Canadian outfit Portag3 Ventures has closed a CAD$427 million (US$321 million) fund focused on early stage investments in the fintech sector.
Portag3 invests in fintech companies around the world but with an emphasis on Canada, the US, Europe and key markets in Asia-Pacific. The fund is targeting the digital wealth management, insurance, personal and small business finance markets, as well as applications of enabling technologies such as AI.
So far the fund has invested in 17 firms, including Canadian mobile banking outfit Koho, Clark, Integrate.ai and Diagram Ventures.
A host of new institutional and strategic investors - including Alterna Savings and Credit Union, Aviva France, BDC Capital, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Laurentian Bank - have committed funds.
They join the likes of National Bank of Canada, Equitable Bank and SSQ Insurance, all of whom invested at the time of the $198 million first close last October. Power Financial Corporation, IGM Financial and Great-West Lifeco remain anchor investors.
Paul Desmarais, executive chairman, Portag3 Ventures: "Portag3 Ventures has become the largest fintech-focused VC fund in Canada and one of the leading Series A/B fintech-focused funds globally.
"Portag3 has a distinctive investment focus and the investment and operational capabilities to deliver both strong financial and strategic returns to our LPs to drive continued change and disruption in financial services."