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December 2011Mike's Year-End Comment
Posted in Mike's Commentary
As 2011 draws to an end I would like to say a special thanks to our clients and friends in the investment community who continue to strong support for our firm. Moving into our 11th year providing financial advisory, M&A and financing advice to private Canadian companies, you can be sure that our success would not be possible without that strong support. From the team at Q1 Capital, we wish all of you good health and prosperity in the coming year and all the best for 2012.
November turned out to be a pretty interesting month with four transactions that stand out…
November 2011Round-up of October VC and M&A activity
Posted in Mike's Commentary
During the month 17 Canadian technology companies reported receiving a total of $115 million in new capital. The big deal of the month was Shopify which raised $15 million from three US VCs, Bessemer Venture Partners, First Mark Capital and Felicis Ventures and Canadian VC, Georgian Partners. Importantly, US venture firms played a very active role with 13 different US VCs participating in 9 of the 17 deals. We are seeing the continuation of strong US VC participation into November with...
July 2011Off With Their Heads!
Posted in Mike's Commentary
I’m amazed at how quickly people have turned on Research in Motion, Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, who until recently were held out as the bastions of the Canadian Technology scene. We have proven once again that Canada’s tall poppy syndrome is still alive and well. Let’s just go ahead and cut off the heads of the achievers and those who stand out above the crowd, even if it means killing everything in our garden.
The rush to jump off the RIM bandwagon is accelerating and we’re now seeing individuals rushing to be the first to declare the company deceased. To quote one blogger..
May 2011Activity in the M&A and Valuation Directories
Posted in Mike's Commentary
PWC reported that the first quarter M&A activity in Canada reached its highest level since the beginning of the credit crisis. The firm reported that there were 791 M&A announcements worth $51 billion representing an 81% increase over Q1 2010 activity and a 4% increase over Q4 2010 activity. Deal volumes dropped by 8% compared to the previous year and quarter resulting in a 31% increase in average deal size to $136 million. It should be noted that these metrics are based on announced transaction and not closed transactions, for example taking into account TMX Group and London Stock Exchange Group’s agreed on $7.1 billion merger.
April 2011Google Strikes Again
Posted in Mike's Commentary
March financing results trended positively with a total of $122 million reported raised by nine technology companies and, given that four transactions did not disclose amounts raised, we see the month as representing a nice uptick...
March 2011Year-End Summary and some positive developments
Posted in Mike's Commentary
February turned out to be a month of more of the same in terms of both financings and M&A transactions, but there was positive news from a number of organizations:
Birchhill Equity Partners announced the close of its fourth private equity fund, raising $1.04 billion from a group of Canadian and international investors. When one includes Clairvest’s January announcement of the close of its 4th private equity fund at $467 million, it’s a great start to the year. I know we’re comparing apples and oranges here but these announcements are particularly positive in light of the fact that..
February 2011Adeyno and Birch Hill Top the Month’s News
Posted in Mike's Commentary
Congratulations have to go out to Tyler Nelson and his team at Adenyo for the successful sale to Motricity (MOTR-Nasdaq) for US$100 million or 5 times 2010 revenues. The transaction includes the potential for a further earn-out of US$50 million during the 12 months following the completion of the acquisition. It was less than a year ago (March 3, 2010) that Adenyo announced that it had secured US$17.2 million in institutional capital, following an earlier US$9.7 million in private placements raised between July and March of 2009. Given valuations at that time, I suspect that Adenyo investors realized a very nice lift in their investment over the 10- to 18-month period, particularly given...
January 2011Winding up 2010 on a positive note
Posted in Mike's Commentary
Last month’s comment created a bit of a stir with my
friend Charley Lax, who saw my critique of his CIX presentation as a slam
against GrandBanks Capital. In fact, I think it’s great that GrandBanks
is actively investing in
Q1 Capital Partners Closes Sale of Wallace Wireless to Vocera Communications
Posted in Mike's Commentary
Toronto, 
has been acquired by
December 2010
Best wishes to all for a healthy and prosperous 2011
Posted in Mike's Commentary
Congratulations go out this month to Co-Chairs Robert Montgomery (Achilles Media) and Rick Nathan (Kensington Capital Partners) for their great work in driving the success of this year’s Canadian Innovation Exchange (“CIX”). In its third year, CIX is now firmly entrenched as Canada’s leading annual showcase where innovative companies in the ICT, Digital Media and CleanTech space compete for recognition as industry leaders.
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