US

The Column Group is close to reaching its fundraising target of $600m apiece for its early-stage life science Fund V and later-stage Opportunity Fund III.

Compliance pros shared their real-life nightmare scenarios at PEI’s Private Funds Compliance Forum in New York.

In an increasingly competitive market, venture firms can improve their odds of survival by teaming up with larger PE firms with whom they have synergy. This week Sofinnova Partners, a Paris-based early-stage life sciences investor, sold a minority stake to Apollo in return for Apollo committing to invest up to €1 billion to its funds.

As is usually the case, increased rules mean higher compliance costs for those advisers who fall under regulation. For the biggest firms in the industry, those costs can be handled, but for smaller shops, and especially emerging managers, those costs could prove harmful.

New York and Halifax, Nova Scotia-based education technology startup Pressto has collected $1.5 million in pre-seed financing.

Toronto-based ChargeLab, a builder of software to operate and optimize electric vehicle charging equipment, has secured $15 million in Series A financing.

Mangrove Lithium, a technology platform for producing battery-grade lithium hydroxide, has raised additional financing, bringing the total to $25 million.

Fable Tech Labs, a Toronto-based startup that helps make digital products more usable by people with accessibility challenges, has raised $10.5 million in financing, the Globe and Mail reported.

Forma.ai, a Toronto-based provider of artificial intelligence-enabled sales performance management solutions, has secured $45 million in Series B financing.