Category: News

Mrs. Andrée-Lise Méthot, Founder and Managing Partner of Cycle Capital Management (Cycle Capital) is pleased to announce the arrival of Shirley E. Speakman in her team. Shirley joins Cycle Capital’s team as Partner.  “I am proud to welcome Shirley Speakman to our firm. Her ten years of corporate finance and venture capital experience combined with her unique ability to get behind the numbers represent a most valuable asset for Cycle Capital,” said Ms. Méthot.

Since 1995, Shirley has held several positions as an investment analyst for medium to large corporations in the finance sector. She participated in corporate finance transactions with a cumulative value of over $100 million while at Ernst & Young Corporate Finance and also negotiated strategic investments by RBC ventures in an early stage seed fund which raised $40 million on its first close (VIMAC/MMC), as a consultant at Igenia Venture Management. Most recently, she was responsible for sourcing, vetting and managing investments as a director for the Investment Accelerator Fund, a $40 million seed and early stage investment fund focused on investing in high potential technology-based companies in Ontario.

Shirley holds a MBA and a Bachelor of Economics and Management Studies from the University of Waterloo. She is also an accomplished triathlete, marathoner and coach.

“I am truly honoured to join the talented team at Cycle Capital. I look forward to working with this esteemed group in developing appropriate financing strategies in the clean technology sector and championing the adoption of best practices for investees and the fund,” stated Ms. Speakman.

About Cycle Capital Management

A pioneer among Canadian venture capital funds focused on the clean-tech sector, Cycle Capital invests in companies developing and commercializing clean technologies and striving to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, optimizing resource use, and improving process efficiency throughout a product’s life cycle.

With assets under management of $230 million, Cycle Capital invests in Quebec and northeastern North America. Cycle Capital is composed of experienced investment professionals, strategic advisors, and industrial partners with in-depth knowledge of the sector. Cycle Capital has a special relationship with its strategic partners, notably Brookfield Renewable Energy, Rio Tinto Alcan, Cascades, Master Group, Lonza, Gaz Métro, Systemex Énergies, Aluminerie Alouette, and Hydro-Québec.

Mrs. Andrée-Lise Méthot, Founder and Managing Partner of Cycle Capital Management (Cycle Capital) is pleased to announce the arrival of Roger Tambay in her team. Roger joins Cycle Capital’s team as Partner. “I am very proud of Roger Tambay’s arrival. The synergy between his academic trainings and his twenty years of professional experience are an undeniable asset for Cycle Capital, said Ms. Méthot.

Roger has 20 years of international multi-disciplinary experience with small, medium and large corporations, in a wide variety of highly competitive industrial sectors. In addition to his extensive hands-on turn around experience, he has created and developed over ten new materials and systems, thereby displacing competitive products or opening new markets. He held several positions at Eastman Chemical in Canada and United States and, more recently, he was responsible for Business development and operations for Balcan Plastics.

Roger holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, a MBA, and a bachelor’s degree of both civil and common laws. He is a member of the Quebec Bar association.

¨I enjoy working with entrepreneurs to help them build solid companies that are founded on privileged relationships with customers, employees, suppliers, financial partners and governmental agents. Accordingly, I am honored to join the talented and dynamic Cycle Capital Management team.¨

About Cycle Capital Management
A pioneer among Canadian venture capital funds focused on the cleantech sector, Cycle Capital invests in companies developing and commercializing clean technologies and striving to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, optimizing resource use, and improving process efficiency throughout a product’s life cycle.

With assets under management of $230 million, Cycle Capital invests in Quebec and northeastern North America. Cycle Capital is composed of experienced investment professionals, strategic advisors, and industrial partners with in-depth knowledge of the sector. Cycle Capital has a special relationship with its strategic partners, notably Brookfield Renewable Energy, Rio Tinto Alcan, Cascades, Master Group, Lonza, Gaz Métro, Systemex Énergies, Aluminerie Alouette, and Hydro-Québec.

Coming soon

Andrée-Lise Méthot, Founder and Managing Partner of Cycle Capital Management (Cycle Capital) is pleased to announce that two new strategic collaborators are joining its team, Claude Champagne and Louis Carbonneau, who bring added skills to an already accomplished team.

