BDC Venture Capital's Strategic Initiatives & Investments (SII) team has as its goal to play a leading role in stimulating the Canadian VC and innovation ecosystems. A newly formed entity within BDC Venture Capital, SII has been charged with building out BDC's strategic initiatives and ecosystem-building activities in the Canadian VC industry in 4 key areas:
- Strategic investments - address current and future financing gaps, focusing presently on seed/early stage investing and acting as a bridge to angel financing;
- Entrepreneur & angel development - work with strategic partners to (i) enable entrepreneur mentoring to improve focus on commercialization and (ii) support angel groups to professionalize their industry;
- Global connectivity - help Canadian entrepreneurs and VCs to develop global networks and connect with potential customers, strategic partners, investors, acquirors, etc. abroad; and
- Industry facilitation & visibility - act as a catalyst and thought leader within the Canadian VC industry.
The SII team is currently based in Montreal but operates on a pan-Canadian basis with BDC teams and strategic partners across the country.