Portag3 Ventures, an investment vehicle formed by financial conglomerate Power Corporation, has supplied an undisclosed amount to anchor a C$55m ($40.3m) fund launched by Canada-based investment firm and incubator Diagram Ventures.
Founded in 2016, Diagram Ventures provides venture capital investment and incubator-style support to companies developing financial, insurance and healthcare-focused technology.
Limited partners in the firm’s second fund also include more than 75 angel investors and family offices, including Mark Britto, executive vice-president of global sales and credit for payment processor PayPal, and Henri de Castries, the former chief executive of insurer Axa Global.
Bruce Heyman, the former US Ambassador to Canada and a former partner at investment bank Goldman Sachs, is also an LP in the fund, along with Angela Strange, Andrew Chisholm, Charles Goldman, Nicole Junkermann and Anatol von Hahn.
Portag3 Ventures backed Diagram’s C$30m ($25m) debut fund in 2017 alongside several private investors. That vehicle has made five investments to date, backing online healthcare platform Dialogue, employee management software provider Collage, insurance software developer Breathe Life, online mortgage platform Nesto and blockchain app maker Dfuse.
Francois Lafortune, co-founder and chief executive of Diagram, said: “With the support of our anchor investor, Portag3 Ventures, Diagram has rapidly gained a strong level of investor interest both in Canada and internationally, leading us to exceed our initial fundraising target of C$50m in less than six months.
“We are thrilled and honoured with the quality of investors in our second fund. This is a reflection of the quality of the entrepreneurs Diagram has attracted and the success of the companies we co-created with them.”