Canada-based venture capital firm Real Ventures closed a C$180m ($140m) fundraising effort yesterday backed by internet company Tencent to launch two new funds.
The firm attracted more than 60 limited partners to raise the money, with Singapore state-owned investment firm Temasek also among the backers.
LPs also include BDC Capital, the investment arm of state-owned economic development agency Business Development Bank of Canada, HarbourVest and Teralys Capital.
The majority of the cash will be put into a $116.7m fund aimed at seed and early-stage businesses across Canada in a range of sectors such as artificial intelligence and blockchain.
The remaining $23.3m will go towards OrbitMTL, a pre-seed-stage vehicle backed by provincial government-owned pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, investment firm Investissement Québec and development capital organisation Fonds de solidarité FTQ.
Real Ventures is initially focusing on Montreal for its Orbit program, but hopes to expand the same approach to other cities in future. OrbitMITL will donate a 20% carried interest to Osmo Foundation, a non-profit aimed at supporting Montreal’s innovation ecosystem.
Founded in 2007, Real Ventures now has more than C$330m under management. The firm also operates two accelerator programs, FounderFuel and Techstars Toronto.
John Stokes, partner at Real Ventures, said: “We are big believers that brains do not stop at the US border, but historically early-stage capital has.
“These new pools of capital mean that we will not only be able to invest in more Canadian companies, but be their trusted investment partner for an extended period of their life-cycle.”