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Seed Venture Fund

Strategic Investments

Seed-stage companies represent the foundation on which innovation is built. With this $50 million Fund, we seek to invest at the grassroots level to ensure the sustainability of the VC ecosystem in every Canadian region, with a particular focus on underserved markets. Working closely with incubators, accelerators, angels, other venture capital investors and partners across the country, we plan to lead the majority of our investments in the nation’s most promising seed stage start-ups.

Over a decade of experience

The Seed Venture Fund is building on the success of an initiative launched in 2012 that seeded over 190 Canadian companies, which collectively went on to secure over $1 billion in funding thereafter. The Fund is still working with existing portfolio companies to help them scale and achieve their full potential. The experience gained working with these companies continues to guide and inspire our work today. 

Our focus

  • Promising pre-seed and seed investments in scalable software companies in every region of Canada.
  • Leading investments with simplified term sheets that address the needs of Canadian entrepreneurs.
  • Providing support for portfolio companies in preparing them for a successful Series A and eventually becoming world class.

Who is this fund for

The Seed Venture Fund will create the foundation for building world-class companies by supporting the next generation of software companies across Canada. Areas of focus include:

  • Enterprise SaaS companies building products that reduce costs and increase revenue in areas of:
    • Finance and operations
    • Sales and marketing
    • Human resources management
    • Technology and risk management
  • Category-defining companies using AI to push the boundaries of their sector in:
    • Digital health
    • Travel tech
    • EdTech
    • PropTech
    • FinTech

Creating the foundation for world-class companies

Helping Canadian entrepreneurs with early capital to get ideas off the ground.

Scale

A $50M fund to help Canadian entrepreneurs get ideas off the ground and build world-class companies

Impact

We are active across every region in Canada with a focus on underserved markets

Partnership

We work with accelerators, incubators, and angel investors to grow and nurture a vibrant ecosystem for start-ups

Let’s talk

Want to learn more about our fund?

Our team

Ron Warburton - Managing partner, IT venture fund at BDC
Ron Warburton

Managing Partner

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Dinar Ahmed - Principal, venture capital at BDC
Dinar Ahmed

Partner

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BDC employee Saif Hashmi
Saif Hashmi

Principal

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BDC employee Daniel Nieto
Daniel Nieto

Associate Principal

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Sarah Mccullough, business manager in the venture capital team
Sarah McCullough

Associate

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Rainee Mistry, BDC employee
Rainee Mistry

Analyst

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Portfolio

Exits

Latest news

Certain news link to external sites and are presented in French only.

October 30, 2023

BDC Announces New $50-Million Envelope to Invest in Emerging Start-ups

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November 15, 2017

Ottawa boosts venture-capital financing to female-led tech companies

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September 26, 2017

Montreal startup Transit raises US$5 million in venture capital

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May 11, 2017

Fluent.ai Raises CA$1.8 Million in Seed Financing to Accelerate Commercialization of Its AI Voice Interface Technology

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March 31, 2017

Novarc Technologies Secures $1 Million in Seed Funding

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