Caisse investing in U.S. subscription commerce platform
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, alongside existing investors, is investing $US185 million in subscription commerce platform AppDirect Inc.
The funding brings the total equity raised to about $US465 million. Since its first funding round in 2015, the U.S.-based company has experienced tremendous growth, increasing gross merchandise value more than 1,500 per cent, expanding its global footprint and servicing more than 2,000 merchants around the globe. According to a press release, the new funding supports will accelerate organic expansion, strategic acquisitions and additional hiring.
Read: Caisse participating in financing round for Quebec payment-tech provider
“AppDirect has established itself as the global leader in the application market for cloud services delivery,” said Thomas Birch, the Caisse’s global managing director of venture capital and technology. “They are experiencing rapid growth and the quality of its client network illustrates the success of its model. AppDirect plays a key role in simplifying the digitalization of businesses through cloud services and CDPQ’s investment will contribute to the acceleration of its growth plan.”
The AppDirect platform currently powers millions of subscriptions worldwide, for companies like ADP Inc., Deutsche Telekom, Honeywell International Inc., Keller Williams Realty and Vodafone Group.
Read: OMERS to acquire e-commerce company
In other investment news, the Desjardins Group pension plan and Desjardins Financial Security are partnering with Connor, Clark & Lunn Infrastructure to acquire a majority stake in a portfolio of U.S. renewable power assets from EDP Renováveis.
EDPR has developed four wind farms currently in operation and one construction-stage solar farm, all located in Indiana, Ohio, Oklahoma and Wisconsin. It will stay on as a minority shareholder and continue to operate and manage the farms.
“Our latest investment in renewable energy is another great example of how Desjardins contributes to communities and supports sustainable prosperity and how committed we are to green energy,” said Guy Cormier, president and chief executive officer of Desjardins Group, in a press release. “We’re so proud of how our organization worked together through the pandemic to complete this transaction. Every sector is committed to speeding up the energy transition and the pace will only get faster from here.”
Read: CPPIB to purchase Ontario-based renewable energy projects