Montreal-based Teralys Capital, an innovation-focused investor managing $1.6 billion in venture capital, announced that its Teralys Capital Innovation Fund closed at an oversubscribed $375 million.
The fund is backed by international institutional investors like Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Fonds de solidarité FTQ, Investissement Québec, BDC Capital, Fondaction CSN, Fiera Capital, Lune Rouge, Bpifrance, National Bank of Canada, La Capitale, Desjardins Group, and Consensus Business Group. Montreal-based entrepreneurs and Canadian public companies like Knight Therapeutics and OpenText Corporation also participated in the funding.
“Innovation and support to entrepreneurs drive all our actions at Teralys Capital,” said Jacques Bernier, managing partner at Teralys Capital. “The fund intends to seek top tier financial returns by structuring investments in private venture capital funds specialized in innovation. On a long-term basis, these investments will support a profitable and globally competitive venture capital industry, and will allow skilled managers to emerge and to attract the funds required to accelerate the growth and success of our best innovation-driven entrepreneurs.”
The fund uses Teralys Capital’s in-house technical specialists to find the best in information technologies, life sciences, and clean or industrial innovations, and covers startups at all stages of development. It’s also played a leadership role with venture capital managers such as Georgian Partners, iNovia Capital, and McRock Capital.
Since its initial closing last year, Teralys Capital Innovation Fund has already completed 10 new fund investments, and has made five additional direct investments in companies like Zymeworks, Lightspeed, eSentire, and Luxury Retreats.