brad meikle
Open Text Corp (NASDAQ: OTEX; TSX: OTC) has launched a $100 million venture capital fund focused on investing directly in entrepreneurs engaged in creative business application development. The OpenText Enterprise Applications Venture Fund, which is expected to close within the next six months, was announced concurrently with the initial close of the $300 million Northleaf Venture Catalyst Fund, a venture fund-of-funds backed by the Canadian and Ontario governments, and to which Open Text has also made a capital commitment. The company said that its new Enterprise Application Venture Fund builds on its AppWorks developer platform, established in Nov. 2013. Based in Waterloo, Ontario, Open Text is an enterprise information management and software company.
FlashStock Inc, a provider of on-demand visual content with offices in Toronto and New York, has raised an undisclosed seed-stage round of financing. Founded by Grid Ventures, a New York-based internet advisory and investment firm, Flashstock supplies brand-based clients and agencies with a stream of customized, on-brand images sourced from a global network of photographers. Proceeds of the new investment will be used to continue development of the company's on-demand stock photography platform. Flashstock's official product launch will take place later in 2014.
The Canadian government has announced the launch of Northleaf Venture Catalyst Fund, the first market-based fund-of-funds backed by Ottawa's $400 million Venture Capital Action Plan in partnership with the Ontario government. The fund, which will be managed by Toronto-based Northleaf Capital Partners, has raised $217.5 million in commitments in its initial closing, two-thirds of which, or $145 million, came from corporate and institutional investors, including BDC Capital, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, OpenText Corp, and six of Canada's leading banks. Northleaf Venture Catalyst Fund, which is targeted to raise $300 million in total, will make commitments primarily to Canadian venture capital funds, and direct investments in Canadian companies. The federal and Ontario governments have agreed to make a combined commitment of $1 for every $2 committed by private investors to the fund, up to a maximum of $50 million each. A second closing is anticipated later this year.
BuildDirect, a Vancouver-based online home improvement products supplier, has secured $30 million in Series B financing. The round was led by U.S. venture capital firm Mohr Davidow Ventures and supported by Canadian investors, including existing investor BDC Venture Capital. Funds will be used to fuel company growth in the US$492 billion building product marketplace, continued evolution of BuildDirect's proprietary technology platform, expansion of its product offerings, and an increase in its employment base. Katherine Barr, general partner at Mohr Davidow and co-chair of the C100, will join the company's board of directors. Founded in 1999, BuildDirect has been venture-backed since 2006. Its other backers include Difference Capital Financial, GrowthWorks and OMERS Ventures.
Motion Engine Inc, a manufacturer of motion sensing enabling systems, has received approximately $1 million in seed-stage financing. The round was funded by a consortium of angel investors from Canada, the United States and Asia. Established last year in Montréal, Motion Engine is a member of the MiQro Innovation Collaborative Centre, which promotes growth in the microelectronics industry through the support of leading-edge technologies. The company will use the proceeds of its investment to advance its motion sensing platform technology for mobile and wearable devices.
Canadian venture capital firm iNovia Capital has promoted two of its principals, Kevin Swan and Karamdeep Nijjar, to partner roles. The firm said these promotions are intended to pave the way for iNovia's next phase of growth, support the growth of deal flow and its Canadian and U.S.-based portfolio companies, which currently total 46, and evaluate over half a dozen potential exits in 2014. With headquarters in Montréal and managed capital totaling $275 million, iNovia is focused on making early-stage investments in digital media, SaaS, e-commerce and connected devices. In Apr. 2013, peHUB Canada interviewed the firm's managing partner Chris Arsenault on deal-making activity and trends in the domestic market.
AmorChem, an early-stage life sciences fund managed by Canadian venture capital firm GeneChem, has invested in a project focused on the role of the IGF axis in cancer development, invasion and metastasis that is being conducted by McGill University professor Dr. Pnina Brodt in collaboration with the National Research Council of Canada. The investment, which was made in partnership with Québec commercialization and technology transfer hub MSBi Valorisation, is intended to bring the project's novel cancer-treating innovation closer to clinical applications. AmorChem was in Nov. 2013 profiled by peHUB Canada in a feature article about Univalor and new startup opportunities in Québec.
Venture capital firms ramped up their investments in the United States last year and last quarter, particularly in the red-hot software sector, according to a report from the National Venture Capital Association and consultancy PriceWaterhouseCoopers. For the year, venture firms invested US$29.36 billion in startups, a 7 percent increase over US$27.32 in 2013. For the quarter, they invested US$8.37 billion in startups, 20 percent more than the same time last year and more than any quarter since the end of 2007. Software was the big draw, taking in US$2.88 billion last quarter and US$10.96 billion for the year, more than any year since 2000, according to the report.
BrandProject LP, a company creation studio and fund that makes early-stage investments in consumer products and technology, has been officially launched. The firm has been backed with over $12 million in commitments from BDC Venture Capital and other investors. With offices in Toronto and New York, BrandProject will focus on seeding and mentoring Internet-enabled consumer products and services startups located in Canada and the U.S. Founded in 2012, BrandProject builds on the record of the consumer-focused Blackpoynt Brand Ventures. Both BrandProject and Blackpoynt were founded by Andrew Black, the former president and CEO of Virgin Mobile Canada.
The venture capital arm of one of Canada's largest pension funds is raising a second, larger round of funding to invest in Canadian technology startups, its chief executive said on Thursday. OMERS Ventures has already secured some funding from its parent, the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, for the second round and has invested some of it, but is now negotiating for more funding from outside sources, CEO John Ruffolo told Reuters on the sidelines of a technology conference. "It will be a very large fund. It will be larger than our first fund, which was C$200 million (US$183 million)," he said.