Panache Ventures has added Telus Ventures as an LP in its fund, increasing its fund target from $40 million to $50 million.
Telus Ventures works in the areas of communications, digital health, IoT, artificial intelligence, and digital security sectors. In a statement, Panache Venture partner David Dufresne indicated that Telus’ leadership in healthcare and mobile—the corporate VC firm counts League and Mojio among its investments—made it an ideal partner.
“Telus is a Canadian leader in digital healthcare, which we see as a sector ripe for enduring innovation and value creation for the next decade or so,” Dufresne said. “And Telus is also obviously a great partner to work with on opportunities in the mobile, telecom, media, digital identity and cybersecurity industries.”
To date, Panache Ventures has made 28 investments, and has offices in Toronto, Calgary, in Montreal.
Panache Ventures launched in March 2018 with $25 million in capital and a commitment to focus on seed-stage companies. At the time, it said it will invest in 100 companies over the next three years, stretching to 140 companies if it met its $40 million goal.
With Telus Ventures joining, the firm has extended its fundraising in pursuit of a $50 million close by early 2019. So far, it’s raised over $40 million.
“Over the course of the year, we have established close-knit ties with Telus Ventures by sharing deal flow and knowledge in specific industries,” said Mike Cegelski, managing partner at Panache Ventures. “Undeniably, Panache Ventures looks forward to leveraging Telus Ventures’ expertise in numerous sectors to help drive this funding round.”
For Telus, it’s an opportunity to reach an earlier-stage market. “Our visibility on pre-seed and seed stage opportunities coast-to-coast across Canada is unique to Panache Ventures,” said Dufresne. “I believe they are looking to extend their own reach and gain access to proprietary deal flow for later-stage opportunities to invest in, if and when strategic to Telus.”
To date, Panache Ventures has made 28 investments, and has offices in Toronto, Calgary, in Montreal.
“Telus Ventures is focused on enabling an ecosystem of innovation by working with leading entrepreneurs-and investors-aligned to our strategic areas of focus,” said Rich Osborn, managing partner at Telus Ventures. “Panache Ventures has demonstrated success as a key player in the Canadian venture ecosystem. Their ability to generate deal flow across sectors and geographies and the quality of the portfolio they are building is impressive. We look forward to working with them as they source and build new relationships with promising founders and companies.”