brad meikle
MediaCore, which earlier this year raised $4.5 million in Series A funding, has been bought by Workday, a U.S.-based provider of enterprise cloud applications for finance and human resources. The acquisition's value was not disclosed. Founded in 2011, Mediacore provides solutions that enable schools to capture media, build a media library and store content. Co-founder and CEO Stuart Bowness said the company will continue to grow its team in Victoria, British Columbia and focus on integrating its technology across Workday’s applications suite. Mediacore was backed by Canadian venture capital firm Vanedge Capital and other investors.
Solegear Bioplastic Technologies Inc (TSX-V: SGB), which in March obtained a public listing, has secured an investment from The Hillcore Group, a Canadian investment and advisory firm. Hillcore led the first tranche of the company's $2 million private placement of common shares. Hillcore also acquired a block of shares held by existing investor Yaletown Venture Partners, a Canadian venture capital firm. Vancouver-based Solegear, a maker of high-performance bioplastics products, said the proceeds of the private placement will support its commercial activities, including a purchase order for plant-based office products and a joint venture with Ex-Tech.
Iotum has acquired FreeConferencePro, a Hartford, Connecticut-based free audio conferencing services company. No financial terms were released. FreeConferencePro is iotum's fourth acquisition in the past two years, joining Gaboogie, Global Conference Partners and Rondee. Toronto-based iotum, a provider of teleconference and group calling solutions, also owns FreeConference.com. It is a portfolio company of Verdexus, a Canadian boutique technology investor. Verdexus' other investments include ExpertFile, a content marketing software provider.
Atlantic Hydrogen Inc has filed for voluntary bankruptcy. Deloitte, the appointed trustee, will initiate a process to find a buyer for the company's assets. Based in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Atlantic Hydrogen developed technology called CarbonSaver, which separates carbon and hydrogen from natural gas without emitting greenhouse gases. Founded in 2004, it received funding from several investors, including Emera Inc, Kyoto Capital Partners and New Brunswick Innovation Foundation.
Toronto-based drug discovery startup Encycle Therapeutics Inc has closed $2.85 million in follow-on funding. The round was led by Takeda Ventures, the venture capital arm of Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, and was joined by Accel-Rx Health Sciences Accelerator, BDC Capital and MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund. Encycle said the deal's proceeds will support development of its nacellin platform chemistry and advance its pipeline of novel therapeutics. Encycle will also be supported in building on research collaborations and preparing for a Series A financing and/or strategic partnerships. Encycle raised $2.5 million from investors last November.
Kontexto Inc, a portfolio investment of Spectral Capital Corp, will cease operations effective immediately, Spectral announced. Based in Ottawa, Kontexto was a provider of software and services that acquire, analyze and visualize streaming real-time data. Spectral, which has held an interest in the company since March 2013, said the closure will result in the total loss of its investment. U.S.-based Spectral is a publicly-listed technology startup accelerator.
The Fonds de solidarité FTQ, a Canadian private equity and venture capital firm, recently completed its annual general meeting at which the majority of the members of its board of directors were elected for the first time. Lyne Bouchard, Gérard Coulombe and Jean-Claude Scraire have joined the board as independent members, without any affiliation with the Fonds or its labour sponsors. Fonds Chairman Robert Parizeau said the event was the "last big step" in the implementation of the Fonds' new governance. The Montréal-based firm, which manages net assets of $11.1 billion, has 610,605 shareholders.
Hootsuite has tapped OpenText's principal accounting officer Sujeet Kini as its CFO, a source told Reuters, potentially moving the Canadian tech startup a step closer toward listing. Vancouver-based Hootsuite, a social media company, is widely regarded as being one of the most hotly anticipated Canadian tech IPOs in the offing.
Drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are here to stay, writes Wladimir Hinz. The last two years have marked what could be the beginning of the drone era on a global basis. Hinz sees evidence of this trend everywhere, including in Canada's venture capital market, where UAV startups have recently been featured in funding and M&A deals.
D+H Corp (TSX: DH), a Canadian financial technology business, has agreed to become a premier sponsor of the C100, a Silicon Valley-based nonprofit association established to support Canadian entrepreneurs and startups. D+H said the sponsorship is part of its strategy to nurture the innovation ecosystem through strategic partnerships with organizations in Silicon Valley and the Toronto-Waterloo area. Earlier this month, the C100 convened Venture North in Toronto, its first event in Canada.