Q-News
April 2010
Posted in Private Equity
There were 12 financings
announced in March totaling $65.9 million in growth capital, although the
inclusion of Adenyo’s $26.9 million raise skews the numbers somewhat since the
company stated that the funds had been raised in July 2009. The figures represent an increase from the
eight transactions reported in March of 2009.
However, the total capital raised was still lower than the $77.7 million
that was injected into the sector last March. Ontario was
the most active province with five new financings, while Quebec,
British Columbia, and Alberta came in tied for second with two
transactions per province. The only
other deal came out of Nova Scotia.
Technology companies accounted for six
of the transactions while the cleantech and manufacturing sectors produced
three each.
Financings of Canadian
Companies
Covington Capital Corporation
and VentureLink each contributed
$2.5 million to a $5 million financing by Waterloo’s Aimetis. The company develops video surveillance and
analytics software for clients in the retail and transportation sector.
Toronto’s Adenyo, formerly known as Silverback Media, announced that is has
secured $26.9 million in institutional financing since July of 2009. The company provides North American and
European brands, agencies, and mobile network operators with a SaaS-based mobile
marketing platform.
Mississauga-based SeaWell
Networks, which provides technology used by content owners and delivery
partners to distribute video over the internet, completed a $7 million first
round financing led by BDC Venture Capital. The remainder of the capital came from Northwater
Intellectual Property Fund and the Ontario Centres of Excellence.
Light Based Technologies, a Vancouver company working on commercializing LED
technologies, raised $2 million from Chrysallix Energy, Green
Angel Energy Corporation (TSX-V: GAE) and private investors.
Presglas, a Cambridge, Ontario-based provider of compression
molded noise control and thermal insulation components, raised $550,000 in
mezzanine financing from Northbridge Capital Partners. PresGlas
is a division of Camali Industries.
Montreal-based Maetta Sciences raised $1.6 million in a
follow-up round involving all of its existing shareholders, including Caisse de dépôt et
placement du Québec, FIER Longueuil,
Fonds Soutien Longueuil,
Investissement MSCI, and ACE Management.
The company uses metal injection molding processes to build products for the
medical and aerospace sectors.
The Utility
Company,
an Ottawa-based provider of virtual
IT service and support to small and medium-sized businesses, has raised $1
million from BDC
Venture Capital.
Calgary-based Wedge Networks, which provides web
security solutions built around the company’s network data processing
technology, secured an $800,000 investment from AVAC, a not-for-profit fund
with a mandate to make early stage investments in Alberta-based companies.
Nova Scotia’s provincial venture capital
fund – NSBI
Venture Capital – committed $2.5 million toward what is projected to be
a $5 million raise by Tech Link Entertainment. Tech
Link develops and sells electronic gaming machines and products to casinos.
This is the third time that NSBI has stepped up to back Tech Link, having invested $2 million
in 2004 and $1 million in 2005.
Leap Medical Inc, a Montreal-based medical
device company that specializes in the development of technology for the rapid
detection of brain injuries and infection, secured financing of $1.025 Million
from MSBI
Valorisation(QU), BDC
Venture Capital, and GO
Capital Fund.
US and
International Activity in Canada
Iosil Energy, which has its R&D
facilities located in the National Institute for Nanotechnology in Edmonton, secured a $13.5 million financing.
The investors were BankInvest New Energy Solutions
(Denmark), SiC Processing (Germany), Bekaert
(Belgium), Epic
Ventures (Salt Lake City, UT), Gideon Hixon (Santa
Barbara, CA), Enertech Capital (Philadelphia,
PA), Cycad
Group (Carpinteria, CA), Espirito Santo Ventures (Portugal), Milcom
Technologies(Winter Park, FL), Applied Ventures (Santa Clara,
CA), Phoenix Fire (UK), and Merrimaker. The reason that Iosil was able to attract so
many different parties to its latest financing is because its technology, which
produces high-purity polysilicon for the photovoltaic industry using
traditional raw materials as well as waste materials from sawing operations, and
has the potential to significantly reduce the price of silicon.
Delaware Power Systems, a British Columbia-based
developer of lithium battery platform technologies, raised $4 million in first
round financing. Morningside Technology Venture, a
Hong Kong-based VC firm, led the funding round that included participation from
four other investor groups.
Canadian Investments Abroad
Wellington Financial announced that it
agreed to provide $10 million in debt financing to an unnamed
Massachusetts-based company that offers software and services.
MMV Financial provided $5
million in debt financing to Health Integrated, a
Florida-based company that sells software and ancillary services to health plan
administrators. Health Integrated is
backed by Stonehenge Growth Capital.
Fund News
XPV Water Fund LP
announced that it secured a lead commitment of $10 million for its newest fund from
Export
Development Canada (EDC). The
Ottawa-based VC firm is targeting $150 million for its latest vehicle, whose
mandate is to invest in growth opportunities in the water sector.
Mantella Venture Partners
announced the formation of a $20 million fund aimed at early stage mobile and
internet software companies in Ontario. The fund is the result of a partnership
between Basecamp Labs, a business
accelerator, and Mantella Corporation, a real estate
developer.
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