Private Equity
Silicon Valley-based retail analytics firm Reflektion, which is backed by Intel Capital, has added Steve Papa to its board of directors. Papa is the former CEO and founder of Endeca.
3 min read · 30 September 2014
Versant Ventures has placed operating partner Jim Mazzo on administrative leave following a federal grand jury indictment for alleged insider trading, a source at Versant confirmed. Both Mazzo and Versant have mutually agreed that Mazzo will suspend his work at the healthcare-focused venture firm until his legal matters are resolved.
1 min read · 29 September 2014
Vestar Capital Partners has named Nikhil Bhat and Alexander Kerr as senior associates. Both will be working in the private equity firm's diversified industries group.
2 min read · 29 September 2014
Atlas Venture said Monday that it has hired Jason Rhodes as a partner on the firm's life sciences investing team. His appointment becomes effective October 1, 2014. Currently, Rhodes is the president and chief financial officer of Epizyme.
2 min read · 29 September 2014
Avigilon Corp (TSX: AVO) has appointed Mahesh Saptharishi as its new chief technology officer (CTO). Saptharishi has more than 17 years of experience developing intelligent video analytics technology as well as software and camera hardware for the security industry. He has been Avigilon's senior vice president, analytics and data science since the company acquired VideoIQ Inc in early 2014. The Vancouver-based Avigilon is a portfolio investment of British Columbia Discovery Fund (VCC), a retail venture capital fund managed by Discovery Capital Management Corp. It went public in 2011.
5 min read · 25 September 2014
Alberta Enterprise Corp has named interim managing director Kristina Williams as the organization's new president and CEO. Williams, who has served with Alberta Enterprise for the last five years, previously worked in a variety of capacities at a number of technology companies. Founded in 2008, Alberta Enterprise is a $100 million fund-of-funds manager that is focused on building the provincial venture capital industry. To date, it has committed $90 million to seven venture capital funds and the Accelerate Fund LP, an angel co-investment fund, and has helped to leverage $765 million of additional investments.
3 min read · 23 September 2014
Motivity Labs, which is backed by Naya Ventures, has hired Manish Tyagi as CEO and named Prabhakar Reddy as president of Motivity Solutions. Both will also join the firm's board of directors. Based in Irving, Texas and India, Motivity Labs is a provider of mobile, cloud and big data solutions.
3 min read · 23 September 2014
Shopify Inc has launched its fifth annual Build a Business competition, which encourages entrepreneurs with a product idea to start selling through its e-commerce and retail platform. The Ottawa-based startup said that over the past four years its contest has helped launch more than 36,000 new businesses that have sold more than $180 million in products. Winners of this year's event will be flown to Richard Branson's Necker Island for five days of mentorship and growth opportunities. Branson is the founder of Virgin Group. Last December, Shopify raised $100 million in Series C funding led by OMERS Ventures and Insight Venture Partners.
3 min read · 22 September 2014
Delphinus Medical Technologies, which is backed by Arboretum Ventures and Beringea, has hired as Mark J. Forchette president and CEO. Previously, Forchette worked at OptiMedica Corp. where he served as president and CEO. Delphinus is maker of SoftVue, a whole breast ultrasound system.
3 min read · 22 September 2014
ClearFit, a portfolio company of Canadian venture capital firm Relay Ventures and U.S. firm GrandBanks Capital, has brought on Chris Billetz as its head of business development. Prior to joining ClearFit, Billetz was director of agency relations at U.S.-based career network Beyond.com, which is also venture-backed. Based in Toronto, ClearFit is a hiring platform designed to help small businesses quickly and easily find applicants and make better hiring decisions. The company has made several strategic hires since closing its $7 million Series A financing round in May 2013.
4 min read · 19 September 2014
