The fund will support immigrants creating early-stage startups in AgTech, food technology and health technology.
Ottawa venture capital firm (VC) Maple Bridge Ventures achieved a first close of C$10.2 million for its debut fund focused on early-stage Canadian immigrant-led tech startups. That puts the aspiring fund manager more than halfway toward his $20 million goal.
Founder and Managing Partner Eric Agyemang, a former strategic partnerships manager at Export Development Canada (EDC) who came to Canada from Ghana, wants to help the country's next generation of immigrant entrepreneurs build tech startups to solve some of Canada's biggest challenges.
“Immigrants are a critical component of Canada's population… Let's harness the potential of this group.”
Maple Bridge Ventures plans to exclusively support emerging Canadians developing technology solutions for agriculture, food, healthcare and enterprise applications in the pre-seed and seed stages. The firm plans to write initial checks of $250,000 to $1 million and will reserve 40 percent of the fund to provide follow-up support to portfolio startups.
“We believe that immigrants are a critical component of the Canadian population,” Agyemang told BetaKit. “Let's take advantage of the potential of this group.”
The fund's principal limited partners (LPs) include Farm Credit Canada (FCC) and the Government of Canada's Social Finance Fund. Implement Capital Partners. Other LPs include the Vancouver Foundation, Fairmount Foundation, former Canopy Growth CEO Mark Zekulin, undisclosed family offices and others. Agyemang described this group of investors as a “really good mix” that could help the firm not only realize this fund, but also scale.
Agyemang said he was inspired by the resilience of the immigrant entrepreneurs he worked with during his time at EDC and saw both a gap in the market and an opportunity.
The managing partner said there is growing recognition that immigrants and immigrant entrepreneurs will play an important role in Canada's “future prosperity.”
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“When 23 percent of the total population is first-generation immigrants, and they account for about a quarter or so of all active entrepreneurs in the country … this is not a niche problem,” Agyemang said. “We really saw it as [a] national opportunities.”
In a statement, FCC Capital managing director Adam Smalley called immigrants “an underserved population that is a vital source of innovation and entrepreneurship in Canadian agriculture and food.”
In addition to Agyemang, Maple Bridge Ventures' three-person team also includes former iGan Partners principal Billy Lai, who joined the venture capital firm as CFO and venture partner, as well as former CIBC Innovation Banking director and Silicon Valley vice president Bank Shelley Lee, who serves as acting director.
Securing a first close in the current fundraising market environment was not “a walk in the park,” Agyemang admitted, noting that reaching this point from the end of 2023 took some time and tested its sustainability. At the same time, it has helped him build relationships with the agritech, foodtech and healthtech founders that Maple Bridge Ventures aims to support.
Image courtesy of Maple Bridge Ventures.
