Early-stage venture capital firm White Star Capital has closed its second fund at $180m with commitments from utility Veolia, insurance provider La Capitale and airport operator ADP, TechCrunch reported yesterday.
Video game publisher Ubisoft and IT company Unisys, through its corporate venturing arm Canal Ventures, are also among the limited partners.
Investors further include several government-backed entities, including Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Fonds de solidarité FTQ, Business Development Bank of Canada, Korea Venture Investment Corporation and Investissement Québec.
Arkea Group, Mizuho Securities, Swen Capital Partners, Isomer Capital, Walter Financial, Clerville Investment Management, Temaris Capital, Simone Investments and Portag3 Ventures are also among the limited partners.
White Star Capital, which already operates offices in London, New York and Montreal, will open locations in Paris and Tokyo as part of the latest fundraising effort. Matthieu Lattes has been hired to lead the Paris office, while Shun Nagao will lead the Tokyo office.
The fund had an initial target of $140m.
The firm will invest in approximately 20 companies, providing between $1m and $6m to each portfolio company. It will focus on businesses that are gearing up to expand on the respective other side of the Atlantic, with a particular interest in fintech, disruptive commerce, algorithms and sensors.
White Star has already backed eight companies through the second fund, including fintech companies Borrowell and Clark, digital manufacturing platform Vention, photography marketplace Meero and dog food subscription service Butternut Box.
Digital health companies Echo and Dialogue have also secured capital, as has data-as-a-service provider Unacast.
White Star previously closed its first fund at $70m in 2015, which has grown to a portfolio of 26 startups.