Northleaf Capital Partners announced that it’s completely deployed its $300 million Northleaf Venture Catalyst Fund, with a $15 million lead commitment to Lumira Capital IV, a late-stage venture capital fund for high-potential biopharmaceutical and medical device companies.
The Northleaf Venture Catalyst Fund was launched in 2014 with support from the federal government, building on VCAP. Northleaf was the first fund manager selected under VCAP.
Through the fund of funds, Northleaf has committed to a portfolio of 13 fund investments and 11 direct investments.
Northleaf’s relationship with Lumira goes back to 2012, when the Northleaf-managed Ontario Venture Capital Fund (OVCF) made an investment in Lumira’s prior fund.
In 2015, NVCF made a direct co-investment alongside Lumira in Vancouver-based Zymeworks. In May 2017, Zymeworks successfully closed its $80 million IPO, the largest biotech IPO on a Canadian exchange in a decade.
“We are very pleased to be an anchor institutional investor in one of Canada’s top life sciences venture capital funds,” said Ian Carew, director of Northleaf Capital Partners, which manages NVCF. “The commitment to Lumira represents NVCF’s final fund commitment and completes NVCF’s strategy of investing in best-in-class Canadian venture capital and growth equity funds, which in turn support the country’s most promising companies.”