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Evans Family Donates $10 Million to Toronto's MaRS Discovery District

The Evans family, honouring the contributions of Dr. John Evans, a co-founder of MaRS, has donated $10 million to the non-profit Toronto organization. The money will fund the development of the MaRS Solutions Lab, a new initiative "that will help exceptional, young Canadian leaders approach complex, 21st-century challenges from an integrated, multi-disciplinary perspective."

"Today's world needs MaRS more than ever," said Dr. John Evans. "Much as this project mattered in 2000, it is even more important today. We face extraordinary challenges and opportunities, and there is no recipe book for this future. We hope the Lab will equip young people to develop inspired recipes and go out and change the world."

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Toronto Film Producers Launch Guidestones – the First Interactive Online Thriller

Guidestones LogoIf you’re a fan of the popular novel and film The Davinci Code, then you’ll definitely want to check out the first-ever interactive online thriller called Guidestones which launched in mid-February. Produced and distributed by Toronto-based companies iThentic and 3 o’clock TV, the 50-episode series (total running time of 120 minutes) was created and directed by Jay Ferguson.

Shot in Canada, the US and India, Guidestones combines scripted drama and documentary-style narrative. The lead characters, played by an all-Canadian cast, stumble upon an unsolved murder and discover a cover-up hiding a global conspiracy.

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TeamBuy raises $5 Million and settles down with Kids & Baby and Home categories

Toronto's TeamBuy.ca announced this morning that they have closed a $5 Million financing round from existing shareholders and will be using the funding to expand newly launched Kids & Baby and Home categories.

In July of 2011 TeamBuy raised $7 Million from an undisclosed institutional investor.

“We’ve re-imagined the daily deal business model to fit a customer who is demanding more comprehensive and customized shopping,” says Ghassan Halazon, CEO, TeamBuy.ca. “Our current vertical offerings already account for nearly 35 per cent of our business and with the launch of the new Kids & Baby and Home sections on TeamBuy, we anticipate that this will rise to at least half of our overall product mix in the year ahead.”

Online Dating Startup TwoMangoes raises Angel Round close to home

VC Circle reported this morning that Toronto's TwoMangoes has raised an undisclosed angel round from Andy Jasuja of Sigma Systems.

The two year-old online dating portal startup will use the funds to scale up its user base and develop mobile and Internet apps to reach out to more singles. According to VC Circle, the funds are expected to last for about a year at which time TwoMangoes will be looking to raise a $3 Million Series A round.

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Venture Capital Activity Way Up, But Still Far From Pre-Recession Levels

Venture capital and private equity in Canada grew again last year, up for the third year in a row, says Canada’s Venture Capital & Private Equity Association and research partner Thomson Reuters. But while the volume of activity—235—was the highest ever, the dollar value still came up short of pre-recession levels.

2011 may have been out 2007's 229 transactions, but in that year, over $26 billion was invested. Last year, that number was only $11.5 billion. Still, it's up from 2009 and 2010, when the recession limited transactions to just $5.2 and $6.2 billion respectively.

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Coral CEA invests in 4 Ryerson Digital Media Zone companies

Ottawa's Coral CEA announced today that they have invested $120K in four companies located at Ryerson University’s Digital Media Zone (DMZ).

“We are attracted to teams who are ‘getting it done’ versus talking about innovation and we want this type of collaboration to set a new standard in Ontario,” says Brian Forbes, Executive Director at Coral CEA.

Forbes believes the DMZ has taken a hands-on approach with entrepreneurs that is a perfect fit with Coral CEA and they are reviewing additonal investment options at the DMZ. Coral CEA has invested in:

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Canadian-born Taleo acquired by Oracle for $1.9 Billion

Oracle has agreed to buy Taleo Corp. for $1.9 Billion to add talent management software to its cloud computing strategy. According to today's announcement holders of Taleo will get $46 a share - that’s 18 percent higher than Taleo’s closing share price yesterday.

While any Billion dollar acquisition is big news, Techvibes tends to focus on Canadian news. So why are we covering the acquisition of Taleo?

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Ottawa's Blaze Software acquired by Akamai

Akamai Technologies announced today that it is acquiring Ottawa's Blaze Software for an undisclosed sum.

The Cambridge, Mass.-based Akamai said the purchase will complement its technology to optimize the speed that web pages are rendered, regardless of the device.

From Blaze's blog this morning:

This is obviously big news for Blaze, and we’re thoroughly excited about it. Beyond that, we see this as a big moment for the field of Front-End Optimization (FEO), and for the goal of making the web faster. Having Akamai provide an automated FEO solution will make this technology easily available to thousands of the top websites in the world, and make a real impact on the web.

Blaze was founded in 2010 with a mission to help clients deliver better performing Web businesses by making their sites faster. 

Dayforce acquired by Ceridian Corporation

One year ago we reported that Ceridian Corporation had invested in Toronto's Dayforce Corporation.

Today Ceridian announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Dayforce.

"Innovation is a top priority at Ceridian. With this acquisition we are gaining development and delivery expertise and innovative technology that are the perfect complement to Ceridian's experience, established customer base and tremendous market reach," said Stuart C. Harvey, Jr., Ceridian's chief executive officer and president. "We are well positioned to deliver the most advanced human capital management cloud platform in the industry."

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Rick Hansen Institute looking for promising technologies

Applications are now being accepted for the Rick Hansen Institute Emerging Company Showcase, scheduled to take place at Interdependence 2012 Global Conference and Exhibition, May 15-18, 2012 in Vancouver.

The Rick Hansen Institute is providing emerging companies, seeking financing for an innovation related to accelerating progress to a cure for paralysis after spinal cord injury or innovations that will improve the lives of those living with SCI, the opportunity to pitch their company and innovation to the delegation at Interdependence 2012.

Five companies will be selected by an external panel and have the opportunity to present directly to various experts and key opinion leaders from across the continuum of spinal cord injury research and care, including investors with experience in the life sciences and healthcare sectors.

Learn more about application criteria and important dates online.