brad meikle
Canadian venture capital firm Golden Venture Partners, which late last year closed its second fund, Golden Venture Partners II, at $40 million, has added two new partners. They are: Ameet Shah, who joins the firm as a partner, and Bert Amato, who joins as a venture partner. Both Shah and Amato have previously been active as entrepreneurs and angel investors. Based in Toronto, Golden Venture Partners is a seed-stage investor in mobile technologies.
Showbie Inc, a mobile classroom workflow platform, recently disclosed that it has secured funding from a group of U.S. and Canadian venture capital firms, including Point Nine Capital and Yaletown Venture Partners. Yaletown principal Eric Bukovinsky this week confirmed the firm's investment with peHUB Canada. According to a report by TechCrunch, the Edmonton, Alberta-based startup raised US$2.3 million in a seed-stage round. Showbie, which was co-founded in 2012 by CEO Colin Bramm and CTO Roy Pombeiro, said its technology is already being used by more than 1.2 million teachers and students worldwide.
Solantro Semiconductor Corp has raised $11 million as part of a Series B financing. Backing the round were existing investors, including Black Coral Capital, BDC Capital, Presidio Ventures, Clean Energy Venture Group and Export Development Canada, and new investor Inerjys Ventures, a Canadian clean technology venture capital firm. Solantro, which is based in Ottawa, said the proceeds of the deal will help it to increase production of its platform technology, which is used for power conversion applications across distributed renewable energy networks. Founded in 2009, the company is led by CEO Antoine Paquin, a Canadian serial entrepreneur and investor.
McRock iNFund LP, a fund managed by Canadian venture capital firm McRock Capital, has secured undisclosed investments from Alberta Enterprise Corp and Kensington Venture Fund. The latest commitments, which follow those received from Cisco Investments, Teralys Capital Innovation Fund and BDC Capital in late 2014, helped the fund to exceed its target. McRock iNFund invests in the intersection of sensors and software in large industrial markets, a.k.a. the industrial Internet of things. Co-founded by Scott MacDonald and Whitney Rockley, McRock in February led the Series A financing of RtTech Software Inc, a solutions provider focused on enhancing industrial capabilities.
Canadian specialty pharmaceutical company Cynapsus Therapeutics Inc (TSX: CTH) recently completed a private placement that generated gross proceeds of nearly $21 million. The financing was led by U.S. venture capital firms OrbiMed Advisors, Aisling Capital and Venrock and was joined by existing backers Broadfin Capital, Sphera Funds Management, Pura Vida Investments, DAFNA Capital Management and Dexcel Pharma Technologies Ltd, among others. The Toronto-based Cynapsus, which was founded in 2004, said the funds will help it to undertake Phase 3 clinical studies for a drug candidate to be used to treat patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease.
Ontario Capital Growth Corp (OCGC) has received more than three times its investment in Affinium Pharmaceuticals Inc following the latter's sale to Debiopharm Group. OCGC said it saw $19 million from the sale of Affinium, a Canadian biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel anti-infective medicines. The acquisition deal was first announced by Switzerland's Debiopharm in February 2014 and has since closed. Canadian life sciences venture capital firm Genesys Capital assumed a leading role in funding Affinium since its inception in 2000. Its other backers included Forward Ventures Partners and SV Life Science Advisors.
Members of angel organization Anges Québec have invested in the $1.55 million financing of "Anna", a movie directed by Charles-Olivier Michaud, produced by Go Films and distributed by Films Séville. Entrepreneur Marc LeBel was among the investors that committed $350,000 to the project. Based in Montréal, Anges Québec is a network of 165 private investors that have to date invested in 60 early-stage companies in Québec.
Canadian specialty pharmaceutical company Knight Therapeutics Inc (TSX: GUD) has committed $10 million to HarbourVest Canada Growth Fund LP, which is managed by U.S. private markets investor HarbourVest Partners. As reported by peHUB Canada in January, the HarbourVest vehicle is the fourth Canadian fund of funds affiliated with Ottawa's $400 million Venture Capital Action Plan. It is expected to raise about $300 million in total. The commitment from Knight Therapeutics is HarbourVest's first disclosed to date. Knight Therapeutics also invested in Teralys Capital Innovation Fund, which raised an initial $279 million last November.
Los Angeles-based wide-area sensor networks provider Mojix Inc has closed US$14 million in Series D financing. OMERS Ventures, the venture capital investment arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS), led the round with participation from other investors, including Mercury Ventures. Concurrent with the funding, Rainer Busch, managing partner at Mercury Ventures, Kent Thexton, managing director at OMERS Ventures, and Bandel Carano, managing partner at Oak Investment Partners, have been named to Mojix's board of directors. The company was founded in 2004.
Canadian late-stage venture capital firm Tandem Expansion Fund has bought a majority stake in Averna, a developer of test solutions and services for communications and electronics device-makers. The investment's value was not disclosed. Averna, which is based in Montréal, said the partnership with Tandem will help it accelerate organic and strategic growth and expand its international presence. Last September, the company acquired Cal-Bay Systems Inc, a U.S. provider of automated tests and measurement processes. Founded in 1999, Averna has previously received funding from the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Fondaction CSN and other investors.