TORONTO – Portag3 Ventures today announced the initial closing of Portag3 Ventures II LP (“Fund II”), its second fintech venture fund focused on early stage investments in the global financial technology sector.
Major institutional and strategic investors in the initial closing of the $198M new fund include National Bank of Canada (TSX: NA), Intact Financial Corporation (TSX: IFC), Guardian Capital Group (TSX: GCG), Equitable Bank (TSX: EQB), La Capitale Insurance and Financial Group and SSQ Insurance. In addition, Power Financial Corporation (TSX: PWF), IGM Financial Inc. (TSX: IGM) and Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSX: GWO) return as anchor investors following their investment in Portag3 Ventures’ first fund, launched in 2016. Subsequent closings are expected to bring Fund II commitments to at least $300M, with a target significantly in excess of that amount.
“Portag3 Ventures is uniquely positioned as one of the few platforms dedicated exclusively to fintech on a global scale, combining the people, capital and strategic reach of our LPs to create and support compelling investment opportunities,” said Paul Desmarais III, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman. “The early success of our first fund has allowed us to broaden our investor base to include highly strategic capital providers from outside the Power Financial group of companies, which will only strengthen our ability to support ambitious and creative fintech entrepreneurs.”
Portag3 Ventures’ core investment thesis – investing in global technology-focused companies by leveraging the Fund’s ecosystem, reach and insights to accelerate growth in its portfolio companies – has enabled it to become one of the leading fintech funds in Canada, managing over $400M in seven geographies across more than 30 different investments. The Portag3 model of matching proprietary opportunities with talent, capital, and Portag3’s network provides a winning formula for entrepreneurs and investors.
Fund II looks to take larger stakes in its investments, targeting 10-20% ownership of investee companies. Most recently, Fund II led a Series-A investment in Toronto-based Integrate.ai, a cloud-based machine learning platform that helps businesses harness consumer intelligence and engage customers without compromising privacy.
“We’re honoured outside investors of this caliber have chosen to partner with us,” said Adam Felesky, Co-Founder and CEO. “We aim to build on our early success from investments in companies such as Wealthsimple, alan and Albert and leverage key learnings from the first fund.”
About Portage Ventures
Portage Ventures, the venture capital arm of multi-asset class alternative investment firm Sagard, is an early-stage investor dedicated to supporting financial technology companies. Its team has deep entrepreneurial and industry experience and provides its portfolio company founders with privileged access to its partners, in-house experts, and a broader global ecosystem. Portage Ventures has a presence in Montreal, Toronto, New York, San Francisco and Paris.
For more information, contact: Adam Daifallah, 514-316-7089, [email protected].
