Kirk Falconer
Resson Aerospace Corp has received $3.025 million in venture capital financing. The round was led by Canadian venture capital firms Rho Canada Ventures and Build Ventures, and was joined by BDC Capital, New Brunswick Innovation Foundation and other private investors. Headquartered in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Resson is a bioinformatics and data analytics startup that helps large agricultural producers create efficiencies to maximize crop production and profits. The company said that investment proceeds will be used to accelerate its technology and hire staff. Resson was founded in 2013.
LEAGUE Inc, a digital health and wellness platform, has secured US$4 million in seed-stage funding. The deal was led by OMERS Ventures with the participation of Infinite Potential Technologies LP, Foundation Capital and Real Ventures. The company was formed and will be led by CEO Michael Serbinis, the former head of Canadian e-reading company Kobo Inc. Focused on preventative health solutions through a mobile platform that stores health information, LEAGUE plans to launch in early 2015. The company is currently looking for healthcare professionals to participate in its beta program. Serbinis earlier this year launched venture capital firm Three Angels Capital and invested in BitLit.
GreenMantra Recycling Technologies Ltd has completed a series of funding deals that gave it more than $17 million in proceeds. The investment included equity financing from Canadian venture capital firms Cycle Capital Management and ArcTern Ventures, debt financing from Comerica Bank and Export Development Canada, and additional support from the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation and Sustainable Development Technology Canada. The funds will be used to expand the production capabilities of GreenMantra, which is focused on turning plastics into high-value specialty chemicals. Founded in 2010, the company is based in Brantford, Ontario.
Reno Sub-Systems Canada Inc has confirmed an earlier report by peHUB Canada that it has raised venture capital funding from Intel Capital, the investment arm of Intel Corp. The Bedford, Nova Scotia-based startup said other investors in its first round included Canadian venture capital firm Innovacorp. The financing's value was not published. Reno Sub-Systems designs, develops and delivers sub-systems used to control process systems made by original equipment manufacturers. It said proceeds of the deal will be used to bring the company's technology to market and "enable next generation advanced semiconductor manufacturing process technology nodes."
Clearwater Clinical Ltd, a developer of medical devices to enable efficient mobile diagnosis of medical conditions, has secured $2 million in venture capital financing. The round was led by BDC Capital Healthcare Fund, a sector-focused fund managed by the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), and was joined by Naavon and Fundfire. The Ottawa-based company said that the funds will help accelerate sales and marketing of its product suite. It was also announced that Michael Weider, who previously founded Blaze Software Inc and Watchfire Corp, has joined Clearwater as its new CEO. Jean-François Pariseau, a BDC partner, has joined the company's board of directors.
Two principals with RBC Venture Partners have completed a management buyout of the firm's investment portfolio and have launched a new Canadian venture firm, Information Venture Partners.
Peraso Technologies Inc has secured $20 million in follow-on financing. The round was led by a new investor, Canadian venture capital firm Roadmap Capital, and was joined by existing investors Celtic House Venture Partners, Ontario Emerging Technologies Fund and VentureLink Funds. Based in Toronto, Peraso is a fabless semiconductor company that provides multi-gigabit wireless connectivity solutions. The company intends to use the new funds to bring all of its WiGig technology into production and to increase its sales and marketing activity. Peraso's $10 million Series A financing was completed in 2009. That deal was led by Celtic House with the participation of iNovia Capital and VentureLink.
Canadian venture capital firm iNovia Capital has opened an office in the Kitchener-Waterloo region. A blog post by firm partner Karamdeep Nijjar said the decision was made because of the high quality of technology product teams being produced by the University of Waterloo, the large number of successful local company founders, and sophisticated local organizations that help build innovative companies, such as Communitech. Based in Montréal and with managed capital totaling $275 million, iNovia is focused on making early-stage investments in digital media, SaaS, e-commerce and connected devices sectors.
Nulogy Corp, a supply-chain enterprise software company, has raised $7.5 million in financing. The follow-on round was led by Red Sky Capital Management, a Canadian alternative investment firm affiliated with CI Investments, with participation from U.S. technology lender Silicon Valley Bank and existing investors. Nulogy has been previously backed by Canadian venture capital investors Klass Capital and MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund. Founded in 2002 and based in Toronto, the company plans to use proceeds from the latest investment to fuel growth and innovation in a market that is estimated to reach $10 billion this year.
TVM Capital Life Science, a global venture capital firm with an office in Montréal, has closed its TVM Life Science Ventures VlI. Focusing on achieving human clinical proof-of-concept for early-stage drug development projects, Fund VII raised US$201.6 million from cornerstone investors Teralys Capital and Eli Lilly and Co, as well as the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), Minnesota Life Insurance Co, CD Venture, Fondaction CSN and a number of pharmaceutical companies. Fund VII targets 12 to 15 project-focused-companies and up to five traditional, syndicated venture capital investments. Earlier this year, it invested in Montréal's PRCL Research Inc, a special purpose company that develops pharmaceutical assets.