Montreal-based venture capital firm iNovia Capital announced that it has raised a CAD $175 million for its latest venture capital fund.
In a report from the Wall Street Journal, the publication noted that the firm has overcome the challenge of a low Canadian dollar, which is currently at a 13-year low, that puts it at a disadvantage compared to U.S. firms investing in Canadian startups.
iNovia Capital attracted $110 million in investments in its previous two funds. In the past, iNovia has invested in impressive startups like Lightspeed Retail, which was the top venture deal of 2015 and is considering an IPO in the next few years. “We’re definitely on a path to build a multi-billion dollar company,” Lightspeed CEO Dax Dasilva said.
Other past iNovia investments include VarageSale and Clearpath Robotics.
For this round, iNovia was looking for a minimum of $150 million to compensate for the weak Canadian dollar, as Canadian venture capital firms must now invest more dollars to stay on the same investment level as when US and Canadian currencies were up to par.
“We raised an extra Canadian $25 million for this fund purposely because of the foreign exchange impact,” said Chris Arsenault, iNovia’s managing partner. He said that strong investor demand brought the total raised to $25 million more than the minimum targeted. Investors in the fund include Quebec pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Investissement Québec, Teralys Capital and Boston-based HarbourVest Partners LLC.
iNovia will definitely find some competition from American venture capital firms, as the country is reportedly the most sought-after destination for American venture capitalists.
