A Weston-backed venture capital firm recruits Ali to lead its innovative cleantech and medical technology fund.
Toronto Whittington Ventures has hired former MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund (IAF) chief Zeeshan Ali as a partner as it prepares to invest in new early-stage cleantech and healthcare startups.
Ali joined Wittington Ventures this month after serving as interim managing director at Toronto-based venture capital firm MaRS IAF, according to his LinkedIn profile. Zeeshan was previously Senior Investment Director IAF. He spent three years at the company investing in early-stage Canadian technology startups. Prior to this, Ali worked for three years as Head of Business Development at MaRS Discovery District.
“Our mission is to provide catalytic capital that bridges the critical gap between breakthrough science and technology and real-world commercialization.”
Zeeshan Ali, Wittington Ventures
IN Post on LinkedIn announcing his new role at Wittington Ventures, Ali said he would “launch and lead” the company's C$100 million Canada Innovation Fund, which was created to support seed-stage deep tech startups in the health and climate sectors.
“Our mission is to provide catalytic capital that bridges the critical gap between breakthrough science and technology and real-world commercialization,” Ali wrote. “I’m thrilled to be working alongside the Wittington Ventures team as we shape this new chapter and support entrepreneurs tackling some of the most pressing and significant challenges of our time.”
He will be working with former MaRS Discovery District colleague Leah Perry, who joined Canadian Innovation Foundation as a senior associate last month.
Perry joins Wittington Ventures after spending four years in cleantech at MaRS. Most recently, she served as the Senior Manager of Clean Technologies at the non-profit Toronto Innovation Centre. Previously, she worked for Export Development Canada for six years.
In an interview with BetaKit, Wittington Ventures managing partner Jim Orlando said the firm was attracted to Ali and Perry's track record of investing in and backing early-stage Canadian cleantech and medtech startups at MaRS.
“We needed to expand our expertise in the areas that I just mentioned, and they're a great fit for what we do,” Orlando said, adding that he doesn't expect any new hires directly related to the company's Canada Innovation Fund at this time.
While Wittington Ventures will continue to operate as one investment team across all of its funds, Ali and Perry have been tasked with focusing specifically on the Canada Innovation Fund. With both on board, Orlando said Wittington Ventures is refining its strategy for the fund, which has made one investment to date, and noted it could back 10 to 15 companies in total.
Wittington Ventures is the venture capital investment arm of Wittington Investments, a holding company owned by the Canadian billionaire Weston family, which controls the Canadian grocery and pharmacy chains Loblaws and Shoppers Drug Mart.
The Westons have been donating to health care and environmental causes for many years. Earlier this year, Wittington Investments disclosed plans to support innovative startups in both areas through the new Canada Innovation Fund along with its first investment at Gray Matter Neurosciences in Toronto, which develops medical devices that facilitate therapeutic brain stimulation to treat Alzheimer's disease and other diseases.
Gray Matter Neurosciences is licensing ultrasound technology developed at Sunnybrook Research Institute, thanks in part to funding from the Weston Family Foundation.
At the time, Wittington Ventures said all profits would be reinvested in the companies or used to support Canadian climate and health philanthropy.
Wittington Ventures' website lists 15 portfolio companies, only three of which appear to be Canadian: GoConfirm, Roomand Gray matter. The firm's portfolio also includes because And Truvianwho respectively worked with Loblaws and Shoppers Drug Mart.
Orlando told BetaKit that the firm plans to take a more targeted approach to Canada through its Canada Innovation Fund, noting that the intention is to “invest in Canada to help Canadians” by supporting local companies seeking to turn intellectual property (IP) from domestic research institutions into marketable products.
Orlando said the firm has established the Canada Innovation Fund to support startups in the early stages of commercializing “breakthrough research” in climate and health in Canada — areas that align with the priorities of the Weston Family Foundation, which he noted donates millions annually to fund climate and health research with a focus on Canada.
“Too often” this research is either not commercialized or the intellectual property “leaks out of the country” because it is licensed to foreign companies, Orlando said. “We're trying to fill that gap.”
Orlando said Ali and Perry “hit the ground running” because Wittington Ventures and other Weston-backed organizations have been closely following the research for years. “We know of a lot of breakthrough research, in many cases thanks to this additional route, and we want to go out and look for more opportunities,” he said.
Ali and Perry's appointments follow some other recent personnel changes at Wittington Ventures as he makes the final investments from his second venture fund and prepares for a third “sometime next year.”
In April, Wittington Ventures promoted partner Meg Gupta, who led healthcare investments, to the position of managing partner, where he will help oversee the firm's overall strategy with Orlando. The firm also promoted director Qasim Mohammed to partner to support the firm's increased interest in consumer-related investments, promoted senior associate to healthcare specialist Carly-Rose Horowitz and hired former Foresite Capital investor Austin Nalen Sproul as a director.
Last month Whittington Investments disclosed that he is launching a $100 million fund to support Canadian food producers.
Earlier this month, Wittington Ventures added former Plug and Play venture team member Tarek El Naggar to its investment team as a partner.
UPDATE (9/11/25): This story has been updated to include additional information and comments from Wittington Ventures Managing Partner Jim Orlando.
Artistic image courtesy of Zeeshan Ali.
