Q-News

March 2010

Private Equity - February 2010

Posted in Private Equity

There were nine reported financings in February. Of these, six companies disclosed the amount of capital that was raised, totaling $88.7 million. The totals are more or less on par with last month’s numbers and noticeably stronger than the figures from February of 2009 – at this time last year, we saw only six financings and $23.4 million in new capital. A large portion of the activity this month took place in Ontario and Quebec, in which there were four and two announcements respectively. The Ontario financings involved three technology companies and an online news portal. The remaining five deals involved two technology companies, a cleantech company, a private sample sale site, and an unidentified fund management company. Even though the small number of transactions makes it hard for us to come to any definitive conclusions, thus far it looks as though 2010 may be just as bad of a year for financings as 2009, when we saw record low venture capital activity.


Financings of Canadian Companies

Waterloo’s Avvasi, a developer of mobile video networking technology, reported a $15 million Series B financing led by Celtic House Venture Partners (ON) and Tech Capital Parters (ON). The round also included a co-investment from the Ontario Emerging Technologies Fund (OETF).

Wellington Financial LP reported a $10 million debt financing. The announcement identified the recipient of the capital as a Canadian-based fund management company. However, the name of the company receiving the financing was not disclosed.

Component Art secured debt financing from Best Funds. The Toronto-based company develops user interface and data visualization software for the Microsoft.NET platform.

Best Funds also acquired an undisclosed amount of newly issued equity and debt from Ontario’s N-Dimension Solutions, a cyber security company providing hardware and professional services tied to the development of the smart grid.

The Mark, a daily online news company based in Toronto, secured its first institutional money from Innovation Grade Capital, Thunder Road Capital, and Venture Communications. The capital injection will allow the company to expand its offering and launch a French version of its site.

Montreal Start Up contributed to a $2 million capital raise by Beyond the Rack, a Montreal-based private sample site.


US and International Activity in Canada

Germany’s BASF Capital participated in a $6 million financing by Quantiam Technologies, an Alberta-based company developing advanced materials to be used in extreme operating conditions and energy-related applications. The other investor involved in the raise was Toronto-based Ursatur Capital Management LP.

Waste Management (NYSE: WM) and two US-based VC funds, Rho Ventures (NY) and Braemar Energy Ventures (NY), contributed to a $53.8 million raise by Enerkem, a Montreal-based developer and operator of plants that utilize the company’s proprietary thermo-chemical technology to convert waste materials into biofuels. The round also involved participation from two Quebec-based firms, Cycle Capital and BDR Capital.

Blumberg Capital (CA) and Hearst Interactive Media, part of Hearst Corporation, a NY-based media conglomerate, led a $1.9 million investment in HootSuite, a twitter solution developed by Vancouver-based Invoke Media.


Canadian Investments Abroad

MMV Financial announced an investment in Pittsburgh-based invivodata, which develops solutions that allow patients involved in clinical trials to produce self-generated data reports. The company’s equity backers are River Cities Capital Funds, Peninsula Equity Partners, Hawthorne Partners, Glynn Capital Management, Stanford University, The Entrepreneurs' Funds, Novus Ventures, Horizon Ventures and Resource Ventures.


Fund News

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board set aside $400 million for fund-of-funds investing focused on venture capital and private equity investments. The investment vehicle will be managed by NorthLeaf Capital Partners.

Chrysalix, a Vancouver-based VC firm focusing on early-stage clean energy investments, reported that its most recent fund now has more than $100 million in commitments after securing Oregon Investment Fund, an affiliate of Credit Suisse AG, as one of the LPs. Chrysalix hopes to close the $150 million fund by the end of the first quarter of 2010.

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