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.
There are three main reasons why next-generation corporate VCs who are practicing today are fundamentally different from their predecessors, and why they will be a driving force in the venture industry for many years to come, says guest columnist William Taranto, president of Merck Global Health Innovation Fund.
Former Visa President Hans Morris, announced today that he has launched a new venture fund called Nyca Partners that is focused on financial technology startups.
Richard Hall, head of private equity at Teacher Retirement System of Texas, is taking over as head of private equity at Harvard Management Company, which runs Harvard's $32.7 billion endowment.
A new incubator/seed fund called Expa Capital has raised $50 million from a Who's Who of investors and company founders, including David Bonderman, Sir Richard Branson, Li Ka-Shing and Meg Whitman.
Venture capital funds distributed $6.3 billion to limited partners in the third quarter, marking a sharp gain from the prior quarter, according to a new report from Cambridge Associates.
New Enterprise Associates has led a $2.7 million seed round in Blend, a San Francisco-based maker of a social networking app for college students. Trinity Ventures, Foundation Capital, Lerer Ventures, Maveron, BoxGroup, XG Ventures and SparkLabs Global Ventures also joined in the seed round. The app is available for students in more than 3,500 universities nationwide, except those from Ohio State University. Blend co-founder and CEO Akash Nigam attended the University of Michigan before dropping out and launching Blend. As such, the company doesn't allow students from rival school Ohio State to sign up for the app.
The C100 is just four years old, but it has achieved an impressive track record in that short time. The nonprofit—which aims to bring like-minded Canadian entrepreneurs and executives together in Silicon Valley through its programs, such as 48 Hours in the Valley—reported that startups connected to it have raised US$700 million in venture funding since the C100 launched in 2010. That’s great news for Scott Bonham, a founding partner at GGV Capital, who has begun serving as co-chair of the organization.