Global venture capital firm White Star Capital has closed its significantly oversubscribed second fund on $180m.
The vehicle surpassed its initial target of $140m and is more than double the size of its predecessor, which closed on $70m in 2015.
Notable backers include institutional investors CDPQ, FSTQ, BDC, the Consolidated Reserve Fund of the States of Guernsey, KVIC, Investissement Quebec, ARKEA Group, Mizuho Securities, Swen Capital Partners, Isomer Capital, Walter Financial, Clerville Investment Management, Temaris Capital, Simone Investments, and Portag3 Ventures.
Multinational corporate groups including Veolia, La Capitale, Corporate Groupe ADP, Ubisoft and Unisys Corporation through Canal Ventures, also took part.
The vehicle, which looking to back around 20 new companies with an initial investment of US$1m to US$6m, has already led or co-led investments into eight companies to date.
Investments have ranged from Seed to Series B and include FinTech companies Borrowell and Clark, along with disruptive commerce models Vention, Meero and Butternut Box. The fund has also invested in digital health companies Echo and Dialogue, as well as data-as-a-service company Unacast.
Last year, Borrowell announced it has secured C$12m in its Series A equity round, which was led by Portag3 Ventures, Equitable Bank and White Star Capital, with participation by FirstOntario Credit Union and other new and existing investors. Borrowell helps consumers ‘make great choices about their credit’ through its free credit score monitoring, personal loans and product recommendations.
Eric Martineau-Fortin, co-founder and managing partner of White Star said: “We have purposely sought a diverse and global investor base for our second fund, many of whom are repeat investors from fund one, and we would like to thank them for their continued support.
“Our growing team has extensive operational experience and we are passionate about supporting ambitious entrepreneurs with truly global ambitions. Internationalisation represents a huge opportunity for many high-growth companies and our global reach means we can support companies looking to scale outside of their home market.”
Since its first fund, the firm has added to its existing offices in London, New York and Montreal, opening new offices in Paris and Tokyo, with Eric Martineau-Fortin relocating to the French capital to lead the firm’s presence there.
Martineau-Fortin, an experienced transatlantic technology M&A banker, founded the firm alongside Jean-Francois Marcoux, the former co-founder of mobile game publisher Ludia, and Christian Hernandez Gallardo, a former Facebook executive. The firm recently added Matthieu Lattes as its new partner in Paris, Sep Alavi as a venture partner in New York and Shun Nagao as a venture partner in Tokyo.
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