Last month's $60 million investment by Spectrum Equity in Verafin, a financial security company based in St. John’s, Newfoundland, wasn't only one of 2014's largest deals involving a Canadian startup. It also marked the beginning of a new growth spurt by a leading North American fin-tech provider. Robert Antoniades and David Unsworth , principals at Verafin's other major backer, Canadian venture capital firm RBC Venture Partners, shared the story with peHUB Canada.
Like all budgets, the Québec government's recent Budget 2014–2015 attracted much media scrutiny. However, one item you might have missed in the headlines is of particular significance to the venture capital industry. The Québec government announced that it intends to participate in a $375 million "new venture capital fund" with the private sector and the federal government.
There is little doubt AngelList is a disruptive force with the potential to transform seed and early-stage investing over the next several years, according to affiliate magazine Venture Capital Journal. But it will do so in ways not usually boldfaced on blogs or prophesied on conference panels.
The inaugural BDC Innovation Award was recently given to Montréal’s Mirametrix, a three-year old company that specializes in eye tracking solutions. Mirametrix was singled out for the honour because of its cutting-edge technology, which is changing the way human beings interact with machines. To a significant extent, Mirametrix’s achievement is equally that of its Canadian venture capital backer, the no-less-innovative TandemLaunch.
Cybersecurity startups are all the rage in Silicon Valley. One of the most talked about is Shadow Networks, which is creating a virtual environment for detecting and undermining advanced persistent threats. Led by Canadian-born president and CEO Eric Winsborrow, Shadow Networks has raised more than US$15 million from VCs, including Canadian VCs Yaletown Venture Partners, which seeded the company, and Rho Canada Ventures. Now Shadow Networks has plans for coming to Canada.
Georgian Partners has taken time away from fundraising to lend support to a Canadian ed-tech startup it feels has especially strong growth prospects. The Toronto-based VC firm has led the $10 million Series B financing of Top Hat, a mobile and web-based provider of classroom engagement tools. It was joined in the round by existing investors. The deal comes only a few weeks after Georgian Partners wrapped up the initial close of its second applied analytics fund, raising $100 million.
Investments from hedge and mutual funds have mushroomed this year and so have deal valuations. Will it last?
The Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) three years ago embarked on a new venture capital strategy that has placed it at the centre of many key trends now taking place in the Canadian market — the introduction of VCAP, improving fund-raising conditions, growth in angel and accelerator communities, and the emergence of more high-growth startups. Jérôme Nycz is BDC's executive vice-president of subordinate financing and venture capital. Last week, Jérôme gave a speech to the Research Money Conference about the rapidly changing face of the Canadian VC landscape and the role that the new BDC is playing in this regard.
Katherine Barr was doubly pleased about Mohr Davidow Ventures’ leading role in the recent $30 million Series B financing of BuildDirect. As a GP at the Menlo Park-based VC firm, Barr told peHUB Canada she was excited about backing a company that is single-handedly transforming the US$492 billion home improvement products market. And as co-chair of the C100, Barr felt pride knowing that BuildDirect also happens to be Canadian.
Less than two years after spinning off its last venture capital unit, Capital One plans to launch another VC group to invest in fintech, according to two sources.