Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec Launches $250M AI Fund

artificial intelligence - roboticsCaisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) has created a a $250m fund dedicated to Québec businesses with a proven track record in artificial intelligence.

Managed by CDPQ’s Venture Capital and Technology team, The CDPQ–AI Fund aims to ramp up growth in businesses whose product offerings are based on the development of AI, and to accelerate the commercialization of artificial intelligence solutions.

The vehicle will serve technology companies that have developed demonstrably sound business models and shown a capacity for continued strong growth. They will need to have a well-established management team as well as a dedicated team with AI experience.

Over the years, CDPQ has invested in many venture capital firms (iNovia, Real Ventures, BrightSpark, White Star Capital, Relay Ventures, Georgian Parners, RV Orbit, Luge Capital, InnovExport, Anges Québec Capital, CTI Life Sciences and Lumira Ventures) that target artificial intelligence companies in the startup phase.
In 2018, this co-investment strategy, combined with a CDPQ-sponsored venture capital fund, has resulted in CDPQ making direct investments in AI businesses, such as Hopper (fund: BrightSpark), TrackTik (fund: iNovia), or even Breather (fund: Real Ventures).
The CDPQ-AI Fund will be used for new transactions of this kind.

Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) is a long-term institutional investor that manages funds primarily for public and parapublic pension and insurance plans.

FinSMEs

18/03/2019

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