Q-News
May 2010
Posted in Private Equity
There were only five private Canadian companies that reported raising money
this April. Those five transactions
added up to $52.5 million in new capital, with the largest deal coming in a
$22.5 million. This month’s totals are
almost on par with the $50.2 million that was raised through seven transactions
in April of 2009. This April’s figures also represent the lowest
totals this year – both in terms of the number of transactions and the amount
of capital raised. Four of the deals
involved technology companies, with the fifth being a biopharmaceutical
company. Most of the activity took place
in Toronto and Montreal,
with two transactions each, while one announcement came out of Calgary.
In what looks like a positive sign, three of the transactions involved
investments from US funds. Other
activity this month included three Canadian funds making investments south of
the border, and two other money managers announcing some initial commitments to
their new funds.
Financings of Canadian
Companies
In response to increasing growth in their core
markets of customer-centered enterprise solutions for the finance, insurance,
and health care industries, NexJ Systems,
secured $22.5 million in a private financing.
The seven year old company is headquartered in Toronto.
Fixmo, a mobile
software utility company based out of Toronto,
received funding from iNovia Capital. The company had previously raised C$2
million from Rho Ventures Canada and Extreme Venture Partners.
US and
International Activity in Canada
Tynt Multimedia, a Calgary-based
software provider that helps companies track what materials are copied and
pasted from their websites, raised $8 million in a second round financing. The
three firms participating in the three year old company’s financing were Metamorphic Ventures (NY), Greycroft Partners (NY), and Panorama Capital (CA). The company had previously raised $5 million
from iNovia Capital in March
2009.
Quebec-based IT virtualization
infrastructure software provider VM6 Software, founded in 2004, has raised $4 Million in initial financing from
Washington-based Ignition Partners and RBC Venture
Partners.
Gemin X Pharmaceuticals, a Montreal-based
biopharmaceutical firm founded in 2007, received $16 million by way of a Series
D financing round led by Caxton
Advantage Life Sciences Fund LP (NY) and Sanderling Ventures (CA). The company had raised $38 million in a Series
C financing in June 2008.
Canadian Investments
Abroad
The Ontario
Teachers Pension Plan made an equity investment in Munchkin, a California-based maker
of baby products.
BlackBerry Partners
Fund and RBC Venture Partners participated in an $8.67 million raise by
Brickstream Corporation. The other investors involved in the round
were return backers Columbia Capital and Mohr Davidow Ventures, who had been
involved in a $6.2 million first
round financing that the company had done back in 2003. Atlanta-based Brickstream is seven-year-old company that provides customer
behavior measurement technology.
Fund News
Toronto’s Salida Capital announced the
launch of a private equity fund focused on the natural resources sector. The company had already secured $100 million
in commitments prior to officially launching its fundraising efforts this
month.
HSBC
Capital (Canada), the merchant banking subsidiary of HSBC Bank Canada, announced the closing of
the first tranche of its new $200 million private equity mid-market buyout fund,
with the second tranche closing expected to occur sometime before the end of
the year. The fund will target companies
with enterprise values of between $10 million and $150 million.
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