Mint Smartwash Opens New Location in Medicine Hat, Alberta
June 30, 2021 — Mint Smartwash Ltd. (“Mint”), a developer and operator of high-volume express car wash tunnels has continued its expansion with the opening of its third location, and second in Alberta. The Kensington Private Equity Fund acquired a minority equity stake in Mint back in 2020 to help facilitate the growth and expansion of the company.
The new facility in the city of... Read More »
LifeSpeak Completes IPO on TSX
July 07, 2021 - Kensington is pleased to announce our portfolio company, LifeSpeak, has begun trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The IPO includes a $35 million secondary purchase, marking the second distribution to the Kensington Private Equity Fund since it made a $10 million direct investment in September 2020.
Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Toronto, LifeSpeak is a leading... Read More »
Kensington Private Equity Fund Announces New Distribution
TORONTO, April 26, 2021 /CNW/ - Kensington Capital Advisors Inc. is pleased to announce a distribution to Unitholders of Kensington Private Equity Fund of $1.12 per Unit, for a total distribution of $34.1 million, representing 3.6% of the Fund's current Net Asset Value (NAV). The distribution will be paid on April 27, 2021 to Unitholders of record on April 26, 2021.
The current... Read More »
Kensington Acquires Minority Stake in Mint Smartwash Ltd.
TORONTO, ON – October 30, 2020 – Kensington Capital Partners (“Kensington”) is pleased to announce that the Kensington Private Equity Fund has acquired a minority equity stake in Mint Smartwash Ltd. (“Mint”) to facilitate the growth and expansion of the company. Based in Calgary, Alberta, Mint is a developer and operator of high-volume express car wash tunnels utilizing... Read More »
Kensington Private Equity Fund Invests in LifeSpeak
The Kensington Private Equity Fund is pleased to announce an investment in LifeSpeak Inc. (“LifeSpeak”), a leading North American digital education platform that caters to the mental health and wellness of employees. Round13 Growth Fund and Roynat Capital joined Kensington in the investment round, which marks the first time the company has accepted... Read More »
Technology Industry Veteran Win Bear Joins Kensington Venture Capital Team
July 21, 2020 – Kensington is very pleased to welcome Win Bear to our investment team, joining as a Managing Director focused on the venture capital sector. Win joins Kensington following a successful 15-year tenure at Silicon Valley Bank, where he led SVB’s growth initiatives for the Canadian market. Win spent 20 years in commercial banking, specifically focused on... Read More »
Figure 1 Aiding in the Battle Against COVID-19
Figure 1, a Kensington portfolio company, is actively aiding the battle against the COVID-19 virus. The Company’s core business is to provide doctors and other medical professionals with a platform for sharing knowledge about individual cases they see in their practice. It is a visual and social app, designed like an ‘Instagram for doctors’... Read More »
Vaughn Mills Packaging Experiences Sale Surge
Vaughn Mills Packaging, located in Concord, Ontario is a custom manufacturer of hot cereals and oatmeal for the retail, foodservice and industrial trade. The company remains open as food and agri-business are considered essential services in Ontario. In recent weeks, there has been a surge in demand... Read More »
Keeping Doors Open During a Downturn with AGNORA
AGNORA, a leading North American fabricator of over-sized architectural glass, will be keeping its doors open as they qualify as an “essential business” in Ontario. The company is busy servicing existing customers, many of whom are in the U.S., as construction and renovation activities continue, for now, amidst COVID-19 crisis. Examples include... Read More »
A Deep Dive into Element 5
Element5 is a business that engineers, manufactures, and participates in the installation of cross-laminated timber (CLT). CLT is a premium building material that has applications in low to mid-rise buildings with the ability to capture the visual warmth of wood but also benefit from significantly larger open spans than conventional building materials. The... Read More »
Kensington Capital Partners Announces Final Close of Kensington Venture Fund II
Kensington Capital Partners completed its final close of its $150 million Kensington Venture Fund II in October. The new Fund will follow a hybrid strategy as both a fund-of-funds investing in venture capital (VC) funds and a direct investor into promising technology companies. The Fund, which was launched under the Government of Canada’s Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative (VCCI), has been... Read More »
Gerri Sinclair of Kensington Capital: "When people tell me I can't do something, I want to do it even more"
Gerri Sinclair is a managing director at Kensington Capital Partners and leader of its Vancouver office, where she's in charge of directing the $100-million BC Tech Fund. She is also a digital strategy adviser at Vancity Credit Union. Ms. Sinclair was the founder and CEO of NCompass Labs, the digital content management company acquired by Microsoft in 2001.
