VENTURE DEALS Notable VC deals in 2022

Assent

Assent, whose platform ensures that some of the world’s biggest companies and their suppliers comply with an ever-growing list of government regulations on everything from human rights to health and safety standards, raised US$350 million in fresh capital to fund its ambitious global scaleup plans. Assent’s latest round was among the largest in the capital’s history and brings the firm’s total VC haul to $640 million. Austin, Tex.-based Vista Equity Partners led the latest round. U.S. private equity firm Warburg Pincas, which financed Assent’s previous $160-million series-C round in 2018, remains the firm’s largest shareholder, while past partners Volition Capital, First Ascent Ventures and StepStone Group all remain investors in the company.

Field Effect

The fast-rising startup Matt Holland launched with business partner Andrew Loschmann six years ago raised a US$30million funding round led by New Jerseybased private equity firm Edison Partners. Holland and his team are looking to lean on Edison’s sales and marketing connections south of the border to help Field Effect crack a market it has yet to really penetrate.

Unreserved

The Ottawa-based online home auction platform raised nearly $34 million in seed capital as it gears up to expand across the country. Unreserved said it brought in $33.85 million from a series of investors. Founder and CEO Ryan O’Connor says he contributed $10 million of his own money to the startup. Other investors include Dmitri Vodiansky and John Hinton, two of O’Connor’s partners in online car auction venture E Automotive, Jason Chapnik of merchant bank Intercap Equity and Simon Dean, the former president of Royal LePage.

Invert

The Ottawa startup that’s aiming to make it easier for individuals to invest in projects that help counteract the harmful effects of greenhouse gas emissions announced it’s closed a $25-million funding round led by mining company Altius Minerals. “They’re a great partner,” Invert executive chairman Mark Zekulin said of Newfoundland-based Altius, whose extensive holdings include significant investments in a variety of wind and solar energy producers south of the border.

Evidence Partners

The Kanata software firm that’s streamlining the research process for scientists racing to learn more about COVID-19 and other diseases closed a $20-million financing round led by San Francisco-based Thomvest Ventures with participation from Vancouver’s Pender Ventures and Export Development Canada. Co-founder and chief executive Peter O’Blenis told Techopia the firm plans to use the fresh capital to expand its product engineering, sales and marketing, operations and customer service teams.

Spiderwort

The Ottawa biotech startup that’s developing a process of regrowing body parts using plant-based materials said it closed a US$13.2-million series-A round led by Horizons Ventures, a Hong Kong-based venture capital fund that has previously invested in Facebook and Shopify and led Spiderwort’s seed round two years ago. The latest raise brings the firm’s total funding haul to more than US$15 million. The new round included participation from K5 Global, BoxOne Ventures and Break Off Capital.

Fieldless Farms

Founder and CEO Jon Lomow says Fieldless is poised to cultivate a bountiful crop of new market opportunities after finalizing a $17.5-million series-A funding round led by Forage Capital Partners, a Calgary-based VC that primarily invests in agri-tech ventures. Farm Credit Canada and the Business Development Bank of Canada also contributed debt financing to the round.

Lytica

The Kanata-based firm announced a $13-million investment led by Baltimore’s Resolve Growth Partners. The firm’s subscription software platform uses artificial intelligence to compare prices of thousands of components that go into electronic devices such as computers and smartphones, helping manufacturers find the best deals.

Welbi

The six-year-old software company finalized a $6-million seed round led by Toronto’s Graphite Ventures, with participation from MaRS IAF, SoGal Ventures, Roach Capital and a number of angel investors. Co-founder and CEO Elizabeth Audette-Bourdeau told Techopia the firm’s fundraising efforts attracted so much interest that the company decided to limit contributors to those investors it felt “could really move the dial to the next level” as Welbi ramps up its expansion drive.

Tetra Bio-Pharma

The Orléans-based company that’s spent years developing drugs designed to mimic the pain-killing and anti-inflammatory benefits of cannabis without major side effects said it’s agreed to issue up to $6 million worth of unsecured debentures and stock purchase warrants to Londonbased investment firm Alpha Blue Ocean Group. Chief commercial officer Steeve Neron said the deal should provide enough cash to keep the company afloat as it awaits the green light from Health Canada to sell one of its key products.

Giatec Scientific

The Ottawa cleantech company that’s aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from concrete production by hundreds of millions of tons a year secured a $5-million contribution from BDC Capital. It’s the latest major capital injection for Giatec, which received $5.1 million in federal funding in 2021 and brought German building materials powerhouse HeidelbergCement on board as a minority investor earlier in 2022.

Martello Technologies

Martello got a multimillion-dollar funding boost as it looks to bounce back from a pandemic-fuelled slump that stalled a years-long stretch of virtually uninterrupted growth. The Kanata-based software firm landed $2.5 million from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario. Martello plans to use the fresh capital to expand its software development team and market its flagship Vantage DX troubleshooting software for Microsoft users.

Nook Technologies

The Ottawa startup behind a new app that aims to make workers more productive by aggregating information from platforms like Gmail, Slack and other sources has raised more than $2 million from a group that includes former Shopify executives and C-suite leaders at Apple and LinkedIn. Nook Technologies said it’s secured nearly $2.4 million in pre-seed funding for its new product, which CEO Marc Gingras describes as a “personal information system that’s disguised as a note-taking app.”

Trellis

The Ottawa company that helps Amazon and Shopify merchants drive more traffic to their websites is hoping to make inroads on platforms such as Walmart. com and Google Shopping with the help of $1.5 million in new seed funding. Trellis – which uses artificial intelligence algorithms to help e-commerce merchants get more mileage out of their ad spending – closed the funding round led by Dallas-based Sentiero Ventures.

Trexity

A pair of Quebec-based funds, AQC Capital and Anges Québec, have invested a total of $1 million in the Ottawa-based startup. Trexity, which finalized a $5-million seed round in May, currently provides ondemand package and food delivery services in Ottawa-Gatineau, Calgary, Toronto and Winnipeg. The company says the latest investment will help finance its upcoming move into Montreal and Vancouver as it continues to extend its geographic reach.

Click Armor

Founded in 2019, Click Armor trains workers how to spot so-called phishing attacks. Originally bootstrapped, the startup joined Invest Ottawa’s accelerator and Kanata’s L-Spark incubator and found an enthusiastic backer in the Capital Angel Network. It announced its newest financing partner, the Business Development Bank of Canada, which is contributing to a six-figure funding round. Click Armor plans to use the fresh equity to beef up its sales and marketing team as it targets customers south of the border and beyond.