brad meikle
C100K, the London, U.K.-based organization established to support Canadian entrepreneurship, has announced the final list of company startups attending its first ever "48 Hours in London" on Sept. 25-26, 2013. They are: CmaeOn, Jostle, Wifarer, Datacratic, Ooomf, Beaucoo, Mobovivo, Gnowit, BusBud and FundRazr. The upcoming event, which will bring together Canadian startups with "the cream" of the U.K.'s technology and venture capital sectors, is modeled after "48 Hours in the Valley," the flagship program of the affiliated Silicon Valley-based C100.
A new report released by the National Angel Capital Organization (NACO) found that the deal-making of angel groups in Canada increased in 2012. Based on the activity of NACO members, angel groups invested a total of $40.5 million in 139 companies last year, up from $35.7 million invested in 71 companies in 2011. Angels invested over half of their dollars in IT sectors, with life sciences and clean-tech accounting for the balance. The report notes that 75 percent of angel groups were formed in the last five years, and that the majority of these groups have less 50 members.
Relay Ventures announced this week that they will be unveiling their new "VC Mobile", an Airstream mobile office, during TechCrunch Disrupt this September 10th in San Francisco. Relay's mobile office will help meet the needs of aspiring entrepreneurs.
The Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) attributes recent high levels of activity in its venture capital, subordinate financing and other divisions to increased demand from small and medium-sized businesses. During fiscal 2013 ending March 31, BDC authorized $145.3 million in venture capital investments, and provided clients with $4.3 billion in loans and subordinate financing. In the same period, BDC paid a dividend of $68.6 million to its sole shareholder, the Canadian government. It plans to make an additional payment of $59.6 million in fiscal 2014.
C100K, the London, U.K.-based non-profit organization established to support Canadian entrepreneurship, is launching its first ever "48 Hours in London" on September 25-26, 2013, peHUB Canada has learned. The event, which will bring together 10-12 Canadian company founders to participate in mentoring sessions, networking and related activity, is similar to "48 Hours in Valley", the flagship program of the affiliated Silicon Valley-based C100. Speakers at the London event will include angel investor and entrepreneur Sherry Coutu and journalist and entrepreneur Tyler Brûlé. C100UK bills itself as a "gateway to European markets."
500px said Wednesday that it has raised $8.8 million in Series A funding. Andreessen Horowitz and Harrison Metal led the round. Other investors included Creative Artists Agency, Rugged Ventures, Dustin Plett and ff Venture Capital. In addition to the news about the funding, it was announced that Michael Dearing, founder of Harrison Metal, has joined the 500px board as a director. Based in Toronto, 500px is a photo-sharing platform.
Waterloo-based commercialization hub Communitech Ltd. announced the fine tuning of its $30 million startup accelerator Hyperdrive to give more help to early stage technology companies. Changes include an extension of Hyperdrive's program to six months to provide support to companies that need to transition into sales and marketing and greater use of tools. Since its creation last year, Hyperdrive has in its first two cohorts admitted 18 companies, which have raised a total of $3.7 million.
GrowthWorks Canadian Fund, managed by Vancouver-based GrowthWorks, has entered into a fourth amendment of a 2010 participation agreement with Roseway Capital LP, managed by British venture capital firm Rosetta Capital, pertaining to secondary investments made in the Canadian fund. The change allows for two separate repayments to Roseway totaling $25.7 million to be extended to August 2013.
Canadian venture capital firm GrowthWorks announced that its retail fund, Working Opportunity Fund (WOF), would resume redemptions of its venture series shares. Simultaneous to this announcement, the firm pointed to growth of 22% in the value of WOF’s venture series due to the recent sale of the fund's portfolio company Layer 7 Technologies Inc. to CA Technologies Inc. and other developments.
Toronto innovation hub MaRS Discovery District has selected the first three companies to participate in its Excellence in Clinical Innovation and Technology Evaluation (EXCITE) program, which accelerates the adoption of breakthrough medical technologies. The companies are: ApneaDx Inc., a developer of a home-based device for diagnosing sleep apnea, Medtronic of Canada Ltd., a developer of treatments for drug-resistant hypertension, and Rna Diagnostics Inc., a developer of a diagnostic tool to improve breast cancer treatment outcomes.