Whitecap Venture Partners Congratulates Real Matters on its IPO

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - May 11, 2017) - Whitecap Venture Partners congratulates the entire team at Real Matters (TSX:REAL) on its Initial Public Offering (IPO). Real Matters, the leading network management services platform for the mortgage and insurance industries, began trading today, a month after announcing its intention to go public. Real Matters raised approximately C$156.7-million in the IPO from the sale of 12-million common shares at C$13.00 per share, giving the company a valuation in excess of C$1 billion.

Whitecap participated in eight financing rounds in Real Matters prior to the company's IPO, beginning with a seed investment in 2007 when Real Matters had less than a million dollars in revenue.

"It's been two years since we've seen a Canadian technology IPO of this magnitude. This is just the beginning for Real Matters as Jason and his team continue their mission to build a world class technology company in Canada," said Carey Diamond, Partner at Whitecap Venture Partners.

"From the nascent beginnings of Real Matters, Whitecap quickly understood our value proposition and more importantly where it could evolve. They supported us both with their capital and their expertise, through both good and difficult times - in short, they've been great partners. To this day, Whitecap Partner Blaine Hobson is a trusted advisor and continues to add tremendous value as Chairman of the company," said Jason Smith, CEO & Founder of Real Matters. Jason Smith has been a member of the Whitecap Venture Partners Fund III advisory board since 2015. Blaine Hobson has been a board member of Real Matters since 2008, and was appointed Chairman in 2016.

"Our firm has deep historical ties to the real estate industry. That, along with our past investment experience in the market (Whitecap participated in Teranet's seed funding round), helped open our eyes to the opportunity Real Matters represented," said Diamond. "We recognize the hard work that Jason and his entire team have put in to make Real Matters one of the leading players in the US mortgage appraisal market. It's fitting that Real Matters is the first company in our third fund (Whitecap Venture Partners Fund III) to go public."

For additional insights into the history of Whitecap's investments in Real Matters, read this blog post.

About Whitecap Venture Partners

Whitecap Venture Partners is a $100M Toronto based early stage venture capital fund investing in high growth companies across three verticals: Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Med Tech and Food Tech. Our team of operators and investment professionals have partnered for over 25 years with entrepreneurs in verticals where they have deep domain expertise and can bring significant operational and strategic value to companies. Additional information is available at www.whitecapvp.com.