brad meikle

BDC Capital has joined the $4 million Series A financing of Invixium, a Toronto-based maker of advanced biometric security devices and solutions for the industrial and enterprise markets. The round, announced in October 2015, was led by McRock iNFund LP, an industrial Internet of Things fund managed by McRock Capital. BDC co-invested through its Industrial, Clean and Energy Technology Venture Fund. Founded in 2012, Invixium has sold over 3,500 products to government and business customers in the Middle East, North Africa, India and North America, the company reported.

INTEGA Skin Sciences Inc, a Montréal-based dermatology specialist, has agreed to buy Valeant Groupe Cosméderme from the Canadian division of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. No financial terms were disclosed for the deal, which includes three high-end medical skincare brands developed and manufactured in Laval, Québec. Founded last year by President and CEO Gregory Orleski, INTEGA was backed in the acquisition by Knight Therapeutics Inc and Bloom Burton Healthcare Lending Trust. It said it "aspires to become the Canadian benchmark in the pharmaceutical industry for the treatment and care of skin diseases."

Scotiabank has named Scott Bonham to its board of directors. Bonham is a charter member and co-chair of the C100, a Silicon Valley-based nonprofit organization established to support Canadian entrepreneurship. He also helped to build GGV Capital, a U.S. venture capital firm. Bonham's other activities include his roles as co-founder and partner of The Fueling Station, a real estate management company that manages properties serving Canadian entrepreneurs and startups.

Canadian drug delivery company IntelGenx Corp (TSX-V: IGX) has appointed Robert Bechard to the position of vice president, corporate development. Until 2009, Bechard was a managing partner at RBC LifeSciences Venture Fund II, an affiliate of the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). Before his time at RBC, he worked as an investment manager at the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. Montréal-headquartered IntelGenx is a developer of products based on its oral drug delivery technologies.

Activity in Canada’s venture capital market continued to grow in 2015, according to a preliminary report by Thomson Reuters. A total of $2.5 billion in venture capital went to 542 financings last year, up 6 percent from 2014, reflecting the largest investment in Canadian companies since 2002. Information technology sectors accounted for 61 percent of the dollar flows. The report also found buyout and related private equity invested in Canadian companies totaled $20.1 billion last year. While this is down 35 percent year over year, private equity deployments in Canada in 2015 were still the second highest since 2007. Canadian private equity investors were especially active abroad last year, participating in 27 foreign deals sized greater than $1 billion, an all-time high.

Six of the global market's largest institutional investors, including Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, have voiced their support for a new index designed to encourage corporations and investors to give more focus to the long term. The S&P Long-Term Value Creation Global Index, launched today, is designed to track companies that are seeking to create long-term value and that can show sustainable financial quality. Several institutions supporting the initiative, including CPPIB, have committed to an initial allocation of about US$2 billion into funds tracking the index.

Capital régional et coopératif Desjardins (CRCD) has invested US$750,000 ($1.1 million) in Hortau Inc, a Canadian provider of wireless and web-based irrigation management systems. CRCD said the investment will help the company to expand into new markets. Founded in 2002, Lévis, Québec-based Hortau is also backed by Advantage Capital Partners, Avrio Capital and Telesystem. CRCD is a retail fund managed by Canadian private equity firm Desjardins Capital de risque.

GigaSpaces Technologies Inc, a New York and Herzliya, Israel-based provider of cloud orchestration and data scalability platforms, has secured US$20 million in follow-on financing. The round was led by Claridge Israel, a fund launched last year by the Bronfman family and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. The company's existing investors BRM, FTV and Intel Capital also participated. GigaSpaces said the new funds will help accelerate global adoption of its solutions, drive continued product innovation, and expand its sales organization. Claridge Israel was set up to invest in Israel’s civil technology and innovation sectors.

Flywire, formerly known as peerTransfer, has acquired ScholarFX, a Toronto-based payments service for international students attending Canadian universities and other educational institutions. No financial terms were released. Boston-based Flywire, which operates in the same sector, said the acquisition increases its ability to attract Canadian customers and adds scale to its cross-border payments platform. With the deal, ScholarFX’s founder, Darren Chadwick, joins Flywire Canada. Founded in 2009, Flywire is backed by Accel Partners, Bain Capital Ventures, Devonshire Investors, Maveron, QED Investors and Spark Capital, among others.

Real Ventures has been voted 2015's Venture Capital Firm of the Year in an awards program sponsored by Techvibes, a Canadian technology news site. OMERS Ventures, the venture investment arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) was the runner up. Other award recipients included Grow, a Vancouver-based online lending platform, which won Startup of the Year 2015.