BDC Venture Capital Provides Financial Support to GrowLab’s Recent Graduates

By: Zain Nabi  |   March 2nd, 2013   |   Business, News, O Canada

BDC Venture Capital, a venture capital investor in Canada, has invested in all four GrowLab recent graduates, according to Techvibes. The graduates of GrowLab, which supports entrepreneurs through seed funding, office space and mentorship, have received support from BDC Venture Capital in the past as well.

 

The four start-ups that have agreed to take funding from BDC Venture Capital include ePACT, Procurify, SpaceList, and KarmaHire. All four will receive funding of $150,000 each in form of convertible notes which are short term loans that are usually converted into shares later on in the company’s life.

 

ePact is an emergency network to aid North Americans at the time of crisis. It allows people to share information before, during and after any emergency.

 

Procurify is a spend management solution allowing SMEs to gain full control and visibility of their spending. It allows businesses to monitor their commercial activities as well as deal with their business partners. Managers can track and approve orders through Procurify while suppliers can send and receive Pos and invoices on a secure cloud based server.

 

SpaceList provides an online platform to find office, retail or warehouse space. By bringing all of Canada’s real estate listings together in one place, SpaceList aims at making it easier for people to find the space they need in the entire country.

 

KarmaHire is an optimised hiring platform that presents an opportunity for recruiters to market their job ads in a colourful and attractive way.

 

According to Techvibes, all these companies had the opportunity to turn down the offer, but all of them agreed to take the investment offered by BDC Venture Capital. Techvibes quoted Senia Rapisarda, Vice President of Strategic Investments and Initiatives at BDC Venture Capital, as saying:

 

“This seed investment is meant to help these promising companies keep going while they work towards a more substantial second round of financing. The companies are now well equipped to further refine their product and grow their number of customers.”

 

BDC Venture Capital has so far supported a total of 13 GrowLab graduates, living up to its commitment to support quality talent. Mike Edwards, GrowLab’s Executive Director, said of BDC Venture Capital:

 

“BDC Venture Capital has played a real leadership role in advancing accelerators in Canada. Ultimately, this is great news for the entire startup ecosystem.”