Smartphone pioneer BlackBerry Ltd announced its intention to divest most of its real estate holdings in Canada through sale-leaseback and vacant asset sales in an effort to turnaround its fortunes.
Deals
San Francisco HR platform Zenefits raises $15M in funding
San Francisco, US-based insurance broker Zenefits raised $15 million in funding to improve the development, sales, and marketing of its product that makes administrative tasks easier.
VC Funding in Smart Grid Reaches $405 Million in 2013, Reports Mercom Capital Group
Mercom Capital Group, llc released its report on funding and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity for the smart grid sector for 2013.
San Francisco's Docker bags $15M in funding for open-source app-building tool
San Francisco, California-based open-source app deployment project Docker bagged $15 million in a new funding round from Greylock Partners and Insight Venture Partners to help developers build applications faster.
Troubled Missouri data storage firm IceWEB eyes capital raising
Kansas City, Missouri-based troubled data storage firm IceWEB Inc plans to sell equity securities to raise capital increase sales of its products and services in order to continue its operations.
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Former ACT chief executive officer (CEO) Richard Ferguson and Cramer Development CEO and founder Josh Cramer separately invested undisclosed sums in Coraville, Iowa-based education startup Higher Learning Technologies (HLT).
Tokyo, Japan-based multinational imaging and electronics company Ricoh has entered an agreement to acquire Massachusetts, US-based IT services provider mindSHIFT Technologies Inc from Best Buy Co Inc for an undisclosed amount.
Johannesburg, South Africa-based independent retirement fund administrator Alexander Forbes Ltd sold its 60% holding in Lane Clark & Peacock's Swiss unit for an undisclosed sum last year, ahead of a 2014 initial public offering (IPO).
Canada's Waterloo region posted a substantial rise in venture capital funds, with the creation of Open Text Applications Venture Fund and the Northleaf Venture Catalyst Fund, TheRecord.com reported.
Research from Mercom Capital Group showed that venture capital funding for companies in the smart grid technology sector was pegged at $405 million in 2013, a dip from the $434 million in 2012.
Burlingame, California-based car buying service CarWoo! posted an announcement on its website saying the company will be shutting down, with some of its employees heading to rival TrueCar.
San Francisco, US-based mail startup Outbox is shutting down its mail digitizing service because of low count of paying customers signing up for it, and will instead focus on a new yet-undisclosed product.
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has unveiled a new public-private venture capital fund known as Northleaf Venture Catalyst Fund for the province's tech sector, CBCNews reported.
Bangalore, India-based rural education services provider Hippocampus Learning Centres (HLC) raised $600,000 (INR3.5 crore) from existing institutional investors to expand its network in the next financial year.
