Two venture-capital (VC) firms from opposite sides of the country are establishing new presences in Alberta. Montréal-based Luge Capital and Vancouver-based Pender Ventures are both adding new Calgary-based investors after the Alberta Enterprise Corporation (AEC) contributed to their most recent funds.
The new VC presence indicates a boost in capital available to early-stage companies in Alberta.
Montréal-based Luge Capital is bringing on investor Chelsea Gillett, while Vancouver-based Pender Ventures has hired associate Jacob Grainger.
The new VC presence indicates a boost in capital available to early-stage companies in Alberta. Luge Capital mainly invests in FinTech-focused companies at the early stage, managing approximately $180 million across two funds.
Luge Capital closed its Fund II in September at $96 million, despite a difficult fundraising environment for emerging managers. Its limited partners (LPs) include Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Desjardins, BDC Capital, Sun Life, Industrial Alliance Financial Group, Fonds de solidarité FTQ, and Inovia through its Discovery Fund. AEC invested $10 million, spurring a newfound focus on Alberta-based companies.
Two Alberta FinTech companies have already been backed by Luge: Edmonton-based HonestDoor and Calgary-based OneVest.
Gillett joins Luge from her role as principal across two funds at Calgary-based VC firm The51, which just closed its $51-million Food and AgTech fund geared towards startups with diverse leadership. She previously worked at Suncor Energy, according to her LinkedIn.
“As someone active in Alberta’s technology community, I’ve had the opportunity to meet many promising fintech founders and learn about their vision to shape technology that touches every area of people’s lives, from personal finance to large corporations’ business practices,” Gillett said in a statement.
Alberta’s FinTech presence has indeed grown over the past few years, with local companies investing more than $1.5 billion in digital adoption for financial services from 2021 to 2024, according to Invest Alberta. Several Alberta-based VC funds that invest in FinTech companies have cropped up, including Graphite Ventures and Relay Ventures.
Meanwhile, Pender Ventures, which is the VC arm of Vancouver investment firm PenderFund Capital Management, is adding Jacob Grainger as a full-time Calgary-based associate. Pender received $5 million from the AEC toward its $100-million fund focused on early-stage business-to-business (B2B) software and healthtech companies.
Pender Ventures has previously invested in Edmonton-based healthtech startup DrugBank through its first fund. Grainger has a background in life sciences, having worked at Enveric Biosciences and Willow Biosciences, according to his LinkedIn. He was most recently a venture associate at the Alberta chapter of innovation hub Plug and Play.
Kristin Williams, CEO of the AEC, said in a statement that two-thirds of startups in Alberta focus on healthtech, life sciences, or B2B software, which “aligns directly” with Pender’s investment thesis.
In addition to the new investor presence in Alberta, the AEC itself is eyeing early-stage startups through its co-angel investment Accelerate Fund IV, which has raised $15 million of its $25-million target.
Feature image courtesy Luge Capital and Jacob Grainger via LinkedIn.
The post Luge Capital, Pender Ventures hire in Alberta following investments from AEC first appeared on BetaKit.