Almost US$20M over a four week stretch

It’s more than just warm in California.

Things have been quiet on the blog front, and I can’t even blame a lack of content. Dr. Roger Martin has provided grist for at least two blog opportunities all on his own.

What I can report on is a couple of recently closed new transactions in California. The idea of opeining an office in Santa Monica in November 2009 had nothing to do with the beautiful climate: honestly! The first deal of 2012 was a US$6 million venture debt financing for a Silicon Valley-based provider of social software and services. The company supports a number of Fortune 1000 Companies and is backed by several VC firms based in the area. That closed in January.

The second Cali deal was a US$7.5 million growth capital loan for a mobile banking and payment solutions provider. The company supports many of the largest global financial institutions, including many of North America’s top banks. It too has the support of several venture capital firms based in Silicon Valley. The first draw was US$3.75 million, and the second tranche will come in the Spring; flexibility that the CFO appreciated.

We also recently renewed a US$5 million financing with Ember Corp. of Boston, Massachusetts. Originally a 2009 transaction, Ember is a leading provider of low-power wireless mesh networking technology. Ember develops the core wireless technologies for home automation and energy management products that comprise the Connected Home. Proceeds from the original financing provided the company with additional working capital to accommodate its strong growth trajectory. Some primary venture capital investors include Polaris Ventures, GrandBanks Capital, RRE Ventures, Vulcan Capital, DFJ ePlanet Ventures and New Atlantic Ventures. As you can imagine, we are only too happy to grow with our clients and will stay around as long as the CFO feels we are playing a useful role in the capital structure.

As you might have noticed, all three of our 2012 financings to date were for U.S.-based companies. In fact, 15 of the last 20 cheques went south of the border. Quite the sea change from five years ago: we did 15 transactions in 2007, for example, all of which were for Canadian firms.

We were delighted to provide almost US$20 million to U.S.-based firms over a 4 week period, but don’t think for a moment we aren’t keen on Northern content, too. Give us a buzz.

MRM