VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Ontario, Canada-based social reading community Wattpad pocketed $48 million in its Series C funding from its existing investors to expand its workforce and develop its product.

Belfast, Ireland-based home-brewing firm Cargo bagged £82,000 in funding from Invest North Ireland (NI) for the development and marketing of its smartphone-controlled beer-making robot Brewbot.

Cupertino, US-based smartphone giant Apple launched its iPhone trade-in program in Germany to allow its customers to purchase a new iPhone at a discounted price when they trade in a qualifying old device.

Barcelona, Spain-based online voting firm Scytl pocketed a $40 million investment from Palo Alto, US-based growth equity fund Vulcan Capital for its research and development as well as strategic acquisitions.

California, US-based e-learning platform Lynda.com added Halifax, Canada-based coding platform Compilr in a deal valued at $20 million to expand its video-based courses and services.

Ontario, Canada-based non-profit research organiztion Centre for Research and Innovation in the Bio-Economy (CRIBE) invested C$1.5 million to increase the annual capacity of renewable liquid fuels producer Ensyn Technologies from 3 million liters to 13 million liters.

British Columbia, Canadian vertical farming firm Vertical Designs Ltd acquired a 10% stake in marijuana industry-focused publicly traded firm Affinor Resources for an undisclosed amount.

Canoe Financial LP (the "Manager" or "Canoe") announced today that it has completed the second and final closing for the initial public offering (the "Offering") of limited partnership units ("Units") of Canoe 2014 Flow-Through LP (the "Partnership") in each of the provinces of Canada, except Quebec.

BlackBerry's new chief John Chen revealed that its messaging app BBM now has 85 million monthly active users and a steady growth in its user base after the app was released to the Android and iOS platform in October.

Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry Ltd sued former executive vice-president Sebastien Marineau-Mes for breach of contract when he resigned to transfer to Apple in a case where the court ruled in favor of BlackBerry.

San Jose, Costa Rica-based healthy food startup Natural Sins sells baked snacks made of real fruits and vegetables in a bid to help fight obesity.

Montreal, Canada-based pension fund manager Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (La Caisse) invested $40 million to support the growth of Quebec-based professional services firm WSP Global, formerly Genivar, despite damaging issues about the company.

Ontario, Canada-based smartphone pioneer BlackBerry sold its Riverside Commons office campus in Las Colinas, Texas to Canadian investor Brookfield Property Group for an undisclosed amount.

Johannesburg, South Africa-based banking network Nedbank Capital is looking for new mining investment destinations in Africa, aside from gold explorations in Tanzania, Ghana, and Burkina Faso.

Toronto, Canada-based accelerator Bitcoin Decentral launched Bitcoin Decentral Accerate, the first Bitcoin startup accelerator in the world, which is now accepting online applications from startups.