TandemLaunch announced the closing of a $5 million commitment from BDC Venture Capital, an investment matched by angels and strategic advisors, as it nears its goal of raising $15 million from both institutional and private investors.
The Montreal based accelerator specializes in identifying promising early stage multimedia and consumer technology projects at universities and institutions around the world, and helps commercialize those technologies through mentorship and deep industry connections.
The investments will help TandemLaunch build on the $8 million currently under management, and enable them to provide portfolio companies with seed funding.
Some of the companies in their portfolio include 3LD Noise Reduction, which was launch at Concordia University, Mirametrix from the University of British Columbia, and Intelligent Mixing from Queen Mary, University of London.
“TandemLaunch has a strong capacity for business acceleration and an enviable track record of sourcing projects with high commercialization potential from university research from across the world,” Jérôme Nycz, executive vice-president of venture capital and subordinate financing for BDC, said in a press release. “We believe this investment will provide many tangible, positive impacts for the Canadian venture capital ecosystem and has a high probability of performing strongly from a return standpoint, especially given the large size and growth of the consumer electronics industry.”
The investment from BDC comes as part of the government of Canada’s Economic Action Plan 2013, which has committed a total of $100 million in additional funds to invest in high-growth firms and firms graduating form business accelerators.
TandemLaunch now joins a growing roster of BDC-backed accelerator programs, including Growlab, Extreme Startups, HYPERDRIVE, FounderFuel, Propel ICT, and Execution Labs.