Entrepreneur-in-residence

Claude Champagne joins the Cycle Capital group as Entrepreneur-in-Residence. The practice of naming an entrepreneur-in-residence is popular in the United States and gradually being introduced in Canada. “I am pleased to welcome this very successful entrepreneur to our team as Entrepreneur-in-Residence. I am delighted that Claude Champagne will be sharing his vast operational experience with us,” said Ms. Méthot.

Mr. Champagne began his distinguished career in high-tech development, marketing, and corporate leadership at Nortel Networks. He founded Positron Fiber Systems Corp, a leading company in its sector, which grew rapidly and had a successful initial public offering (IPO). He has also held executive management positions at RELTEC Corp and Marconi PLC. In addition to serving on various boards and committees, he has worked in strategic advisory and mentoring roles in various high-tech companies including LxDATA, for which he became CEO.

Exclusive agreement for Canada

Currently a strategic advisor on Cycle Capital’s team, Louis Carbonneau will now devote his services in the field of clean technologies exclusively to Cycle Capital for Canada. Cycle Capital’s agreement will give the organization the advice of this internationally renowned expert in intellectual property. “The cornerstone of our clean technology investment strategy is intellectual property. This is why we are very proud to have succeeded in retaining Mr. Carbonneau’s exclusive services. I view this partnership as the key to our future success in the field,” added Ms. Méthot.

Louis Carbonneau is very familiar with all the legal aspects of intellectual property. He has 25 years of international experience in the field and was General Manager of Intellectual Property Licensing & IP Ventures at Microsoft, where he worked for 15 years. This native Quebecer began his legal career in Montreal in 1988, and became general counsel for Softimage in 1995. Since 2011, he has been CEO of Tangible IP, LLC, a patent brokering and strategic IP advisory firm that he founded. For the second consecutive year, Mr. Carbonneau recently earned the prestige of being named one of the World’s Leading Intellectual Property Strategists, an honour attributed to only 300 individuals worldwide by the British publication Intellectual Asset Management (IAM).

About Cycle Capital Management

A pioneer among Canadian venture capital funds focused on the cleantech sector, Cycle Capital invests in companies developing and commercializing clean technologies and striving to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, optimizing resource use, and improving process efficiency throughout a product’s life cycle.

With assets under management of $230 million, Cycle Capital invests in Quebec and northeastern North America. Cycle Capital is composed of experienced investment professionals, strategic advisors, and industrial partners with in-depth knowledge of the sector. Cycle Capital has a special relationship with its strategic partners, notably Brookfield Renewable Energy, Rio Tinto Alcan, Cascades, Master Group, Lonza, Gaz Métro, Systemex Énergies, Aluminerie Alouette, and Hydro-Québec.

Information:

Andrée-Lise Méthot

514-865-3620

Cycle Capital Management (CCM) today announced the launch of Cycle Capital Fund III L.P. (Fund III), a new venture capital fund in the clean technology sector, which targets companies at the commercialization stage. The announcement was made by Andrée-Lise Méthot,
Founder and Managing Partner of Cycle Capital, accompanied by Quebec Premier Pauline Marois and Minister of Finance and the Economy Nicolas Marceau.

The Cycle Capital Fund III will invest in sectors involving energy efficiency, green agriculture and chemistry, industrial applications, transportation, clean energy and fuels, and waste upgrading and transformation. Cycle Capital favours projects with the highest performance that help improve process efficiency.

Thanks to the participation of the Government of Quebec, which is contributing $50 million through its authorized representative, Investissement Québec, and several committed partners, including Teralys Capital, Hydro-Québec, Aluminerie Alouette, Fondaction CSN, Cascades, Gaz Métro, and Cycle Capital associates, this fund has reached a total of $108 million.

“We are proud to once again succeed in bringing together partners from the institutional and industrial sectors to create Fund III. We are thrilled by the renewed confidence of our partners and the outstanding contribution of the Government of Quebec, which have encouraged us to pursue our investment efforts,” said Andrée-Lise Méthot.

“As the data on world venture capital shows, the clean technology sector is one of the most promising. Quebec is not being left behind, because it is also participating in this international movement and helping build solid businesses, prepared to confront the world challenges that await us,” concluded Méthot.

“Thanks to this new fund, added to the two existing funds, Cycle Capital now offers the most comprehensive financing in Quebec to effectively support the launch of innovative companies in the clean technology sector. We are pleased to support this major partner in the development of a sector that will help determine the success of Quebec in the long term,” added Jacques Bernier, Managing Partner at Teralys Capital.

