty as its new president and CEO. He assumed the role from Steve Waszak, who has served as the company's top executive since 2010. Doherty joined BTI from U.S.-based Arbor Networks Inc, where he served as CEO until the software company's acquisition in 2010. With headquarters in Ottawa, Ontario, BTI is a provider of cloud and metro networking software and systems to content and service providers. Since 2011, the company has received $60 million in venture capital funding from Canadian and U.S. backers, including Bain Capital Ventures, BDC Venture Capital, Covington Funds and GrowthWorks.
4 min read · 08 April 2014
Five9 Inc, a portfolio company of Canadian venture capital firm Mosaic Venture Partners, has priced its initial public offering of 10 million shares at US$7.00 per share. The company's stock began trading on April 4 on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “FIVN.” According to a report by Reuters, it raised as much as US$70 million. Headquartered in San Ramon, California, Five9 is a provider of cloud solutions for call centres. The company's other backers include Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, Partech Ventures, Adams Street Partners and SAP Ventures. The Toronto-based Mosaic invests in early-stage Internet and digital technology companies.
2 min read · 08 April 2014
Lumenpulse Inc has priced its initial public offering (IPO) of 6.25 million common shares at a price of $16.00 per share. The offering is now targeted to raise $100 million, an amount that exceeds the company's previous estimate of $75 million. Based on the IPO price, Lumenpulse's market capitalization will be approximately $354 million. With headquarters in Montréal, the company manufactures and sells a range of high performance and sustainable LED lighting solutions. Its venture capital investors include the Fonds de solidarité des travailleurs du Québec FTQ and Investissements W2.
3 min read · 08 April 2014
Lumenpulse Inc has priced its initial public offering (IPO) of 6.25 million common shares at a price of $16.00 per share. The offering is now targeted to raise $100 million, an amount that exceeds the company's previous estimate of $75 million. Based on the IPO price, Lumenpulse's market capitalization will be approximately $354 million. With headquarters in Montréal, the company manufactures and sells a range of high performance and sustainable LED lighting solutions. Its venture capital investors include the Fonds de solidarité des travailleurs du Québec FTQ and Investissements W2.
3 min read · 08 April 2014
The federal government has unveiled a comprehensive new strategy called Digital Canada 150 aimed at allowing Canadians to take full advantage of digital opportunities. As part of the strategy, Industry Canada will through the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) provide $300 million in venture capital funding for digital companies. An additional $200 million has been earmarked to support small and medium-sized businesses with their adoption of digital technologies.
5 min read · 07 April 2014
The federal government has unveiled a comprehensive new strategy called Digital Canada 150 aimed at allowing Canadians to take full advantage of digital opportunities. As part of the strategy, Industry Canada will through the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) provide $300 million in venture capital funding for digital companies. An additional $200 million has been earmarked to support small and medium-sized businesses with their adoption of digital technologies.
5 min read · 07 April 2014
U.S. online education company Lynda.com Inc has acquired Compilr, a Halifax, Nova Scotia-based software and development platform that allows people to learn, write, compile and test code from their browser. While the acquisition price was not disclosed, TechCrunch estimated it at US$20 million. Lynda.com said the deal is part of the company's growth strategy and allows for the expansion of its programming learning tools. Based in Carpinteria, California, Lynda.com is backed by U.S. venture capital firms Accel Partners, Meritech Capital Partners and Spectrum Equity.
3 min read · 07 April 2014
Triggerfox Corp, maker of a mobile relationship management app for business professionals, has received $1.8 million in seed-stage financing from a group of Toronto and Boston-based angel investors. The investors include Dharmesh Shah, co-founder of Hubspot, and Wayne Chang of Twitter. Concurrent with the funding announcement, Triggerfox announced the launch of its new iPhone app, designed to help professionals build better relationships. The Toronto-based company was founded in 2011 by Frank Falcone, former CRM product lead for Microsoft.
2 min read · 07 April 2014
Hortau Inc, a provider of wireless, web-based irrigation management systems, has secured $3.5 million in additional financing from Canadian venture capital firm Avrio Capital. Avrio originally invested $3 million in the Saint-Romuald, Québec-based company in early 2013. Proceeds from the latest investment will allow Hortau to continue expanding its team of regional representatives, and take its precision irrigation platform to growers across all crops, the company said. Founded in 2002, Hortau's U.S. operations are based in San Luis Obispo, California. It was recently reported that Avrio is planning to raise a new $125 million fund focused on investing in innovative agriculture and food companies.
3 min read · 07 April 2014
