BEST Capital acquiring Axis labour-sponsored VC fund

BEST Capital Management Ltd is acquiring Axis Capital Corp (formerly Starting Startups), an Ottawa-based labour-sponsored venture capital fund (LSVCF). Axis has $14 million under management and has $9.5 million invested in nine companies including Liquid Computing Corp, Elliptic Semiconductor Inc, Gridiron Software Inc, and Pointshot Wireless Inc. BEST has about $60 million in assets through its Business, Engineering, Science & Technology Discoveries Fund and BEST Total Return Fund. The purchase of Axis marks the complete exist of Dr Calvin Stiller from the LSVCF sector. Stiller previously sold his interest in several funds to MDS Capital Corp and GrowthWorks Capital (R$, September 2/05). Shares of BEST Capital Management are owned or controlled by John Richardson, who also serves as president....