Brightspark Ventures, a Montreal and Toronto, Canada-based venture capital firm, announced the first close of its Brightspark Canadian Opportunities Fund II (BCOF II), with commitments of $75m.
Investors in the new fund include leading Canadian institutional investors, including Desjardins Capital, Investissement Québec, Fonds de solidarité FTQ, Fondaction, Fonds québécois d’amorçage Teralys financed by CDPQ and Royal Bank of Canada (RBC as investor, with banking support by RBCx), as well as individual investors and family offices from the Brightspark network.
With a target of up to $120m, BCOF II represents Brightspark’s largest VC fund to date.
BCOF II focuses primarily on pre-Series A opportunities in early stage transformational technology companies with a particular focus on those with high level leadership, market redefining value propositions, and unique intellectual property.
In 2020, Brightspark capitalized on investment opportunities in the Canadian technology market by raising $65m for Brightspark Canadian Opportunities Fund I (BCOF I). From this fund, Brightspark has invested in 12 companies across Canada, including: DrugBank, Elevate Farms, Optable, and Potloc.
BCOF II is now Brightspark’s fourth traditional institutional VC fund with a standard venture investing structure. This fund is complementary to the firm’s special purpose vehicle (SPV) investing model, which has invested in 21 Canadian tech companies representing a current cumulative value of $150 million. Brightspark’s SPV investment model, with over 500 active Canadian investors, continues to invest alongside BCOF I and II.
With this closing, Brightspark now has over $500m under management in Canadian tech companies.
FinSMEs
04/05/2023