Private Equity
Two Canadian investment pros are enrolled in the world’s foremost school for venture capitalists. Last month, Real Ventures’ Janet Bannister and Build Ventures’ Rob Barbara joined VCs from around the globe in the 24th class of Silicon Valley educator Kauffman Fellows, a program dedicated to boosting VC skills. The goal is to equip the some 64 participants in the class with new tools and strategies for performing the daily tasks of a VC, everything from managing a fund to nurturing a startup. Upon completing the program, they will become part of an exclusive network of graduates, called Fellows. Bannister and Barbara, who enrolled with the help of scholarships provided by BDC Capital, are set to bring the number of Canadian Fellows to 11.
3 min read · 11 July 2019
Andreessen Horowitz announced that it’s expanding its fintech team with the addition of Anish Acharya as the firm’s newest general partner. Acharya was formerly with Credit Karma, where he most recently was vice president of product. Acharya will focus on fintech, working alongside fellow a16z General Partners Angela Strange and Alastair "Alex" Rampell.
1 min read · 11 July 2019
Vertex Ventures US, a Palo Alto, California-based firm that recently raised a $150 million second venture fund, has hired Chase Roberts as a principal. Previously, he was senior manager of strategic partnerships at Segment and before that was senior manager of partner strategy and Alliances at Box.
1 min read · 11 July 2019
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan has appointed Jo Taylor as its president and CEO, effective January 1, 2020. Taylor, who is currently executive managing director, global development, will replace Ron Mock, who is retiring. Mock joined Ontario Teachers' in 2001 and became president and CEO in 2014. Taylor began with Ontario Teachers’ in 2012, leading Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) operations and later assumed additional responsibility for Asia-Pacific operations. His prior roles include serving as managing partner of U.K. private equity and infrastructure firm 3i Group. Toronto-based Ontario Teachers’ oversees more than $191 billion in net assets.
5 min read · 09 July 2019
Canadian innovation hub MaRS Discovery District has appointed Jon Dogterom as senior vice president of venture services. Dogterom replaces Salim Teja, who earlier this year joined Radical Ventures as a partner and general manager. Dogterom was previously managing director of MaRS Cleantech. In the new role, he will lead MaRS' strategy of helping Canadian startups and scale-ups grow and enter new markets, and manage the organization’s stakeholder relations globally. Dogterom joined MaRS in 2010. Before then, he was director of business development at Toronto-based hydrogen systems maker Hydrogenics Corp.
3 min read · 08 July 2019
Radical Ventures is adding to its bench strength with a fresh crop of hires, including a former operating executive in the value-creation platform of buyout giant KKR. The Toronto-based artificial-intelligence VC firm recently brought on Parasvil Patel as a principal. Patel joined from KKR-Capstone, where for four years he was part of a New York-based group that supports KKR’s global investment activity and portfolio companies. At Radical, Patel will help to source AI opportunities and support the growth of portfolio companies, something he is "uniquely skilled for,” Managing Partner Jordan Jacobs told PE Hub Canada.
2 min read · 04 July 2019
Target Partners has named Wolfram Drescher as a venture partner. He was the co-founder of Airrays and the co-founder of Systemonic, which was acquired by Philips.
2 min read · 03 July 2019
The Dementia Discovery Fund, the venture fund that invests in projects and companies that develop treatments for age-related dementias, has named Dr. Jonathan Behr as a partner. Previously, he worked at the JDRF T1D Fund. SV Health Investors manages DDF.
4 min read · 02 July 2019
Silicon Valley-based venture firm CloudScale Capital Partners LLC has named Matt Bross as a partner. Bross is a former CTO of British Telecom, Williams Communications and Huawei.
3 min read · 01 July 2019
Puls, which operates a network of service providers and technicians, has named Mitch Galbraith as CEO and a member of its board of directors. Previously, he was executive vice president and general manager of j2 Global's gaming and entertainment division. Puls' backers include Sequoia Capital, Temasek, Viola and Samsung Next.
3 min read · 28 June 2019
