UPDATE 2-OMERS tech fund raises C$260 million from Cisco, Bank of Montreal

(Adds context on previous funding)
By John Tilak and Euan Rocha
TORONTO, Aug 17 (Reuters) - OMERS Ventures, one of Canada's
biggest venture-capital firms, said on Monday it has raised
about C$260 million ($200 million) for a second fund to invest
mainly in early-stage technology companies.
Lead investors in the fund are Bank of Montreal BMO.TO ,
Cisco Systems CSCO.O and the Ontario Municipal Employees
Retirement System (OMERS), parent of OMERS Ventures.
The funding comes almost four years after OMERS Ventures
raised C$210 million in its first round.
Investments in the Canadian technology industry have been
gathering momentum in recent months, driven by a steady stream
of funding and capital-raising.
Canadian venture capital investments soared to C$1.19
billion in the first half of 2015, a 33 percent increase from
the first half of last year and the strongest first half since
2002, according to data from Thomson Reuters.
"This second fund validates the opportunities that OMERS and
our partners, Cisco and BMO, see in the Canadian innovation
landscape," OMERS Ventures Chief Executive John Ruffolo said.
The initial public offering of Canadian e-commerce company
Shopify Inc SH.TO in May was one of the highlights in the
Canadian market this year.
OMERS Ventures invested in Shopify before its IPO and was
one of the big winners from the offering. Shopify's shares were
priced at $17 in the United States in May and have doubled in
value since then.
"We are very bullish on the Canadian technology sector,"
said David Wismer, managing director at BMO Capital Markets.
"(The) second fund is an important example of more capital being
made available to help grow Canadian technology companies."
BMO led Kinaxis KXS.TO in an initial public offering last
year and has also advised Hootsuite and Real Matters in their
funding rounds.
Companies in the OMERS Ventures portfolio include
BuildDirect, Hootsuite, Vision Critical, Wattpad and
Desire2Learn.
($1=$1.31 Canadian)