Blog Post: 2016 Year In Review and the Year Ahead in 2017

16

Jan 2017

What a year it has been! (And the best is yet to come!)

2016 was an incredibly exciting year for us here at Information Venture Partners. We were very proud to launch Information Venture Partners Fund II. After three successive closings, the Fund was capped at $106M, firming up our position in the market as the largest dedicated pool of early stage venture focused exclusively on B2B Fintech and Enterprise SaaS.

The launch of our fund coincided with what would become a record setting year for FinTech investment in Canada. And while we focus across North America, we have never been more excited by what is happening in Canada. A Reuters report found that home-grown FinTech companies attracted the highest level of investment in almost two decades in 2016, despite declines in related activity elsewhere, including in the United States.

We are thankful to have a great list of Limited Partners that have returned to us in Fund II, and to also welcome new partners that have both entrusted us with their capital and are taking great interest in supporting and partnering with the rapidly evolving FinTech market to mutual benefit.

We invested in three new companies in 2016, including:

  • Q4: A SaaS platform that provides advanced communication and intelligence solutions to investor relations officers, the C-suite of public companies and institutional investors. Q4 has added hundreds of customers in 2016 alone;
  • eSentire: an innovative managed security monitoring service for mid-sized enterprises, including the world’s most prominent hedge funds and asset management firms, protecting high-risk assets from the complex threats that technology alone can miss, and;
  • PostBeyond: an employee communications platform that enables your workforce to become the life of your brand communications. The platform allows you to scale your social business operations, distributing content for your teams to consume and share, keeping them engaged

Our portfolio companies from Fund I have grown significantly since our initial investment into 2017, including:

  • Verafin: A leading Canadian FinTech success story, Verafin is one of the North American leaders in fraud detection and AML software. You’ll find their software in over 1,500 banks and credit unions across North America. We’re incredibly proud that their product helps detect and prevent serious crimes like human trafficking, elder abuse and identity theft;
  • Igloo Software: Igloo is a modern intranet solution, helping companies build inspiring digital destinations for a more productive and engaged workforce. Igloo has earned numerous accolades from Gartner, IDC, KM World and others, and added many notable customers and partners in 2016;
  • Adaptive Insights: A pioneer and leader in corporate performance management, based in Palo Alto and growing rapidly with over 500 customers added in 2016

In 2016 we also grew the team, adding Alex Tong as an Associate. Alex draws upon his experience in corporate development at Hootsuite, supporting the rapid growth of this VC-backed marketing technology company, and in financial services with BMO Capital Markets and CIBC.

And the Momentum Continues…. 

In 2017, we are off to a busy start! We believe Canada’s FinTech sector is entering 2017 with continued momentum. On our end, we expect to add new portfolio companies early this year (stay tuned), and a total of 4 to 5 great ventures to our portfolio over the course of this year.

We are also hiring an Analyst, Community & Ventures to develop and deliver initiatives around marketing our firm, performing market research and supporting our investment due diligence.

We are long-term investors and remain excited in early stage Enterprise SaaS companies targeting financial services, and early stage B2B FinTech – including categories such as compliance and risk applications, cybersecurity, financial and wealth management technology, digital B2B commerce and advanced analytics.

So, what do you think? Let us know what you think on Twitter, via email,  or by reaching out to one of us.

Sincerely,

The Information VP team