TORONTO– Whitecap Venture Partners today announced its new fund, Whitecap V, with commitments of C$140 million. Whitecap is one of the longest running early stage technology investors in Canada and this fund builds on the firm’s track record of success, bringing its total assets under management to C$365MM. Returning investors include Kensington Capital Partners, BMO Capital Partners (BMOCP), Inuvialuit Investment Corporation, and several other institutional investors and high-net-worth family offices. Ontario Capital Growth Corporation is one of several new LPs in Whitecap V.
Whitecap V will continue the firm’s long-standing thesis of leading or co-leading (7 – 10) Series A financings in high growth technology companies. The fund’s geographical focus has been expanded to cover all of Canada and, in addition to a core focus on Series A investments, the team is allocating more capital to seed and pre-seed funding rounds.
“Strong support from existing and new investors resulted in a three-month fundraising process and we quickly surpassed our $125MM target for Whitecap’s fifth fund,” said Carey Diamond, Partner at Whitecap Venture Partners.
The launch of Whitecap’s latest fund follows on the success of Whitecap III and IV, which invested in 18 companies. Fund III, a 2015 vintage fund, continues to track well with notable exits from Real Matters (TSX IPO in 2017) and Clearwater Clinical (acquired by Sivantos/EQT).
Fast growing Whitecap IV portfolio companies include two startups with roots in the PropTech market: Bolt Logistics – an e-commerce fulfillment and last mile logistics company that recently raised a $115MM Series B financing round from leading investors including Ingka Investments (IKEA’s corporate venture arm); and Silofit – which leverages industry leading software and private micro-gyms to empower fitness trainers. Earlier this year, Silofit raised US$10.25MM in Series A financing and signed a commercial agreement with TechnoGym.
“The investments we’ve made over the last six years across two funds have been in fast-growing startups led by exceptional founders with tremendous potential, including several that have already exited,” said Shayn Diamond, Partner at Whitecap Venture Partners. “This has led to continued support from our existing investors and has also spurred greater interest from institutional investors. With the launch of Whitecap V, we will continue to invest in the North American tech ecosystem with great LPs, founders, and co-investors.”
The Whitecap team has grown over the past two years. New team members include Melissa Belbeck, Senior Associate, and Sarah Hartkorn, Associate – both of whom have entrepreneurial operating experience, and Swetha Thommandram, Controller. Whitecap also added Jodi Kovitz to the Whitecap Advisory Board. Jodi is the Chief Growth Officer at Vetster, a global telemedicine platform for pets and recent Whitecap portfolio company. She was previously founder and CEO of #movethedial, a global movement dedicated to increasing the participation and advancement of women in tech.
Whitecap has already completed its first investment from Whitecap V in InvestNext, a leading real estate investment management platform. Whitecap participated in the PropTech company’s $4.3MM financing alongside Hyde Park Venture Partners and Detroit Venture Partners.
“The early-stage venture capital market continues to be strong in Canada and we are proud of the work done by our investment team and the CEOs of our portfolio companies,” said Russell Samuels, Partner at Whitecap Venture Partner. “We look forward to continuing to work with existing and new CEOs and founders to build leading businesses in high growth and disruptive markets.”
