Kirk Falconer
Businesses and governments everywhere are being forced to grapple with escalating, stealthy and increasingly destructive cyber-attacks. One Canadian startup believes it has a solution. This week, Cambridge, Ontario-based eSentire, which has developed an active threat detection platform popular with hedge funds, secured a $14 million Series C financing from a consortium of Canadian and U.S. venture capital firms and strategic investors to promote further growth and customer diversification.
Wealthsimple has officially launched with the support of startup funding. The company's CEO and founder Michael Katchen confirmed to peHUB Canada that the company has raised $1.9 million from Joe Canavan, Roger Martin, David Ossip, Dan Debow and Canadian venture capital firm Impression Ventures. Based in Toronto, Wealthsimple provides low-cost, technology-driven investment strategies and personalized service to investors in Canada. Impression Ventures, which is led by Bryan Kerdman and Christian Lassonde, is focused on investing in software companies in e-commerce, financial applications, SaaS, consumer applications and enterprise solutions.
BLiNQ Networks Inc has secured US$15.1 million in a Series B financing round. This latest round, which brings the company's total funding to date to US$32.5 million, was led by WIN Fund LP and joined by new investor Kensington Global Private Equity Fund and existing investors BDC Capital, New Venture Partners and Summerhill Venture Partners. Investment proceeds will be used to continue BLiNQ's product innovation, scale operations and accelerate global sales growth. With its headquarters in Ottawa and Plano, Texas, BLiNQ is a provider of wireless backhaul solutions that allow mobile operators to deliver mobile broadband services in high density areas. It was founded in June 2010.
Canadian growth finance firm Beedie Capital Partners has agreed to extend $3.5 million in a secured term loan to Nightingale Informatix Corp (TSX-V: NGH), a provider of cloud-based electronic health record and practice management services to North American healthcare organizations. Funding proceeds will support the company in its efforts to launch a next generation platform, Nightingale EHR, and for other purposes. Based in Markham, Ontario, Nightingale also has been backed by Canadian specialty finance firm Wellington Financial and Export Development Canada. A Wellington-led deal in 2007 facilitated the company's acquisition of VantageMed Corp.
John Ruffolo, CEO of OMERS Ventures, the venture investment arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, has been selected for the top spot of Canadian Business magazine's 50 most powerful business people. The magazine said that Ruffolo's launch of OMERS Ventures in 2011 has provided "a fix to Canada’s chronic lack of VC," which is something that should matter "as much to Bay Street as it does to entrepreneurs."
FreshGrade has secured $4.3 million in seed-stage financing. The backers of the round were a mix of U.S. venture capital firms and education investors, including NewSchools Venture Fund, Emerson Collective, Accel Partners and The Social+Capital Partnership. Based in Kelowna, British Columbia, the company is an educational resource for administrators, teachers and parents allowing for maximum classroom engagement and real-time assessment. Update: FreshGrade was founded in 2011 by Lane Merrifield, Steve Wandler and Mark Payne.
There is a new Canadian technology investor in town. Gibraltar Ventures, a Toronto-based firm that is seeking to bring disruptive technology solutions to consumers and small to medium-sized businesses, this week completed the initial close of its first $50 million fund, Gibraltar Ventures Fund One LP. Backers of the fund included BDC Capital. Gibraltar has also made its first investment, leading the $5.2 million Series A financing of online tickets marketplace FanXchange.
Fluidware Corp, an Ottawa-based provider of online survey and application review tools, has been bought for an undisclosed sum by SurveyMonkey. Fluidware's headquarters and infrastructure will be maintained to help accelerate and scale the development of SurveyMonkey's online survey platform, the company said. Based in Palo Alto, California, SurveyMonkey has been backed by a mix of private equity and venture capital firms. In 2013, the company raised US$800 million in debt and equity. The deal's investors included Tiger Global Management, Google Inc, ICONIQ Capital, Social+Capital Partnership and Laurel Crown Partners.
Serial entrepreneurs have been growing their presence in Canadian innovation hubs since the tech boom of the 1990s. And several have been responsible for some of the hottest venture-backed startups to emerge of late, such as Waterloo's Auvik Networks. Repeat founders might also be having an important impact on the bottom lines of VCs. The portfolio evolution of Canadian venture capital firm Celtic House Venture Partners, a 20-year-old media communications technology investor, is illustrative of the trend.
Inventys Thermal Technologies Inc, a developer of energy- and cost-efficient technology for capturing carbon dioxide from industrial flue gas streams, has secured additional funding. The round, for an undisclosed amount of capital, was backed by Canadian venture capital firm Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital, Chevron Technology Ventures, the venture capital arm of Chevron Corp, Mitsui Global Investment and The Roda Group. Based in Burnaby, British Columbia, Inventys said the deal would help expand its manufacturing and enable the deployment of full-scale systems in late 2016. Founded in 2007, the company has been venture-backed since 2012.