Kirk Falconer

SalonScale Technology, a Saskatoon-based mobile app for the hair salon industry, has closed its seed-stage financing, raising more than $1 million. The round's Canadian and U.S. investors included Conexus Venture Capital Fund, a recently launched $30 million fund focused on Saskatchewan's startup ecosystem. Founded last year by CEO Alicia Soulier, SalonScale provides an app, paired with a Bluetooth scale and web dashboard, to help salons manage the costs and usage of hair colouring. The company will use the financing's proceeds to grow its operations in North America and worldwide.

CIBC Innovation Banking has provided undisclosed debt financing to Bridgit, a Kitchener, Ontario-based construction software provider. The funding came alongside Bridgit's Series A round. This year, the company was reported to be negotiating debt financing that would increase its latest round to $7.75 million. CIBC Innovation Banking said the proceeds will support the launch of a new product, Bridgit Bench, a resource planning platform for general contractors. Founded in 2014 by CEO Mallorie Brodie and COO Lauren Lake, Bridgit provides end-to-end productivity and performance solutions for construction operations managers and their teams.

Bayer AG has agreed to acquire BlueRock Therapeutics, a Toronto- and Cambridge, Massachusetts-based developer of engineered cell therapies. The deal values BlueRock at about $1.3 billion (US$1 billion), including the 40.8 percent stake currently held by Bayer. In 2016, Bayer partnered with U.S. life sciences venture capital firm Versant Ventures in founding BlueRock with a US$225 million financing. Bayer said it will pay US$240 million for the remaining stake at closing and US$360 million more when development milestones are met. BlueRock's portfolio is focused on neurology, cardiology and immunology, with a first clinical program in Parkinson's disease expected later this year.

Canada’s venture capital market sustained robust levels of activity in Q2, despite somewhat fewer dollars going into the largest financings. The top 10 second-quarter rounds secured $522 million from VC funds. That’s down 4 percent from the $542 million raised by the top 10 deals a year earlier, and down 16 percent from the $625 million that went to the top deals in Q2 2017. The estimate is based on PE Hub Canada’s list of the largest financings announced from April through June, supplemented by preliminary data from Refinitiv. It indicates some moderation in the influence of big late-stage rounds, which dominated Canadian VC trends last year.

Owl.co has raised $2.6 million in a seed-stage financing, the Vancouver-based financial technology provider told PE Hub Canada. The deal was led by Impression Ventures and Luge Capital, both Canadian fintech venture capital firms. They were joined by existing backers Sway Ventures, Inovia Capital, Plug and Play, Builders VC and Holt. Owl.co was launched in 2018 by CEO Sean Merat and CPO Sohrab Merat, both serial founders, as well as COO Vahid Mirjalili. Its solutions help banks and insurers manage critical processes around customer data collection. Owl.co's technology supports customer on-boarding, know-your-customer and anti-money-laundering due diligence, and fraud detection.

Toronto-based accounting software provider FreshBooks has raised an undisclosed strategic investment from JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM), a U.S. financial services firm. Led by CEO Mike McDerment, Freshbooks provides invoicing, time-tracking, expense management, online payments and other tools to small businesses and self-employed professionals. It currently has customers in 160 countries. Bill Clerico, CEO of WePay, a JPMorgan Chase payments affiliate, said the deal will support FreshBooks' growth while also serving his company's small business clientele. FreshBooks previously secured nearly $100 million in a 2017 Series B financing led by Georgian Partners and a 2014 Series A led by Oak Investment Partners.

RHI Group, a Toronto-based investment company focused on retail marketing solutions, has secured an undisclosed investment from M33 Growth, a U.S. venture capital and growth equity firm. Founded this year by Executive Directors Alex Moorhead and Brian Sinclair, RHI Group invests in software and digital marketing companies that leverage consumer data to help retailers make more informed decisions and market more effectively. Moorehead and Sinclair are both former retail marketing executives. Moorehead was also previously a managing director at Tandem Expansion Fund. M33 Growth Managing Director Gabe Ling said his firm will partner with RHI Group on investments.

Toronto-based digital health company BlueDot has secured about $9.2 million (US$7 million) in a Series A financing, bringing total funding to about $12.6 million (US$9.5 million). The round was led by The Co-operators, a Canadian insurance and financial services co-operative, and BDC Capital’s Women in Technology Venture Fund. They were joined by existing investor Horizon Ventures. Founded in 2013 by CEO Kamran Khan, BlueDot applies human- and artificial intelligence-enabled analytics to big data to track, contextualize and anticipate infectious diseases worldwide. The company will use the funds raised to develop its product suite, grow sales and commercialization efforts, and expand into new markets.

Canada’s venture capital market sustained robust levels of activity in Q2, despite somewhat fewer dollars going into the largest financings. The top 10 second-quarter rounds secured C$522 million ($395 million) from VC funds. That’s down 4 percent from the C$542 million raised by the top 10 deals a year earlier, and down 16 percent from […]

CIBC Innovation Banking has provided US$10 million of debt financing to Stratifyd, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based end-to-end customer analytics platform. The funds raised will be used to support the company's growth. Founded in 2015, Stratifyd provides artificial intelligence-enabled technology to help enterprises generate insights that lead to customer retention, improved products and services, and greater revenue. Last year, Stratifyd secured US$25 million in a Series B financing led by Canadian growth equity firm Georgian Partners. CIBC Innovation Banking is the technology lending arm of Canadian bank CIBC.