BDC today announced an additional $50-million injection into its Seed Venture Fund.
The See Venture Fund is dedicated to supporting emerging Canadian startups with the funding they need to bring their vision to life, to help them scale and become tomorrow’s global champions.
The fund focuses primarily on promising pre-seed and seed stage software companies within Enterprise SaaS and other software verticals, including Digital Health and Fintech, that are using artificial intelligence (AI) to redefine some sectors.
The Fund’s expanded mandate will include playing an anchor role for Canadian seed-stage businesses and devoting an increased focus on opportunities in regions which currently face limited access to seed funding. It also intends to strengthen and expand its relationship with incubators, accelerators, innovation hubs, angel investors and early-stage investment partners in those areas and across the country.
“Intentionally dedicating more time and resources to seed-stage companies in underserved regions and ensuring that we sufficiently nurture start-ups all across Canada are important levers to help cultivate a pipeline of scaling businesses and global champions over time,” said Isabelle Hudon, President and CEO, BDC.
“At BDC, we know that adequate funding and advice for these businesses right from inception is a contributing factor to creating more resilient, sustainable, and better-performing companies down the road.”
This new allocation builds on the success of an initiative launched by BDC Capital in 2012 that seeded over 190 Canadian companies, which collectively went on to secure over $1 billion in funding thereafter.
The Bank’s recently announced Thrive Lab is another prime example of its commitment to inject capital at the grassroots level and bring collaboration to work, with its $100-million envelope to invest alongside likeminded partners in social impact-driven women-led businesses at the earliest stages of development.
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