iNovia Capital announces launch of $107 Million second venture capital fund

iNovia Capital announces launch of $107 Million second venture capital fund Will provide entrepreneurial capital to early stage companies

Montreal - 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 dépôt et placement du Québec, FIER Partners, BDC Capital, AVAC Ltd., Solidarity Fund QFL, Export Development Canada (EDC), Fondaction, McGill University's Endowment fund, the University of Alberta, Université 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.