brad meikle
Toronto, Vancouver and Montréal have been ranked among the world's top 20 startup ecosystems. In its 2015 Global Startup Ecosystem Ranking, Compass, a U.S. provider of automated reporting and benchmarking software, reported the three Canadian cities placed 17th, 18th and 20th, respectively. Compared to the results of a 2012 report, Toronto and Vancouver received lower rankings in 2015, while Montréal joined the top 20, and Waterloo fell off of the list. Compass evaluates local ecosystems according to five key factors: performance, funding, talent, market reach and startup experience.
Buyatab Online Inc, a provider of digital gift card infrastructure solutions to medium and large-sized businesses, has completed an expansion funding round, raising an undisclosed amount. The investors were not identified. Buyatab, which has its headquarters in Vancouver, said the round follows its first significant venture capital financing in March 2011. The company will use the proceeds of the latest investment to accelerate sales and marketing of its e-gift card platform in the United States and to advance its operations in international markets. Buyatab was founded in 2008 by COO Matias Marquez.
Deal-making activity in Canada's venture capital and private equity arena surged in the first half of 2015, driven by a spate of financings in the tech startup space and large investments in energy assets, Reuters reported citing data released this week by Thomson Reuters.
Allergan plc (NYSE: AGN) has agreed to buy Naurex Inc, a biopharmaceutical company that is developing therapies for challenging disorders of the central nervous system. Under the terms of the deal, which is expected to close this year, Allergan will pay US$560 million in cash for the company. Based in Evanston, Illinois, Naurex has raised over US$160 million in venture capital funding since 2011, according to Thomson Reuters. Among its leading investors is Canadian venture capital firm Genesys Capital. Genesys is currently raising its third fund, Genesys Ventures III LP, which is targeting $150 million in committed capital.
Venture capital investment in Canadian innovative startups continued at a robust pace in the second quarter of 2015, with a total of $636 million deployed to 143 financing rounds, according to final data released by Thomson Reuters. At the end of June, venture capital invested across Canada totaled $1.2 billion in 300 deals, which is up 33 percent from the same time in 2014. In fact, Canadian startups have not received as much venture capital in a January-to-June period since 2002, Thomson Reuters said. Fundraising by Canadian venture capital firms reached $878 million in total in the first half of 2015, up 21 percent from the year before, making it the most active fundraising in a six-month period in three years.
ProNAi Therapeutics Inc has completed its previously-announced initial public offering of common shares on the NASDAQ Global Market. The company, which began trading under the symbol "DNAI" on July 16, raised a total of US$158.4 million in gross proceeds, including shares sold through the underwriters' over-allotment option. Headquartered in Vancouver, ProNAi is developing and commercializing a new class of therapies through its DNA interference platform for patients with cancer and hematological diseases. It is backed by mostly U.S. venture capital firms, including Vivo Capital, Frazier Healthcare Ventures and OrbiMed Advisors.
Ottawa has received just six applications for its pilot immigration program for millionaires, far fewer than for its investor class visa that was scrapped last year amid criticism, Reuters reported. The federal government announced in December that it was looking for 50 wealthy foreigners to join the pilot run of the Immigrant Investor Venture Capital plan.
U.S. biopharmaceutical vaccine startup SutroVax has received US$22 million in a Series A financing. The round was led by U.K. venture capital firm Abingworth and was joined by Canadian firm CTI Life Sciences, Longitude Capital and Roche Venture Fund. Based in San Francisco, the recently-established SutroVax is developing vaccines for infectious disease targets. It said it plans to use the proceeds of the investment to advance multiple vaccines in its pipeline through pre-clinical proof of concept. In January 2015, the Montréal-based CTI Life Sciences raised $134 million in the initial close of its second fund, CTI II, which is targeted to bring in $150 million.
The Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) reported that its client list of Canadian entrepreneurs running small and medium-sized businesses hit a record 32,000 last year. Its activities in 2014 included authorizing $114.8 million in investments in support of Ottawa's Venture Capital Action Plan (VCAP) and creating BDC Capital, which brings together the bank's two teams responsible for venture capital and growth and transition capital. The bank also reported BDC Capital's venture capital investment commitments now exceed $1 billion. The growth and transition capital group, profiled by peHUB Canada last November, accounted for $231.5 million in financing in 2014.
Perimeter Medical Imaging Inc, a developer of real-time imaging systems for in-surgery tissue assessment, has raised $5 million in a Series A funding. The deal was led by Canadian venture capital firm Roadmap Capital with participation from EPIC Capital, NorthView Ventures and Pathfinder Asset Management. Based in Toronto, Perimeter has created an imaging tool that allows clinicians to visualize the entire perimeter of excised tissue during surgery. It said the Series A round will support completion of a clinical study at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, product development, and regulatory clearance of its technology. Founded in 2013, the company is led by President and CEO Paul Weber.