Montréal-based venture capital (VC) investor David Dufresne is joining AQC Capital as its newest investment partner after pausing operations at his early-stage firm CMD Capital, BetaKit has learned.
Dufresne will assist the Québec government-backed VC firm, which co-invests with members of the angel network Anges Québec, in deploying the remainder of its second fund, he told BetaKit.
“I predict there’s going to be a lot more activity.”
David Dufresne
AQC Capital
Dufresne has more than 20 years of experience in VC, managing funds at Panache Ventures, Relay Ventures (formerly BlackBerry Partners Fund), and Desjardins Venture Capital. In between, he was CEO of music marketing platform Bandzoogle and head of growth at Bandcamp.
Dufresne was most recently a partner at now-shuttered CMD Capital, which announced in February that it would indefinitely halt fundraising efforts due to a “tough” VC market.
Recently, BDC Capital executive vice-president Geneviève Bouthillier said chilled exit markets and weaker returns have impacted fundraising as less liquidity flows to limited partners—something Dufresne said he learned firsthand.
RELATED: CMD Capital halts fundraising amid “tough” VC market
Dufresne told BetaKit that he plans to bring “new deal flow” to the table by leveraging his connections throughout Canadian and United States (US) venture. He joins three partners at AQC: Serge Beauchemin, Kalthoum Bouacida, and Stéphane Caron.
Formerly known as Anges Québec Capital, AQC Capital invests across sectors, mainly at the seed stage. Dufresne said it plans to invest in five to 10 more companies through Fund II before the end of the year.
Though Dufresne acknowledged it has been a difficult few years for seed-stage investing in Québec, he’s encouraged by the capital ready to be deployed. He has previously said that the Québec ecosystem is in need of more early-stage private capital, as the ecosystem has long been reliant on government funds.
“In the last four to six months, deal flow has been better and…it might be because there’s a lot of dry powder,” Dufresne said. “I predict there’s going to be a lot more activity.”
RELATED: Former Anges Québec CEO Geneviève Tanguay joins Panache Ventures as partner
CMD co-founder, Matt Roberts, recently announced he is joining RBCx, the Royal Bank of Canada’s tech banking and innovation arm, as managing director of VC Coverage.
“I’ll be working with venture capital firms and emerging managers across the country to help them scale smarter, faster, and with the right capital partners by their side,” Roberts wrote in a LinkedIn post.
Roberts brings over two decades of experience in VC investing, including at ScaleUP Ventures and BDC Capital’s IT Venture Fund. His previous investments include Rewind, Solink, Sonder, and Unsplash.
Chen makes partner at Golden
In other VC hiring moves, Nick Chen has been promoted to partner at Toronto-based Golden Ventures after two years at the firm.
The firm, which is deploying out of its $100-million USD ($137-million CAD) Fund V, focuses on seed-stage investments across a wide range of sectors, including B2B software, FinTech, and deep tech. Golden’s portfolio includes ApplyBoard, BenchSci, Faire, Float, Shakepay, Waabi, and Xanadu.
According to Chen’s LinkedIn profile, he will focus on AI infrastructure, cybersecurity, web3, and other frontier technologies.
Chen worked as an investor and later as the emerging technologies lead at Georgian for a combined six years. He was Head of Ventures at New York-based IEX, which operates a stock exchange for US securities.
Golden founder Matt Golden wrote in a Medium post about the appointment that the firm doesn’t “take adding partners lightly.” Chen joins general partner Ameet Shah, partner Jamie Rosenblatt, talent partner Alison Kaizer, and venture partner Bert Amato.
In his post, Golden lauded Chen’s “trust thesis,” an approach to investing in AI and cybersecurity that pays particular attention to the “hype cycle” of soaring valuations created by emerging technologies such as AI.
“Nick has a track record of being ahead of the curve,” Golden wrote.
Feature images courtesy Golden Ventures and David Dufresne.