Canadian investors Extreme Venture Partners, OMERS Ventures, Rho Canada Ventures, BlackBerry Partners Fund and BDC have co-invested $7 million in a new accelerator program called Extreme Startups. Companies in the program will receive up to $200,000, including an initial investment of $50,000, with up to $150,000 in a convertible note provided by BDC. PRESS RELEASE [...]

Catalog Spree, maker of a catalog shopping app for the iPad, has sealed $6.1 million in Series A funding. Comcast Ventures led the round, with participation from BlackBerry Partners Fund and El Dorado Ventures.

Blackberry Partners Fund, which recently staged its fourth annual “Developers Challenge” has announced the list of winners. The apps are judged on how well they integrate into the Blackberry platform, along with their visual appeal, the user experience they offer, and how creative they are. PRESS RELEASE: BlackBerry Partners Fund today announced the winners of [...]

Mobile and connected device service provider mDialog has closed a $5 million series A round of funding led by the BlackBerry Partners Fund.

Venture investors iNovia Capital, the Business Development Bank of Canada and BlackBerry Partners Fund have teamed up to launch a Vancouver-based accelerator program called GrowLab, the firms announced Thursday. Dubbed a “start-up boot camp” for entrepreneurs, participating companies can seal up to $25,000 in seed financing, four months of mentorship, free office space and the opportunity to pitch investors at the end of the program for follow-on funding.

BlackBerry Partners Fund has led a $2 million “seed” investment in the Toronto-based games publisher Fuse Powered. NFQ Ventures also participated in the financing. Fuse produces iOS games “Dawn of the Dead,” “Jaws,” and “Swarm Killer.” The deal marks the second time that BlackBerry Partners Fund has backed a game developer that’s focused on the [...]

Toronto-based BlackBerry Partners Fund is launching a $3 million Blackberry ‘Developer Challenge.’ It is the fund’s fourth annual event for Blackberry developers, though the award represents twice the amount offered to applicants last year. Full details follow below. PRESS RELEASE: BlackBerry Partners Fund™ has launched today the fourth annual BlackBerry Partners Fund Developer Challenge. This [...]

Earlier this week, Nihal Mehta (pictured) announced he launched LocalResponse, a New York-based developer of a Web-based tool that allows local businesses to respond to check-in posts on social media sites with tailored marketing campaigns. Mehta co-founded the company, previously known as Buzzd, as a social city guide for location-based services. The company had raised about [...]

Austin-based mobile commerce start-up Digby has raised $8 million in Series C financing. Battery Ventures led the round, which included funding from BlackBerry Partners Fund, S3 Ventures and Daylight Partners. Digby focuses on mobile commerce products for retailers, and will use the money to bolster sales, marketing, research and platform development.

Mobile payment start-up Payfone has added $19 million in strategic funding from American Express, Verizon Investments Inc., Rogers Ventures, and from existing shareholders Opus Capital, BlackBerry Partners Fund and RRE Ventures. The money is designed to help Payfone continue product development and global expansion. Formed in 2008, Payfone’s technology is designed to make mobile phones a preferred way to make online payments, opening up payment options to the non-credit-card world and bridging the gap in emerging markets, the company says.