KnowCharge Sues the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation and First Angel Network
Fredericton-based KnowCharge Inc. is suing the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation, the First Angel Network, and some of their current and former officers, seeking $11 million in damages.
KnowCharge, a 10-year-old company that makes static-electricity-resistant packaging for the electronics industry, filed the suit last month in the Court of Queen’s Bench in Fredericton, naming five defendants: NBIF; FAN; Ross Finlay, a Co-Founder and Director of FAN; NBIF Chief Executive Calvin Milbury; and Joe Allen, who was NBIF’s Director of Investments until December 2017, and now heads the accelerator programs at University of New Brunswick.
The court document alleges that Milbury, Finlay and Allen breached their fiduciary responsibilities to KnowCharge and that the funding organizations enabled them. The 94-clause filing details the relationship of the parties over the past nine years, during which time NBIF invested $700,000 in the company and FAN members $438,831.
“Litigation is always a last resort, but unfortunately all attempts (over several years) to resolve amicably were not only rebuffed, but positions have hardened,” said KnowCharge CEO Rob Morrow in an email to Entrevestor last week.
Finlay and NBIF Chair Cathy Simpson (speaking on behalf of the Foundation, Milbury and Allen) declined to comment, saying the matter is now before the court.
Read more about this story in Entrevestor.