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Guardly said Wednesday that it has closed $1.45 million in seed-stage financing. U.S. venture capital firm Freestyle Capital led the round with participation from Canadian firms Golden Venture Partners and MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund. Based in Toronto, Guardly is a provider of enterprise-grade mobile safety solutions. Update: Investment proceeds will go toward accelerating the company's product innovation and to assist a growing sales and customer support team. Founded in 2010, Guardly said its solutions have to date been licensed by enterprise clients for use by over 430,000 end users.

The European venture capital business rebounded in the fourth quarter with fundraising and IPOs up, while investments in startups grew at a smart pace. Twenty-three venture funds raised nearly US$2 billion in the quarter, the most money raised in a quarter in two years, according to a report from Dow Jones’ DJX VentureSource. Capital was up 38% from the same quarter a year ago. For the year, however, capital raised was down 8% from 2012. Venture firms invested slightly more than US$2 billion in startups in the final three months of the year, up 18% from the third quarter. The number of deals – at 357 – edged up 6%. For the year, investments rose 15% from 2012 in terms of capital allocated.

The federal Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty has named Annette Verschuren as the new chair of the Venture Capital Expert Panel. Verschuren is currently Chair and CEO of NRStor Inc, a business focused on accelerating the commercialization of energy storage technologies. The panel was previously chaired by Canadian private equity professional Sam Duboc, who was recently appointed chair of the board of directors of the Business Development Bank of Canada. Established in May 2013, the panel advises the government on key issues of venture capital policy, including the $400 million Venture Capital Action Plan (VCAP), launched last year.

Sierra Wireless (NASDAQ: SWIR) (TSX: SW) has agreed to buy In Motion Technology Inc, a Vancouver-based provider of mobile enterprise technologies, for US$21 million. The cash transaction is expected to close in Mar. 2014. The Richmond, B.C.-based Sierra Wireless said the acquisition will build its position in wireless solutions for specific high-growth segments, including public safety, transit, and commercial fleet markets. Founded in 2002, In Motion Technology has since 2005 been backed by Canadian venture capital firm BC Advantage Funds VCC. Update: Sierra Wireless five months ago officially approached the company's other major investor, British Columbia Discovery Fund VCC, about the acquisition opportunity, said fund CEO John McEwen. McEwen told peHUB Canada that the deal "is good for In Motion Technology, for Sierra Wireless, for us and for our shareholders."

LiveOps Inc has acquired UserEvents Inc, the Fredericton, N.B.-based maker of CxEngage, a contextual routing engine that can aggregate and process events on social, web, mobile or voice channels in real time. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, though LiveOps concurrently announced receipt of US$30 million in debt funding from Comerica Bank. The UserEvents' acquisition solidifies LiveOps’ multichannel routing leadership by enabling the industry’s first contextual routing solution for intelligent customer engagement, the company said. Headquartered in Redwood City, Calif., LiveOps is currently backed by U.S. venture capital firms, including August Capital, Benchmark Capital, CMEA Capital and Menlo Ventures. Founded in 2012, UserEvents secured financing from New Brunswick Innovation Foundation (NBIF). NBIF is a Canadian startup fund that has to date invested $41 million in 32 companies.

LX Ventures (TSX Venture: LXV) has agreed to purchase Las Vegas, Nevada-based Copper.io Inc, a provider of tools and support that help deploy, operate and monitor cloud-based apps. The acquisition's financial terms combine cash payments of approximately $2 million and share issues by LX Ventures, part of which is subject to Copper.io achieving specific revenue milestones. The transaction is expected to close in February. Based in Vancouver, LX Ventures is an accelerator that acquires, integrates and accelerates high-growth technology companies.

Toronto-based e-commerce platform ShopLocket Inc has been bought for an undisclosed amount by PCH International, a seller of product development and supply chain management services with headquarters in Cork, Ireland. According to PCH, the deal establishes the first end-to-end service offering that helps startups to create, develop, manufacture and sell hardware products directly to consumers. ShopLocket's acquisition provides exits to Canadian and U.S. venture capital firms that provided the company with $1 million in seed financing in 2012. These include deal leaders Rho Canada Ventures and Valar Ventures, as well as BDC Venture Capital, Extreme Venture Partners and Relay Ventures. Founded in 2011, ShopLocket was a graduate of the acceleration program of Extreme Startups.

HootSuite has bought uberVU Inc, a U.S.-based innovative social analytics provider, for an undisclosed price. According to HootSuite CEO Ryan Holmes, the uberVU acquisition will combine the next generation of best-in-class analytics with his company's social engagement solution, moving HootSuite closer to a simple, scalable, and secure platform for the social media landscape. Founded in 2009, the Vancouver-based HootSuite has more than 8 million global users of its platform. Venture-backed since 2010, the company in Aug. 2013 raised US$165 million in a Series B financing round led by Insight Venture Partners, with participation from Accel Partners and OMERS Ventures.

The previously-announced financing of Sciencescape, a technology platform that helps academics and researchers discover and organize publications and related work in their fields, has been completed. The Toronto-based company closed $2.5 million of its $3 million oversubscribed round, which was led by Canadian venture capital firm iGan Partners with the participation of BDC Venture Capital and angel investors. A graduate of Extreme Startups' accelerator program last June, Sciencescape has since finalized a beta release of its product, which is initially geared to the biomedical sector. Investment proceeds will be used to develop the company's platform further, and for sales and marketing initiatives.

The Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) unveiled plans for four new awards that will recognize Canadian entrepreneurs in four areas: mentorship, innovation, resiliency and serial entrepreneurship. The first of the awards, the BDC Mentorship Award, is now open for nominations. This award category, developed in partnership with the Canadian Youth Business Foundation, recognizes a Canadian mentor credited by peers for having provided valuable advice and support to the creation and growth of Canadian companies. The other awards will be launched in the coming weeks. BDC offers financing, subordinate financing, venture capital and consulting services to more than 28,000 small and medium-sized companies.