Read More »The Importance of Relationships with Walker Glass
Walker Glass is a significant producer of etched and mirrored glass for commercial applications. It buys float glass from US producers, treats the product, and sells the product to fabricators who cut it to fit building specifications. Sales of Walker’s products are driven primarily by demand for non-residential construction and office furniture.... Read More »
Month in Review: Kensington Private Equity Fund
Activity levels have been high with three direct investments moving forward which are expected to close in the coming months and the sale of three companies being negotiated. We have described the conditions in the market in prior publications as being excellent for sellers, and conversely, we are very selective as buyers. In some sectors, prices are high and expectations of most sellers... Read More »
Kensington's Perspective on Current Investment Environment
We at Kensington continuously evaluate broad economic developments as well as conditions specifically applicable to the private markets. Within the private equity markets, we target sub-sectors and geographic regions that we believe offer the best opportunities for strong returns as well as receptive markets for the sale of mature portfolio investments.
Economic Environment
The... Read More »
BC Tech Fund to Invest in Lumira Capital IV, L.P.
VANCOUVER, April 4, 2017 - Kensington Capital Partners Limited, the Manager of the BC Tech Fund, today announced a new investment by the Fund into Lumira Capital IV, L.P., a new health care and life science venture capital fund managed by Lumira Capital. Dr. Richard... Read More »
Bit Stew Systems Acquired by GE Digital
Burnaby, B.C. – November 15, 2016: Bit Stew Systems announces the company has been acquired by GE Digital (NYSE: GE) bringing its leading data intelligence capabilities to Predix, GE’s operating system for the Industrial Internet, and its industrial applications such as Asset Performance Management (APM).
Read More »Gerri Sinclair named one of Vancouver's Most Powerful People
#19: Gerri Sinclair, managing partner, Kensington Capital
When Gerri Sinclair, then an English professor at Simon Fraser University, tasked herself with programming a kid-friendly game for her grade-school son on a Commodore Vic 20 back in the early 1980s, she set herself on the path to becoming the doyenne of Vancouver’s digital media scene.
Read More »Kensington Participates in TouchBistro’s Series B Financing
Kensington Venture Fund is pleased to announce a new investment in TouchBistro as part of their $17 million Series B financing. The round was led by BDC IT Venture Fund with participation from new and investors Round13 Capital and Huff Capital, and existing investors Relay Ventures and Kensington Capital Partners.
Kensington has been pleased with TouchBistro’s growth and development... Read More »
Kensington Venture Fund Invests in Clearpath Robotics
Kensington Venture Fund is pleased to announce an investment in Clearpath Robotics Inc. (“Clearpath”), a global leader in unmanned autonomous vehicle research and development. The investment was made as a co-investment with portfolio venture fund iNovia Capital.
Clearpath has created the world’s first self-driving platform for material transport with a focus on self-driving... Read More »
BC Tech Fund Invests in Vanedge Capital II
First Fund-of-Funds Investment Supports Firm’s Strong Track Record of Venture Investing
Vancouver- November 1, 2016. Kensington Capital Partners, the Manager of the BC Tech Fund, today announced a new investment by the Fund into Vancouver’s Vanedge Capital II. The commitment to Vanedge II is the first investment by the BC Tech Fund... Read More »
Kensington Capital Partners to Manage New $100M BC Tech Fund
Firm selected for its strong track record of venture capital and private equity investing in the Province
VANCOUVER and TORONTO – October 21, 2016 – Kensington Capital Partners today announced that it has been appointed by the Province of British Columbia to manage its new $100 million
B.C. launches $100M tech fund and announces first investment
The B.C. government’s $100-million BC Tech Fund, a key part of the #BCTECH Strategy, launched today with the announcement of a fund manager and an initial investment in a B.C. technology company.
Read More »Partnering with Developers in Power Generation: Spotlight on Horseshoe Power
The Kensington Power Income Funds seek to develop partnerships with power infrastructure developers to grow an exclusive pipeline of investable opportunities. One of these partnerships is with Horseshoe Power, an entity designed to acquire low cost oil, gas, and power assets in Alberta, securing a supply of low-cost fuel for additional gas-fired power generation to be developed by Horseshoe... Read More »
Kensington Venture Fund Invests in Real Matters
Kensington Venture Fund is pleased to announce an investment in Real Matters, a fast growing financial services technology company that serves the North American real estate industry.
