Omers Ventures, the venture capital arm of Canada-based pension fund Omers, closed its second fund at $260m yesterday after securing capital from limited partners including networking technology provider Cisco.
US-based Cisco provided its share of the capital through its Cisco Investments unit and was joined by financial services firm BMO Financial Group.
Omers is one of Canada’s largest pension funds, with more than $72bn of assets under management. Omers Ventures, which was established in 2011, invests in technology, media and telecommunications companies from angel to late stage.
John Ruffolo, CEO of Omers Ventures, said: “We are proud to be working with BMO and Cisco Investments, our valued co-investors in Fund II. The closing of the fund is a positive signal for Canada’s tech sector, and shows the strong interest of private capital in partnering with innovative technology entrepreneurs.”
Omers Ventures’ past investments include mobile commerce platform Shopify, which went public in May this year and currently has a market cap of $2.6bn, as well as social media management platform Hootsuite, which raised capital at an $800m valuation in September 2014.
Cisco committed the funds as part of a $150m investment drive in the Canadian technology sector. It was also among the LPs of the latest fund raised by Canada-based growth equity firm Georgian Partners.
Bernadette Wightman, president of Cisco Canada, said: “Cisco is committed to helping drive the development of a thriving technology ecosystem in Canada.
“We believe our investment in Omers Ventures will foster further innovation, entrepreneurship and digitisation, and help Canada capitalise on new areas of opportunity.”