VCs should be worried that entrepreneurs are hurting themselves with the stampede to join the Unicorn Club
Market volatility hasn’t dampened investor enthusiasm or chased away crossovers, but company creation is slow
Enterprise software provider OpenText has recruited a seasoned Canadian investment professional to lead its recently launched venture program. David Harris Kolada, whose experience includes his role as a partner at Jefferson Partners, was earlier this year hired as the company's vice president, venture capital.
Montréal-based Lightspeed is poised for a major growth spurt and may soon be ready to contemplate a public sale after raising the largest venture financing in Canada in more than a year. Lightspeed, a point-of-sale platform targeted to retailers, has secured $80 million in a Series C round co-led by the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Investissement Québec, and joined by Accel Partners and iNovia Capital.
Real Ventures has fulfilled an ambition to raise a fund large enough to expand its horizons and take the firm’s technology seed model to new locales. The Montréal-based firm closed its third early-stage fund, Real Ventures III, in August. It raised $89 million in committed capital, GP John Stokes told peHUB Canada, or almost 80 percent more than its predecessor.
Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus: The three Cs of a venture boom in flyover country
Mark McQueen, president and CEO of Wellington Financial, sees opportunity for private debt providers as a result of volatile public markets, especially if continued uncertainty creates challenges for technology ventures seeking risk capital. The potential for more cautious equity deal-makers may open doors to alternative capital sources, including innovation-focused lenders like Wellington.
PHEMI, a big data platform designed for healthcare institutions, has raised a fresh round of financing to bring its technology to a wider array of enterprises and industries. The Vancouver-based startup announced today that it has secured $12.2 million in a Series A round co-led by Canadian venture firms CTI Life Sciences and Discovery Capital, and joined by existing investors BDC Capital and Yaletown Venture Partners.
Canadian venture fundraising reversed two years of decline with growth in the first half of 2015, owing in part to the increased influence of the Venture Capital Action Plan (VCAP). Jeff Pentland, managing director of Northleaf Capital Partners, whose Northleaf Venture Catalyst Fund recently closed at $300 million, said "we’re now beginning to see the impact of all of the VCAP funds coming on stream.”
Agtech venture firm Avrio Capital expects to see an outsized return on its investment in a Canadian natural foods producer following the company’s sale to a U.S. private equity firm this week. Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods sold for $132.5 million, which will give Avrio a nine-fold return on its invested capital, the firm's Managing Director Aki Georgacacos told peHUB Canada.