With its proprietary SaaS-based technology platform, Real Matters optimizes the management of regulated real estate processes such as appraisals, insurance... Read More »
Kensington Private Equity Fund Closes Three New Investments
Kensington Capital Partners is pleased to announce three new investments by the Kensington Private Equity Fund:
White Swan Environmental Ltd
On June 30, 2016 Kensington Private Equity Fund (“KPEF”) completed an investment in White Swan Environmental Ltd (“WSE”), a privately held oilfield waste services company. Based in Northern Alberta, WSE’s disposal... Read More »
New study by Yaletown Partners highlights Canada's opportunity to enhance tech growth by closing investment gaps
A report released today by Yaletown Partners said late-stage tech companies often lack the capital to leverage initial commercial success and pursue emerging-growth strategies.
Read More »Creating Value in Private Companies: Spotlight on Prodomax Automation
In 2015, Kensington partnered with the management team at Prodomax Automation with the goal of accelerating the growth of the business and facilitating a transition of ownership. To enable Prodomax to seize more business opportunities, Kensington has identified and executed a number of strategies to support the growth of the business and drive value:
Kensington co-leads funding round for Q4 Web Systems to Fuel Product and Sales Expansion
Toronto, ON – May 17, 2016 - Q4 Inc., a global leader in SaaS investor relations and capital market solutions, announced today the closing of a $22 million Series B financing, bringing the Company’s total amount raised to $30 million.
Read More »Kensington Hedge Fund Invests in Alternative Lending Money Manager Productivity Media
Kensington Capital Partners is pleased to announce an investment by the Kensington Hedge Fund 1 in the Productivity Media Income Fund I.
Productivity Media provides non-correlated absolute returns for investors by lending to a highly underserviced market in film and television productions in Canada, the... Read More »
Kensington Welcomes Greg Cochrane to Advisory Board
Kensington is pleased to announce the addition of Greg Cochrane to their Advisory Board. Greg Cochrane is Managing Partner, VRG Capital Corp., a family office focused on private equity investments. He has over 30 years of private equity experience and has been a lead investor in several private and public companies.
From 1981 to 1997 Greg and his partner built and managed one of the... Read More »
How Kensington Capital Partners Aims To Diversify Alberta's Economy
The Toronto-based alternative investment house recently opened a Calgary office that's focused on funding energy projects and green technology.
Read More »Kensington MD Rick Nathan discusses trends in Canada's tech sector
Kensington Capital has closed its latest round of funding for its tech-focused venture capital fund, exceeding its target of $300 million in investment commitments. Kensington Capital's Managing Director Rick Nathan joins BNN to discuss why he's seeing opportunity in Alberta and other trends in Canada's tech sector.
Read More »Kensington Venture Fund closes above target, invests in Vanedge II
Toronto-based investment firm Kensington Capital Partners has exceeded the $300 million target it set for Kensington Venture Fund (KVF) in the fund of funds’ final close.
Read More »Kensington Venture Fund is pleased to Partner with one of Canada's Best-In-Class Venture Capital Funds
Kensington Capital Partners is pleased to announce an investment by the Kensington Venture Fund to iNovia Capital's newest fund. For its first (and final closing) the firm sought to raise $150M, due to strong investor demand the fund was oversubscribed raising a total of $175M. Interestingly, the fund now includes as investors fifteen founders and entrepreneurs... Read More »
Kensington Welcomes Dr. Gerri Sinclair to Advisory Board
Dr. Gerri Sinclair's cross-domain career includes more than 25 years' experience spanning the fields of Internet, mobile and digital media technologies, entrepreneurial business, and government policy. She was the founder and CEO of NCompass Labs, the Internet digital content management company acquired by Microsoft in 2001. She then joined the Microsoft Senior Executive team as Country... Read More »
Brightspark Ventures Launches Differentiated Investment Model with Backing from Kensington Venture Fund
Brightspark Ventures, known for its successful track record of investing in early stage tech companies, has recently opened its doors to Canadian accredited investors.
Read More »Kensington Hedge Fund 1 Adds Lumen Asset Management to Roster of Managers
As of February 1, 2016, the Kensington Hedge Fund 1 (KHF1) team will be pleased to welcome a new manager into their multi manager portfolio, Lumen Asset Management. KHF1 will invest in Lumen's flagship fund, the Lumen Long/Short Equity Fund. Originating out of Obelysk Funds Limited, which traded a long/short equity portfolio for John Bitove's family office,... Read More »
Kensington Venture Fund Makes a Commitment to Sierra Ventures
Kensington Capital Partners is pleased to announce an investment by the Kensington Venture Fund to Sierra Ventures Fund XI. This is the firm's eleventh investment fund, it was oversubscribed raising US$170 million. Sierra has raised over $1.9B in capital and has provided funding to over 225 companies.
Sierra... Read More »