brad meikle
In the first nine months of 2012, the Canadian buyout and private equity market sustained a robust pace of activity, with deal volume showing year-over-year growth, while levels of Canadian venture capital investment came in virtually identical to the prior year. These were among the findings of statistics released today by CVCA - Canada’s Venture Capital & Private Equity Association and research partner Thomson Reuters.
Réseau Capital, the venture capital and private equity association for the province of Québec, today released the Q3 2012 results of the province's investment activity. Investment activity totaled $112 million, led by the US$35 million investment in Thrasos Innovation Inc..
Wellington Financial Announces a US$2.4 MM investment in Boston-based TIM Group, a software developer for the financial services industry.
Aegis Mobility has closed its final tranche of a $5M equity financing. The financing was led by the West Michigan and Chicago Angel Groups, the company said. The Vancouver, British Columbia-based Aegis, which was launched in 2007 with the help of Ventures West Management, makes software for mobile phones to prevent distracted driving.
Toronto's Ideon Media has acquired venture capital-backed Nexopia.com of Edmonton, Alberta, the leading social network for young adults in Canada, with over 200,000 active members. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Diablo Technologies raised $28 million in venture capital funding, the Ottawa-based company announced Thursday. Battery Ventures led the round, which included financing from Celtic House Venture Partners, BDC Venture Capital, and Hasso Plattner Ventures. Diablo Technologies, which makes memory system interface products, has been venture capital-backed since 2003.
Ambit Biosciences Inc. has closed a $25 million of a new $50 million financing, the company announced. Existing investor OrbiMed Advisors led the financing with participation from other existing investors including Aisling Capital, Apposite Healthcare, Roche Ventures, GrowthWorks, MedImmune Ventures, Forward Ventures, GIMV, and Radius Ventures. Ambit is a biopharmaceutical company developing “small molecule kinase inhibitors” for the treatment of cancer, inflammatory disease and other conditions.
Specialty finance firm Wellington Financial has provided $2.4 million venture debt financing for TIM Group. TIM Group is a SaaS developer of applications serving the financial services industry.
Alethia Biotherapeutics Inc., a company developing “therapeutic monoclonal antibodies,” has added $4.7 million in new financing. Investors include AgeChem Venture Fund, BDC Venture Capital, GO Capital, and Cellscript of Wisconsin. Alethia Biotherapeutics is based in Montreal.
LeadSift, a Halifax-based developer of software helping sales and marketing professionals pursue business leads more efficiently, announced this week that it has raised $500K from Innovacorp, East Valley Ventures, and angel investors. A public launch is scheduled for early 2013.