brad meikle
Anges Québec (AQ), a network of 120 private investors that identifies, finances and coaches high-growth Québec companies, has formed a three-year partnership with the National Bank to support Québec-based entrepreneurship and innovation. The two organizations will provide entrepreneurs with advice to optimize the success of businesses backed by AQ members. AQ's CEO is venture capital professional François Gilbert.
Azure Capital Partners said it opened a Canadian office in Calgary, Alberta. The San Francisco venture capital firm said it would use the office to evaluate not only local deal flow, but companies in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montréal. Azure's current fund, Azure Capital Partners III, L.P., has received commitments from funds-of-funds Alberta Enterprise and B.C. Renaissance Capital Fund, a crown corporation that is wholly owned by the B.C. Immigrant Investment Fund.
Scott MacDonald and Whitney Rockley, managing partners of McRock Capital have completed a report examining Canadian venture capital, peHUB Canada has learned. In Canadian Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital 2013, they contend that despite challenges Canada has produced many high-growth technology companies and that "a new breed of entrepreneur and venture capitalist has emerged over the past decade." McRock Capital invests in companies developing industrial data solutions to help established industries operate more efficiently.
LX Ventures Inc., a publicly-traded technology incubator that launches, integrates and acquires early-stage, high-growth technology companies, recently purchased all of the assets of Weeve Ventures Inc., including the startup company's crowdfunding platform Weeve.it. The terms of the acquisition agreement were not published. The Vancouver, British Columbia-based LX Ventures plans to take Weeve's crowdfunding framework and "re-purpose it for use in other industries that are ready for disruption."
Toronto-based software development company Sightline Innovation Inc. has acquired COSAM Systems Inc. of Aurora, Ontario, for an undisclosed amount. The stated mission of three-year-old COSAM has been to improve the affordability of modernization of IBM customer systems, including through cloud technologies.
Enerkem Inc., a Montréal-based developer and producer of renewable fuels and chemicals, closed a C$37 million financing for Enerkem Alberta Biofuels LP, the company's advanced biofuels facility in Edmonton. The investors were Waste Management of Canada Corp. and EB Investments. Since 2002, Enerkem has been backed by Canadian and U.S. venture capital firms, including Braemar Energy Ventures, Cycle Capital Management, Fondaction (CSN), Fonds de solidarité des travailleurs du Québec (FTQ) and Rho Capital Partners.
Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) has provided financial support to Notman House, a collaborative hub in which Montréal entrepreneurs building high-tech companies can share knowledge, exchange ideas and build collaborative networks. As part of its sponsorship of OSMO Foundation, BDC will initially commit $325,000 to Notman House, to be followed by an additional $100,000 in commitments over the next four years.
Open Prairie Ventures has backed NewLeaf Symbiotics, an agricultural biotech firm. The investment, from Open Prairie Ventures II, was part of a $7.0 million Series A round of financing that will be used to further NewLeaf Symbiotics’ field trials. Other investors in the syndicate include Rockport Capital, Pangaea Ventures and several individuals.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a plan on Monday to provide $408 million in venture capital to stem the loss of young entrepreneurs to the United States and to rekindle investor interest in providing start-up funds for new ventures.
Winnipeg, Manitoba and Kalamazo, Michigan-based Monteris Medical Inc. has closed on US$7.8 million in new financing. BDC Health Venture Fund, managed by the Business Development Bank of Canada, led the round, with participation from the SWMF Life Science Fund, and several unnamed investors. The total funding raised in 2012 approached US$16 million, the company said in a press release. Monteris Medical has been backed by a mix of Canadian and US venture capital funds since 2001.