MSBiV part of expanded Network of Partners
Connecting
Innovative Ideas with Entrepreneurial Capital
Montreal
and Edmonton, Canada, April 24, 2008 -
iNovia Capital, a manager of seed and early
stage venture capital funds, announced
today that it has entered into a series
of collaboration agreements with leading
academic institutions across Canada, as
well as their affiliated research centers,
in order to secure access and insight into
some of the most promising innovations
emerging from their annual research and
development (“R&D”) expenditures totaling in excess of 2.3 billion dollars.
Following
its recent announcement of the of iNovia
Investment Fund II, L.P. (“iNovia II”),
in an amount of $107M, iNovia Capital has
solidified and expanded its network of
deal flow collaborators and partners across
Canada and in the US. The privileged relationships
thereby established with leading academic
institutions form an intrinsic part of
iNovia Capital’s strategy of providing
entrepreneurs and early stage companies
with unparalleled access to intellectual
property, expertise and research facilities.
Through
an exclusive agreement with MSBi Valorisation,
iNovia Capital has renewed its original
partnership agreements with McGill University,
the Université de Sherbrooke and Bishop’s
University, as well as their affiliated
hospitals and research institutions, which
include the McGill University Health Centre,
the Douglas Hospital, the Jewish General
Hospital and the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire
de Sherbrooke. These institutions all provide
iNovia Capital with preferred access, via
a right of first review, to the R&D output of these leading institutions. iNovia Capital will in this context continue
its close collaboration with the technology
transfer offices of each institution, namely
the McGill Office of Technology Transfer
(“McGill OTT”) and the Société de commercialisation
des produits de la recherche appliquée
de l’Université de Sherbrooke (“SOCPRA”),
which are the commercialization arms of
these academic institutions and focus on
research contracts, intellectual property
and licensing opportunities.
iNovia
Capital has also entered into a similar
right of first review partnership agreement
with Gestion Univalor Limited Partnership,
whose mission is to commercialize discoveries
made by researchers at the Université de
Montréal; the École Polytechnique de Montréal;
the CHU Sainte-Justine, Mother and Child
University Hospital Center; the HEC Montréal;
the Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont; the Hôpital
du Sacré-Cœur de Montréal; the Institut
de recherches cliniques de Montréal and
the Institut universitaire de gériatrie
de Montréal.
iNovia
Capital has in addition expanded its reach
to Western Canada through privileged collaboration
agreements with TEC Edmonton and University
Technologies International (“UTI”). TEC
Edmonton is a joint venture of the University
of Alberta and the Edmonton Economic Development
Corporation (“EEDC”) that helps inventors,
entrepreneurs, companies and investors’
access expertise, facilities, management
and financing to succeed in technology
ventures. UTI is the University of Calgary’s
technology transfer, commercialization
and incubation center servicing the Calgary
region.
“We
are very happy with the results that we
have achieved to date by working closely
with the academic partners of our first
fund, MSBi LP, and have high expectations
as regards the outcome of the relationships
that iNovia II has secured with those academic
institutions which we consider to be amongst
the most dynamic in the country,”, said
Mark de Groot, President & CEO of iNovia Capital. “When looking at opportunities, we always evaluate the
potential contributions our partner academic
institutions could make, whether in the
form of new technologies, highly qualified
expertise or cutting-edge resources.”
MSBi Valorisation
MSBi Valorisation (“MSBiV”) is dedicated
to commercializing seed-stage innovations
in information technology, life sciences
and the physical sciences. MSBiV has
a particular focus on establishing and
building companies based on technological
advancements and inventions originating
from McGill University, Université de
Sherbrooke and Bishop's University, as
well as their affiliated hospitals and
research institutes. More information
about MSBiV is available at www.msbiv.ca.
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 www.inoviacapital.com.
McGill University's Office of Technology
Transfer
McGill University's Office of Technology
Transfer (McGill OTT) provides the crucial
link between the McGill research community
and the realm of industry leaders, entrepreneurs
and venture capital. McGill University,
has an international reputation for scholarly
achievement and scientific discovery. With
22 faculties and professional schools,
and more than 300 programs from the undergraduate
to the doctoral level, McGill leads Canadian
universities in terms of research funding
per full-time faculty member. McGill OTT
is directly responsible for managing the
continuous interactions between industry,
government, and the commercialization of
the University's intellectual property.
For more information see www.techtransfer.mcgill.ca.
SOCPRA
Société de commercialisation des produits
de la recherche appliqué (“SOCPRA”) is
the Université de Sherbrooke’s independent
entity devoted to the commercialization
of the University’s research results.
Established in January 2007, its mission
is to assist the researchers in the management
of the intellectual property created
at the University which might be marketed
under licence, by a spinoff or otherwise.
It is offered the opportunity to invest
on all new invention disclosure developed
at the University. The Society is responsible
for managing such intellectual property,
through financing of the patent fees
and of the costs associated with the
necessary steps to bring the inventions
to commercialization. For more information
see www.socpra.com.
Gestion Univalor, L.P.
Gestion Univalor, Limited partnership is
a limited partnership whose mission is
to commercialize discoveries made by researchers
at the Université de Montréal, the École
Polytechnique de Montréal, the CHU Sainte-Justine,
Mother and Child University Hospital Center,
the HEC Montréal, the Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont,
the Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur de Montréal,
the Institut de recherches cliniques de
Montréal and the Institut universitaire
de gériatrie de Montréal. Univalor also
provides commercialization services to
the limited partnerships of the following
hospital centres affiliated with the Université
de Montréal, the Centre hospitalier universitaire
de Montréal (CHUM) and the Montréal Heart
Institute. For more information see www.univalor.ca.
TEC
Edmonton
TEC Edmonton is a business accelerator,
offering advanced technology inventors,
entrepreneurs and companies access to:
expertise in Intellectual Property (IP)
protection, experience in technology and
business evaluation, resources such as
facilitating business development sessions,
providing lab and office space in the TEC
Centre, investment preparation, corporate
structuring and documentation, as well
as connections to investor forums, technology
development contacts, Executives-in-Residence,
and networking opportunities. For more
information see www.TECedmonton.com.
University
Technologies International
UTI is the University of Calgary’s technology
transfer, commercialization and incubation
center servicing the Calgary region. IGNITE,
launched in early 2007, is a company creation
incubator designed at UTI to develop investment
grade companies. IGNITE creates companies
where intellectual property and proprietary
technology provides a sustainable, differentiated,
competitive advantage. UTI and IGNITE provide
economic development to the Calgary region
through the creation of new jobs, the sharing
of knowledge, the pooling of resources
and the opportunity for investment return.
For more information see www.uti.ca.
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