Will provide entrepreneurial capital to early stage companies
MONTREAL, March 27 /PRNewswire/ - iNovia Capital, a manager of seed and
early stage venture capital funds, announced today the launch of its second
fund, iNovia Investment Fund II L.P. ("iNovia II"), a $107 million Canadian
seed and early stage venture capital fund focused on the information
technology, life sciences and cleantech sectors.
iNovia Capital, which recently completed iNovia II's second closing,
obtained the support of important investors from within Canada and abroad
including: Consensus Business Group, Caisse de depot et placement du
Quebec, FIER Partners, BDC Capital, AVAC Ltd., Solidarity Fund QFL, Export
Development Canada (EDC), Fondaction, McGill University's Endowment fund,
the University of Alberta, Universite de Sherbrooke, Bishop's University
Foundation CSN, Gestion Univalor L.P. and Telesystem Ltd., as well as a
number of strategic angel investors.
"iNovia Capital provides entrepreneurial capital to the companies it
backs. We are indeed pleased to have attracted, as investors in iNovia II,
a diverse group of institutions and individuals who share our vision and
approach," said Mark de Groot, President & CEO of iNovia Capital. "With
iNovia's expanded presence across Canada, we will continue to execute on
our seed and early stage investment strategy, and further build out our
North American network of co-investors and deal flow providers, in order to
generate strong returns for our stakeholders."
In preparation for the launch of iNovia II, Shawn Abbott joined the
management team as Partner in 2007. Shawn brings to the team over twenty
years of experience as a technology entrepreneur, an angel investor and a
venture capitalist. This experience includes serving as CTO and then
President of Rainbow Technologies (NASDAQ: RNBO) where he consolidated
three divisions, built a management team to return the US$70 million
business to profitability and growth, and positioned it for a successful
sale in 2004 at nearly half a billion USD. Prior to joining Rainbow, Shawn
established and built the AND group, which pioneered a widely used
encryption-based CD-ROM software distribution system. Shawn was most
recently general partner with the Alberta-based venture capital fund
SpringBank TechVentures.
With its recent additions, the iNovia Capital management team now
comprises a diverse group of professionals, all of whom have operational or
financial backgrounds, coupled with strong technical and business
expertise. iNovia has also established a network of Venture Partners and
Entrepreneurs in Residence, who provide industry insight and expertise,
along with access to a large network of collaborators.
"We task ourselves with finding exceptional technology entrepreneurs
and identifying the most promising innovations which, in combination with
our financial support, have the potential to transform industries", said
Chris Arsenault, Managing Partner and COO of iNovia Capital. "The
entrepreneurial capital we provide goes well beyond financing, and gives
seed and early stage companies unprecedented access to complementary
intellectual property, as well as an extensive network of partners,
advisors and co-investors."
iNovia II's seed and early stage investment activities span the
software, semiconductor, medical device, biopharmaceutical and cleantech
sectors. Building on its unique relationships and partnerships across
Canada and the US, iNovia II expects to invest in a broad range of
companies over the course of the next 4 years. Initial investments tranches
should vary between $500,000 and $2 million, and can go as high as $7
million over the life of a given company.
About iNovia Capital
iNovia Capital manages seed and early stage venture capital funds, with
a focus on helping entrepreneurs and innovators build successful companies
in the information technology, life sciences and cleantech sectors. iNovia
Capital's value-added approach to early stage investing provides portfolio
companies with capital, unique access to intellectual property from its
partner academic institutions and an extensive network of industry
partners, advisors and sector-specific co-investors. For more information
see http://www.inoviacapital.com.
About Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec
The Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec is a financial institution
that manages funds primarily for public and private pension and insurance
plans. As at December 31, 2007, it held CA$155.4 billion of net assets. One
of the leading institutional fund managers in Canada, the Caisse invests in
the main financial markets as well as in private equity and real estate.
For more information: http://www.lacaisse.com.
About FIER Partners
FIER Partners L.P. has $85 million available to support the creation of
sector development funds that make equity or quasi-equity investments in
start-up companies. The limited partnership contributes one dollar for
every two dollars sourced from private investors, so that the total
capitalization of the sector funds may ultimately reach $240 million.
Lastly, FIER Partners has a $180-million envelope to support developmental
projects, mainly in the regions. For more information, visit
http://www.fierpartenaires.com .
About Consensus Business Group
Consensus Business Group ("Consensus") is a multi-faceted principal
advisor to the Trustees of a Family Trust which is its ultimate beneficial
owner. Consensus advises on a broad range of activities, including
structured finance and the acquisition, management and development of
commercial and residential real estate. Consensus has significant
shareholdings in property and property related companies and is now one of
the UK's largest private property companies with $10bn of investments in
commercial property and a portfolio of around 300,000 residential
freeholds. Consensus has a strategic focus on the environmental and
cleantech sector and has advised on more than $400m of private equity,
venture capital, infrastructure and fund investments.
Consensus has developed a number of proprietary business models that
involve technology transfer, industrial offset, and leveraging the
synergies between cleantech investments and the extensive property
portfolio. Consensus' activities are supported by a dedicated and
experienced investment and structured finance team. For more info, visit
http://www.cbg.uk.com
About BDC Capital
BDC Capital is a major venture capital investor in Canada, with a focus
on technology-based funds and businesses that have high growth potential
and that are positioned to become dominant players in their markets. BDC
Venture Capital has been involved in venture capital since 1975 and has to
date invested in more than 20 venture capital funds and 400 companies
involved in the areas of Life Sciences, Telecommunications, Information
Technology and Advanced Technologies.
About the Solidarity Fund QFL
With net assets of over $7.4 billion as at November 30, 2007, the
Solidarity Fund QFL is a development capital company that through its RRSP
channels the savings of Quebecers into investments in all sectors of the
economy to help create and maintain jobs and to further Quebec's economic
growth. The Fund is a partner, either directly or through its network
members, in 1,696 companies. It currently has more than 575,000
shareholders and has helped, on its own or with other financial partners,
to create, maintain and protect over 122,000 jobs. For more information,
visit http://www.fondsftq.com.
About Export Development Canada
EDC Equity, an investment partner with global reach, is engaged in
domestic and international investment activities to facilitate global
business expansion and export growth of Canadian companies. EDC is Canada's
export credit agency, offering innovative commercial solutions to help
Canadian exporters and investors expand their international business. EDC's
knowledge and partnerships are used by 6,400 Canadian companies and their
global customers in up to 200 markets worldwide each year. EDC is
financially self-sustaining and is a recognized leader in financial
reporting, economic analysis and has been named one of Canada's Top 100
Employers for seven consecutive years.
About Fondaction CSN
Fondaction CSN invests in venture capital in order to maintain and
create jobs in Quebec. Its net assets, which stood at $554 million as at
November 30, 2007, are derived from retirement savings collected from more
than 77,000 shareholders. It is the financial partner of about a hundred
enterprises and partner and specialized funds. It favours enterprises that
subscribe to a participatory management process, enterprises in the social
economy (employee-controlled, cooperatives, etc.) and those that practice
environmental stewardship. Fondaction CSN is Quebec's first financial
institution to obtain OS (Organisational Stakeholder) status under the
Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), implemented by the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP). http://www.fondaction.com http://www.REERvert.com
About Telesystem
Telesystem is a private corporation dedicated to the creation and
management of companies operating in a variety of promising fields such as
media and health management. Furthermore, through its venture capital
management subsidiaries: Argo Global Capital, Propulsion Ventures and ID
Capital, its activities also include investment into emerging companies
from the communications, software, Web 2.0 and industrial technologies
sectors.
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