Brightspark has closed a $6 million financing round from Kensington Capital Partners to fuel its own growth as a VC firm.
Launched in 1999, Brightspark targets early-stage companies and allows individual investors to be part of deals that it sources. Its network — which includes about 2,000 accredited investors — can choose the companies that interest them and make individual investments starting as low as $10,000.
Portfolio companies that have received investments from Brightspark under the firm’s new funding model include Hubba, Nudge Rewards, CrowdCare, Classcraft, gShift, nGUVU, AdHawk, and NanoMagnetics.
“Brightspark was the first to establish a model that opens VC investment to individuals in Canada, allowing us to set the standard for a new approach to venture investing in this market,” said Mark Skapinker, managing partner at Brightspark. “With this injection of capital into our innovative model, we can focus on growing what is now one of the country’s largest and most diverse VC investment teams. We can also continue to find and invest in the best early-stage tech company opportunities for our investor network.”
Brightspark wants to use the $6 million to grow its team across Canada. The firm also anticipates that it will accelerate its investment pace from the equivalent of a $100 million fund, to that of a $120 million fund, with an estimated $20 million to $30 million invested annually.
“Deal flow in Canada has been increasing consistently both in quality and quantity. There has also been a voracious appetite for VC investments among our individual investors, and several Brightspark deals have been oversubscribed as a result,” said Skapinker. “To respond to this high demand, we recently launched Brightspark Reserve, an automated way for investors to invest in multiple tech companies. Brightspark Reserve recognizes the need for diversification by many of our investors, and makes it easy for them to invest in multiple Brightspark VC deals.”
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