The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, along with several other investors, has raised $180 million for Canadian venture capital firm Real Ventures, bringing its total funds under management to $330 million.
Along with the new investment, repeat funding is coming from the Business Development Bank of Canada, Investissement Quebec Inc. and Teralys Capital, with new allocations from HarbourVest Partners, and Asia-headquartered investors, Tencent Holdings Inc. and Temasek Holdings.
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With the new injection of capital, Real Ventures plans to implement three separate strategies. First, it will allow new companies to use the firm’s owned or affiliated accelerator programs, FounderFuel and Techstars Toronto. Second, the newly formed OrbitMTL fund will provide funding and support for pre-seed companies. And third, early-stage companies will have access to increased capital.
Over the last decade, Real Ventures has helped a number of Canadian startups, including Breather, Frank and Oak, League, Password Box, Planora Inc., SweetIQ Analytics Corp., Universe and Vrvana Inc.
“We’re big believers that brains don’t stop at the U.S. border, but historically early-stage capital has,” said John Stokes, a Montreal-based partner of Real Ventures, in a news release. “These new pools of capital mean that we’ll not only be able to invest in more Canadian companies, but be their trusted investment partner for an extended period of their life cycle.”
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Of the $180 million, $30 million will go to the OrbitMTL fund and $150 million will go towards the already established, early-stage strategy. “Companies need different levels of support at different phases of their development,” said Janet Bannister, a Toronto-based partner at Real Ventures. “The amount of investment and guidance must match the stage in the life cycle of the company and our new capital and strategies will enable us to help guide stellar Canadian companies through the next stages of their evolution.”