Canadian companies in the media, medical, and middle-market industries — plus a couple of former BlackBerry execs — raised big money this week. Here’s the latest on who raised how much, and from whom.
Former BlackBerry execs receive $7.3 million for Introhive
According to a report from The Globe and Mail, two former BlackBerry execs have raised $7.3 million in Series B funding for their three-year-old startup, Introhive. The company is based in Fredericton, New Brunswick.
Canadian co-founders Jody Glidden and Stewart Walchli, who run the company out of Washington, D.C., founded Introhive as a way to automate the CRM software process, which can be time-consuming. It works by constantly syncing activities and contacts, so users can easily find out which of their colleagues have valuable connections to the clients they’re trying to reach.
The money will be used to expand its team and its relationship with partners like Salesforce.com and Microsoft. Financiers in this round of funding include Salesforce.com, Build Ventures and Tech Equity Partners.
Fulcrum Capital Partners closes Fund V at $344 million
Vancouver-based Fulcrum Capital Partners completed its final closing of Fulcrum Capital Partners Fund V, receiving $344 million in commitments.
Like its previous funds, Fulcrum will invest in Canadian middle-market companies, with a focus on industries like manufacturing, resource services, business services, distribution and logistics, and consumer products.
Fund V will invest between $15 million to $35 million in companies where Fulcrum sees opportunities to grow, and to increase value on exit through active management and collaboration with founding shareholders and management teams.
“We are pleased with the results of our fundraising program and with these initial investments,” said Neil Johansen, managing partner of Fulcrum. “The success of this fundraising reflects investors’ confidence in the opportunity available in the Canadian middle market.”
Since the initial closing in December, Fulcrum has deployed $70 million of this capital across three platform investments and one follow-on acquisition.
Xagenic receives $15 million in new funding
Xagenic, a Toronto-based molecular diagnostics company, announced a round of funding in which they raised $15 million. The same investors from their last July 2014 Series B financing — which included Domain Associates, CTI Life Sciences Fund, BDC Capital and the Ontario Capital Growth Corp — participated in this financing.
The company develops the Xagenic X1 platform, a diagnostic system designed for use in a clinician’s office, will allow users to perform lab-quality molecular diagnostic tests within the office. With a start-to-finish time span of 20 minutes, the company says that the system is poised to transform the way healthcare is delivered.
“This investment round is a testament to the faith our existing investors have in the power of the Xagenic X1 platform and the promise of our enzyme-free approach to molecular diagnostics,” said Timothy I. Still, CEO of Xagenic. “This funding will accelerate our development efforts in bringing our point-of-care diagnostic platform to market.”
Canadian Media Fund awards $14.1 million to digital projects
The Canadian Media Fund announced that 22 interactive digital media projects received $14.1 million in funding as part of the first round of production support from the 2015-2016 Experimental Stream.
The Experimental Stream encourages the development of innovative, interactive digital media content and software applications. Projects funded under the Experimental Program are developed for commercial potential by the Canadian media industry or public use by Canadians.
Of the 22 productions, two are from British Columbia, one from Manitoba, one from Newfoundland and Labrador, five from Ontario, and 13 from Québec. A couple of projects include Knomos and Debris by Moonray Studios.
Production support provides funding for the creation of a final, market-ready version of an eligible project and preliminary marketing and commercialization activities. A jury of Canadian and international industry specialists evaluated the innovation and production team criteria of projects receiving production support. This round’s jury consisted of Michelle Blanc (Montréal); Michael Gubbins (Oxford, United Kingdom); Michael Longford (Toronto); Anita Ondine (Hobart, Australia); Sébastien Provencher (Montréal); Eliana de Siqueira Russi (São Paulo, Brazil); and Éric Viennot (Marseille, France).
You can see a full list of the projects that received funding here.