Canada's Venture Capital & Private Equity Association partners with Cambridge Associates to develop Canadian private equity and venture capital performance data

TORONTO AND BOSTON, Jan. 29, 2014 /CNW/ - Canada's Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (the "CVCA") and Cambridge Associates ("Cambridge") are pleased to announce a partnership to develop new venture capital and private equity benchmark performance data and statistics for the Canadian marketplace and the CVCA.

Over the past three years the CVCA has been being looking at ways to improve both the breadth and depth of the performance data available on Canadian PE and VC fund performance. As part of that evaluation process, the CVCA identified Cambridge Associates, a global provider of independent research and advisor to institutional and private clients, as one of the market leaders in this sector. Cambridge derives PE and VC benchmarks from the financial information in its proprietary database of institutional-quality PE and VC funds, one of the largest such data repositories in the world.

"The CVCA is pleased that we have entered into this partnership with Cambridge Associates as part of the Association's commitment to creating the deepest, broadest and most accurate PE and VC Canadian benchmark data and statistics.  Our goal is to make this information available to all members of the CVCA and to ensure that the CVCA always has the most accurate and timely information available for it members and other stakeholders in the ecosystem," said Peter van der Velden, President of the CVCA and Managing General Partner of Lumira Capital Corp.  "One of the nice incremental benefits of the relationship with Cambridge is that they are also a leading investment advisor to foundations and endowments, private wealth, and corporate and government entities and they are therefore a potentially important resource for our GP members as they seek to raise new capital.  As a result, while completely voluntary, we strongly urge all GPs to participate in this new initiative through the provision of quarterly performance data to Cambridge."

Richard Carson, Director of Benchmark Services at Cambridge Associates, added: "We are always working to expand and deepen our geographic coverage and to deliver benchmarks that can serve as valuable decision-making tools for investors and managers. Accordingly, we are delighted to be working with the CVCA to support Canada's vibrant PE and VC sectors."

Cambridge Associates will provide the data to CVCA as a service to its members and the global PE and VC industry overall. Returns data will be disguised and aggregated to protect the confidentiality of individual funds and their underlying portfolio investments.  Cambridge has similar relationships with a number of other prominent industry associations, including the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA), Australian Private Equity & Venture Capital Association Limited (AVCAL); the African Venture Capital Association (AVCA); the Hong Kong Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (HKVCA); the Indian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (IVCA); the New Zealand Private Equity & Venture Capital Association Inc. (NZVCA); the Asia Pacific Real Estate Association (APREA); and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). Cambridge also provides data and analysis to the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association (EMPEA).

About CVCA

The CVCA, Canada's Venture Capital & Private Equity Association, was founded in 1974 and is the association that represents Canada's venture capital and private equity industry. Its over 2000 members are firms and organizations which manage the majority of Canada's pools of capital designated to be committed to venture capital and private equity investments. The CVCA fosters professional development, networking, communication, research and education within the venture capital and private equity sector and represents the industry in public policy matters. www.cvca.ca

About Cambridge Associates

Founded in 1973, Cambridge Associates is a provider of independent investment advice and research to institutional investors and private clients worldwide. Today the firm serves over 950 global investors and delivers a range of services, including investment consulting, outsourced portfolio solutions, research services and tools (Research Navigator^sm and Benchmark Calculator), and performance monitoring, across asset classes. The firm compiles the performance results for over 5,400 private partnerships and their more than 68,000 portfolio company investments to publish its proprietary private investments benchmarks, of which the Cambridge Associates LLC U.S. Venture Capital Index® and Cambridge Associates LLC U.S. Private Equity Index® are widely considered to be among the standard benchmark statistics for these asset classes.  Cambridge Associates has more than 1,100 employees serving its client base globally and maintains offices in Arlington, VA; Boston; Dallas; Menlo Park, CA; London; Singapore; Sydney; and Beijing. Cambridge Associates consists of five global investment consulting affiliates that are all under common ownership and control. For more information about Cambridge Associates, please visit www.cambridgeassociates.com.

SOURCE: CVCA - Canada's Venture Capital & Private Equity Association

Media Contacts:

Frank Lentini, Sommerfield Communications, Inc.
[phone] / [email protected]

Lauren Linton, CVCA
[phone] / [email protected]