Technology IPOs may be sluggish in 2016

Canadian technology initial public offerings are on track to slow down in 2016 amid turmoil in North American markets and some bigger names taking more time to prepare for a share sale, said John Ruffolo, chief executive officer of OMERS Ventures. Hootsuite Media Inc., the Vancouver-based social media start-up, and education technology firm D2L Corp. will probably wait until at least 2017 before they go public, according to Ruffolo, who runs the venture arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System pension plan, an investor in both companies. Others, such as Builddirect.com Technologies Inc., may be even further out, he added. Vision Critical Communications Inc. is the most likely candidate in the OMERS Ventures portfolio to debut in 2016. The Vancouverbased marketing-software company has already hired the Bank of Montreal to prepare for a potential stock sale. Vision Critical is looking to sell its consulting business before it approaches the public markets early next year.