brad meikle

NexusCrowd, a Toronto-based equity crowdfunding platform, recently announced that it has received its Exempt Market Dealer license from the Ontario Securities Commission, allowing it to provide accredited investors the opportunity to co-invest alongside venture capital firms in Canadian VC deals.

GreenSky Accelerator Fund I LP, a venture capital fund recently launched by Canadian boutique finance advisory firm GreenSky Capital, has closed an undisclosed seed investment in Cyclica Inc. Cyclica, which is based in Toronto, provides computational analysis technology focused on making better and safer pharmaceutical drugs, nutraceuticals ingredients, and personal care products. The company may receive additional funding from the GreenSky President’s Club and other co-investors. Founded in 2013, Cyclica is a client of the RIC Centre, an entrepreneur and innovation hub for the Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon regions of Ontario.

C2FO, a working capital exchange, has raised US$40 million in an equity funding round led by Singapore-based investment firm Temasek. The deal follows a series of financings completed by C2FO since 2011, which have been backed by a mix of investors. They include Summerhill Venture Partners, a Canadian venture capital firm, as well as Union Square Ventures, OPENAIR Equity Partners, Mithril Capital and Tiger Global. Headquartered in Fairway, Kansas, C2FO operates a global marketplace that helps businesses optimize their working capital positions. It was founded in 2008.

CENX Inc, a software company delivering service orchestration solutions for software-defined and virtualized networks, has secured $12.5 million in Series D financing. New investors in the round included Canadian venture capital firms BDC Capital and Mistral Venture Partners and U.S.-based VMware. They joined existing backers Highland Capital Partners, Mesirow Financial Private Equity, Verizon Ventures, Ericsson, DCM Ventures and Cross Creek Advisors. CENX, which is based in Ottawa, said the investment will accelerate its expansion in the global lifecycle service orchestration (LSO) market. Founded in 2009, the company also has operating offices in Hoboken, New Jersey and London.

Toronto and San Francisco-based Digital Retail Apps, the maker of mobile solution SelfPay, has secured $1 million in funding. The round was led by U.S. venture capital firm Texas Ventures with participation from U.S. angel investors. Digital Retail Apps, founded in 2011 by CEO Wendy MacKinnon Keith, saves shoppers time by skipping the checkout line and allowing them to use their smart phone to scan in-store items, build a shopping cart, and pay in-app using a range of payment methods. It said the financing's proceeds will help bring SelfPay to large merchants on a global scale.

GreenAngel Energy Corp, a revenue-based financing firm focused on technology and industrial sectors, has appointed Michael Walkinshaw as its new CEO. Walkinshaw, who has been a director of GreenAngel since 2014, is a managing partner at Fronterra Ventures, and previously served as CFO at Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital. Canadian angel and entrepreneur Michael Volker will serve as GreenAngel's executive chairman. The Vancouver-based firm recently completed a revenue-based financing transaction with Lambda Solutions Inc.

Medford, Massachusetts-based Sentien Biotechnologies Inc, which develops cell-based therapies for acute organ failure, has raised an undisclosed amount of Series A funding. The investors were Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (BIVF) and Portage Biotech Inc, a Toronto-based developer of pharmaceutical and biotech products. In addition to the funding, Dr. Martin Heidecker, a managing director at BIVF and Dr. Greg Bailey, chairman of Portage, have been added to Sentien’s board of directors.