DLA Piper Canada advises emerging companies across multiple sectors in their strategic growth

DLA Piper Canada's Startups, Emerging Companies and ‎Technology group has advised a number of up-‎and-coming companies on transactions intended to assist with their continued growth. In the first half of ‎‎2022, the group assisted with the following transactions that span the technology, biotech, life sciences, ‎health, financial services, real estate, construction and entertainment sectors:‎

				Ted Maduri, Josh Sved, Alvin Mak, Jonathon Ward and Joanne Pierucci acted for AES Engineering Limited in its acquisition of a controlling stake in the sealing business of Performance Compression and Sealing Inc. The acquisition resulted in the formation of a new company, AES Edmonton Inc., which joins the group of similarly reliability-focused companies owned by AES.
				Mike Reid and Maneesha Dakha advised CharliAI Inc. in its combined Seed equity and convertible note financing.  Charli is an AI-powered content services platform, designed specifically for enterprise use.
				Trevor Wong-Chor, Kevin Nelson, Joe Furness and Amanda Vogeli acted for Canaccord Genuity Corp., the sole agent in the initial public offering and TSX listing for Coho Collective Kitchens Inc. Coho Collective Kitchens is a growth stage, community-driven, commercial real estate and food technology company that ‎provides private and shared kitchen and production space to food companies from start-ups to ‎restaurant groups seeking turnkey solutions and business services.
				Ryan Black, Morgan McDonald and Denis assisted Draganfly Inc. (NASDAQ: DPRO, CSE: DPRO) in the launch of Draganfly’s Drone Technology Course at Alabama State University’s Division of Continuing Education. Draganfly Inc. offers drone solutions, software, and AI systems serving the public safety, ‎agriculture, ‎industrial inspections, security, mapping, and surveying markets.
				Morgan McDonald, Doug Boggs, Kevin Fritz, Adam Lee, and Josh Sved advised Eldridge in its lead ‎investment, with participation from Maverix Private Equity, of CAD$250m into Viral Nation, a Toronto-‎based digital and social media marketing agency.
				Morgan McDonald, Becky Rock, and Kevin Fritz advised Eldridge in its lead investment into ‎Canadian fintech company Koho Financial Inc.’s $210m Series D funding round. Existing investors, Drive ‎Capital and TTV Capital  renewed financial commitments and additional investments were made by ‎HOOPP, Round 13, and BDC to complete the round.
				Ted Maduri, Maneesha Dakha, Caroline Yao, Duncan Burns-Shillington and Sunil Sharma acted for FinTech Collective, LLC in its investment into Canadian financial data services company, CapIntel Inc. FinTech Collective is a New York-based venture capital fund, focused exclusively on financial services technology companies.
				Morgan McDonald assisted Hiya Inc. with its launch into the Canadian telecom market in May 2022. Hiya ‎Inc. is a developer of caller identification application designed to assist users in detecting fraud and ‎spam in mobile calls.
				Ted Maduri, Grace Latimer and Anastasia Grigoriou advised Lactiga, Inc. on the successful completion of its seed financing, which was oversubscribed.‎ Lactiga, Inc. is an award-winning biotherapeutics company developing anti-infective ‎biologics.
				Ryan Black, Ruby Chan, David Foulds, and Tyson Gratton acted for Livestream Gaming Ltd. and its shareholders in the sale of LOOT.BET, a licensed server-based real-money gaming platform and a top brand in the world of esports betting, to React Gaming Group Inc. (TSXV: RGG, OTCMKTS: ITMZF).
				Mike Reid and Maneesha Dakha advised Monos Travel Ltd. in its $30 million Series B financing, lead by Venn Growth Partners. Monos produces premium quality luggage and travel accessories direct to consumers.
				Morgan McDonald, Mike Reid, Becky Rock, Titus Totan, assisted by a cross disciplinary team from across the US, including Kristi Kung, Rachel Ludwig, Deborah Samenow, Stephen Taeusch, Christopher Mikson, Matthew Piscitelli, Nicole Firenze, among others, advised Numinus Wellness Inc. on regulatory, employment and related operational matters in its transaction to acquire Novamind Inc. and it’s US-operating subsidiaries in Utah and Arizona. Following this acquisition, Numinus now operates 13 wellness clinics, four clinical research facilities and a dedicated psychedelics research lab – positioning the company as a leading integrated mental wellness company providing ketamine- and psychedelic-assisted therapies.
				Ted Maduri Caroline Yao and Maneesha Dakha acted for venture capital firm Questa Capital in its USD $16 million Series A funding of PocketHealth, a patient-centric medical image sharing platform. Questa Capital is a venture growth equity firm focusing on investments in expansion-stage healthcare companies.
				Ted Maduri, Maneesha Dakha, Caroline Yao, and Duncan Burns-Shillington acted for Questa ‎Capital in its USD $12.5 million Series B funding of ACTO Technologies Inc., an enterprise SaaS platform for education and training for life sciences companies.
				Morgan McDonald, Doug Boggs, Kevin Fritz, Maneesha Dakha, and Josh Sved advised SE2, LLC in its ‎acquisition of Montreal-based Breathe Life, a company providing front end life insurance distribution ‎software and supported in growth by Diagram and Real Ventures.‎
				Tyson Gratton and Ryan Black assisted Silverstring Media in the development and launch of their multi-platform, philosophical, indie game, Glitchhikers: The Spaces Between. Silverstring Media is a critically-acclaimed game studio and narrative design firm.
				Mike Reid and Morgan McDonald acted for Spring IIC Investments No. 5 Ltd.’s investment into Viridis Research, and Spring IIC Investments No. 6 Ltd.’s investment into Circular Rubber Technologies, both of which closed in the first half of 2022. Each of these SPVs was formed out of Spring Activator’s Impact Investor Challenge, in which a group of investors learn about the world of impact investing, and select a target company to receive a pooled investment through a multi-round pitch competition.
				Mike Reid, Morgan McDonald and Maneesha Dakha advised TrendiTech Inc. with their $6.2M Seed 2, led by WGG Capital Canada and Florida’s Vestech Partners.  Trendi is a Canadian agri-tech startup dedicated solving the problem of food waste, by rescuing and upcycling food waste through its innovative robotics solutions.
				Morgan McDonald, Josh Sved, Ryan Black, and Maneesha Dakha advised Tru Earth Environmental ‎Products in its Series A raise led by Renewal Funds and Export Development Canada (EDC). Tru Earth is ‎an eco-friendly household product company.
				Morgan McDonald and Josh Sved assisted Wamame Foods Inc. in its seed financing round. Wamame Foods is a plant based food producer known for creating the world’s first plant-based waygu beef.
				Morgan McDonald, Ryan Black and Tyson Gratton assisted Lofi Studios in its initial seed investments ‎and launch of its WEEDGANG NFT. WEEDGANG is a multi-player ‎on-chain Defi strategy game that combines utility-based NFTs with a tokenomics model and PvP ‎gameplay.‎

With lawyers across Canada and globally, DLA Piper is strategically positioned to serve and support ‎‎emerging growth companies wherever they do business. In today's challenging environment, we ‎provide ‎a range of strategic legal services to emerging companies that are designed to ‎‎assist businesses at ‎every stage of their life cycle. ‎We work with many of the world's leading startups and emerging ‎companies, offering strategic advice on corporate transactions, IP protection, ‎commercial contracts, ‎company structuring and ‎formation, regulatory compliance, ‎advocacy and litigation, and employment ‎matters‎.

Visit our Growing your Canadian Business page or DLA Piper's Accelerate site for practical insight and actionable suggestions designed to help you grow your business at every stage of its life cycle.