Yaletown Partners, Canada’s leading emerging growth investment firm is pleased to announce that it has closed well over $100 million of its latest fund, the Innovation Growth Fund (“IGF”) targeting $200 million as total fund size and focused on emerging growth companies.Emerging growth companies represent a unique investment opportunity.These companies are beyond the start-up phase, scaling up and going global. A recent report by the Advancing Innovation Roundtable, an initiative of the TMX and led by some of Canada’s leading institutional investors, concluded emerging growth companies face a shortage in financing estimated at $4 billion. With proven technology, revenues and commercialization already underway, emerging growth companies offer an attractive risk profile as they have advanced beyond the typical risks associated with start-up companies.“We are pleased to have partnered with leading domestic and international investors in IGF,” said Salil Munjal, Managing Partner of Yaletown Partners. “With our expanded presence across Canada covering the country’s largest innovation ecosystems, our active approach and our access to high quality investments, we are well positioned to help entrepreneurs scale and become market leaders while generating attractive returns for our stakeholders.”Investors in IGF include major Canadian and international institutional investors such as OPTrust, BDC Capital, Alberta Enterprise Corporation, Kensington Venture Fund and BC Tech Fund as well as family offices and high net worth individuals.Hugh O’Reilly, President and CEO of OPTrust said, “Emerging growth companies tend to be focused on innovation and are quicker at adopting new technologies. Our work with them will help us learn new ways to better serve our members and provide valuable insights into global innovation trends. Canada, and Ontario especially, is a world leader when it comes to investing in start ups. We need to get better at scaling up our businesses. OPTrust is excited to be working with IGF to help drive Canada’s economic growth.”Yaletown is investing throughout Canada with investment teams and offices across the country in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver.Through IGF, Yaletown has already led or co-led financing rounds in three companies: Vancouver-based, Finn.ai, that has developed an AI-powered virtual assistant built for banking and personal finance; Toronto-based Thoughtwire, an industrial internet-of-things platform that delivers intelligent automation providing real-time guidance to machines and staff to predict and resolve issues, ensure safety, and achieve energy efficiency; and Circle Cardiovascular Imaging Inc., a global innovator in cardiovascular imaging post-processing software with offices in both Calgary and Montreal.IGF will invest in two main sectors - the Intelligent Industry sector, investing in businesses that incorporate new technology such as artificial intelligence into industrial processes; and in the Intelligent Enterprise sector, where computing platforms and applications increase worker productivity.About Yaletown PartnersYaletown is Canada’s leading emerging growth investment firm. Our investments enable accelerated growth in companies that enhance productivity for enterprise and industrial customers. Yaletown’s Innovation Growth Fund helps Canada’s most innovative entrepreneurs and their companies to scale and become market leaders. In 2017, Yaletown received the CVCA’s Venture Capital Deal of the Year award for its investment in BitStew, Canada’s largest venture financed exit of 2016. Backed by leading institutional investors, including pension funds, and a network of successful technology entrepreneurs, Yaletown has offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal. For more information, please visit www.yaletown.com
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For more information:Mark Boutet(514)843-2316mboutet@national.ca
