The number of IPOs increase month-over-month, but toital proceeds down 27 percent
D-Wave Systems Inc has secured $30 million in additional funding from new and existing Canadian and U.S. investors, including BDC Capital, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Goldman Sachs and Harris & Harris Group. The announcement confirms an earlier report about a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that said D-Wave had raised US$28.4 million. Founded in 1999, the Burnaby, British Columbia-based company said the new funds will be used to advance and scale its quantum computing technology, accelerate software development and build a software application ecosystem. D-Wave to date has raised $160 million in venture capital and government grants.
Indicee Inc has been bought by Dun & Bradstreet Corp (NYSE: DNB). The acquisition price was not disclosed. Founded in 2006, the Vancouver-based Indicee has developed a cloud-based platform that helps businesses of all types bring disparate data and intelligence together quickly and efficiently. Dun & Bradstreet said Indicee would form part of its Cloud Innovation Center and leverage new ways to deliver the company's proprietary data and analytics. The deal gives exits to Canadian venture capital firm Yaletown Venture Partners and U.S. firm Granite Ventures. Yaletown helped seed the company in 2008 and participated with Granite in Indicee's US$6 million Series A financing round in 2009.
MultiCorpora R&D Inc, a provider of translation technology solutions, has agreed to be purchased by R. R. Donnelley & Sons Co (Nasdaq: RRD) for an undisclosed amount. The Chicago, IL-based R. R. Donnelley & Sons, an integrated communications company, said the acquisition will enhance its client offering in the areas of multi-lingual web content solutions and transcreation. Based in Gatineau, Québec, MultiCorpora has previously been venture-backed. Its investors have included the Fonds de solidarité des travailleurs du Québec FTQ.
As of mid-January, Technology Crossover Ventures has raised $1.4 billion for its eighth fund, targeted at $2.5 billion
When Boris Wertz, general partner at Version One Ventures, launched the firm's first micro-fund focused on early-stage consumer Internet, e-commerce, SaaS and mobile companies in Feb. 2013, he said he wanted it to become one of "the top 10 seed funds in North America.” Less than a year later, it appears that ambition was realized. In December, U.S. data platform Mattermark ranked Version One Ventures No. 8 in a list of 115 leading VC investors, ahead of a number of top Silicon Valley brands.
Toronto-based commercialization hub MaRS Innovation has entered into a collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Innovation, and its affiliate Janssen Inc, to advance early-stage technologies related to human health in therapeutics, medical devices, and diagnostics. Under the terms of the three-year agreement, MaRS Innovation and the Johnson & Johnson Innovation Center in Boston, Mass. will jointly identify and fund high-potential opportunities emerging from research at MaRS Innovation's 16 member institutions, which include the University of Toronto and its teaching hospitals.
Venture deals from throughout Europe, announced July 2013
Britain could be a hotbed of M&A activity, led by Verizon’s interest in Vodafone
Data and analytics, social media, online gaming and cloud computing are expected to remain hot in 2012