Andrée-Lise Méthot, Founder and Managing Partner of Cycle Capital Management (Cycle Capital) is pleased to announce that Claude Vachet has joined her team as Managing Partner.

Les Affaires in partnership with Desjardins Group launch “Women Business Personality.”

This is a series that puts forward the course leaders who are not in the limelight but whose accomplishments are no less exceptional.

Discover this week Andrée-Lise Methot, founder and principal partner, Cycle Capital Management.

Cycle Capital Management (CCM) has announced a new investment for Seed Fund Cycle-C3E, LP: $1.3 million in Lufa Farms Inc., an urban farming company.

This new company, headed by a dynamic young entrepreneur who has captured the interest of angel investors in Canada, New Zealand and the U.S., favourably meets the business model sought by Cycle Capital. For Andrée-Lise Méthot, Founder and Senior Partner of Cycle Capital Management (CCM) Inc., “This decision represents an innovative investment that will have significant impact as it changes the way in which we produce and consume in a sector as vital as the food industry. The future of technologies also depends on solutions that will make it possible to feed large urban centres by efficiently using local and cutting-edge production methods, and that’s what Lufa Farms offers.”

The company is building two additional farms in the Montreal area and is planning more in Toronto, Boston, New York, and Chicago. “Our new facilities will clearly establish us as the strongest and most advanced fresh-food farm operator in the urban agriculture arena by putting well over 200,000 square feet of rooftops under cultivation,” said Mohammed Hage, CEO of Lufa Farms. “When we’ve completed this round, more than 5,000 families will be buying freshly harvested, high-quality fruits, vegetables and herbs from Lufa Farms every week.”

Moreover, for Dave Furneaux, cofounder, chairman of the board and investor in Lufa Farms through Furneaux Capital, LLC, “Producing food in urban centres is a big idea with massive positive benefits to the world. After spending two years learning about the state of the urban farming and food production movement, it became clear to me that Lufa Farms has the lead and the most advanced and innovative food production platform, the right business model, and a vision for future global expansion.”

Ms. Élaine Zakaïb, Minister for Industrial Policy and the Banque de développement économique du Québec, was also excited by this news. “I firmly believe in economic development that respects the fundamental principles of sustainable development, and I intend to carry this vision forward. The Lufa Farms project is completely in line with our government’s strategy. It is an innovative initiative that’s part of the current urban farming trend. Lufa Farms’ executives clearly show that it is possible to create economic growth with a responsible, green approach. It’s now up to us to export this technology worldwide,” said Ms. Zakaïb.

About Lufa Farms

Lufa Farms is a Quebec-based urban farming enterprise that grows fresh vegetables in rooftop greenhouses located in cities. The company created the world’s first commercial-scale rooftop greenhouse farm in 2010 on the roof of a commercial office building in Montreal’s Ahuntsic-Cartierville area. In its first year of operation, the farm produced more than 250 tons of fresh, herbicide-free, pesticide-free and fungicide-free fresh produce. The vegetables grown by Lufa Farms are harvested daily and delivered directly to area consumers.

About Cycle Capital Management (CCM) Inc.

Cycle Capital is a pioneer among Canadian venture capital funds focused on the cleantech sector. The fund invests in companies developing and commercializing clean technologies and projects in renewable energy generation that are focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, optimizing resources use, and decreasing impacts over their entire life cycle.

With nearly $125 million under management, Cycle Capital invests primarily in Northeastern North America. The fund has assembled a team of investment professionals, advisors and strategic partners, internationally respected for their combined experience in building, nurturing and growing world-class companies. Cycle Capital benefits from a privileged relationship with its strategic partners including Brookfield Renewable Power, Rio Tinto Alcan, Cascades, The Master Group L.P., Lonza, Gaz Métro, Systemex Energies and the Center of Excellence in Energy Efficiency (C3E).

At the annual meeting of Anges Québec, Cycle Capital Management (CCM) Inc. announced the new Launch Pad Program, as part of the Cycle-C3E Seed Fund’s activities. This measure allows Cycle-C3E to invest, under certain conditions, an initial amount of up to $ 75,000 in a business that has submitted a Cleantech project demonstrating commercial potential but does not yet qualify for a more significant investment. The program’s main objective is to support third party validation of the technology and intellectual property. In some situations, this approach could enable Cycle Capital to participate in angel investor rounds which are commonplace for businesses at this stage.