The city has a new venture capital firm to call its own.
On Monday morning, news came out that
Information Venture Partners had been formed in Toronto.
The firm was created in early October when co-founders Robert Antoniades and David Unsworth completed a management buyout of their former firm, RBC Venture Partners.
Several co-investors, both inside and outside of Canada, assisted in the buyout, and those same investors are helping the firm set up a new $100-million fund. Antoniades and Unsworth say they hope to have the fund up and running by mid-2015. Once it is ready, the firm will invest in early stage startups that are seeking funds at the Series A and B levels. That is, they plan to fund startups that at the stage where they've successfully gotten off the ground and have found a potential market fit for their product or idea.
The firm revealed that it will specialize on funding startups that create enterprise software.
In an interview with Reuters, Antoniades told the publication's Kirk Falconer, “Whether it is enterprise software or fintech, we are interested in North American companies that can sell into SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) or large corporate buyers.”
Given that statement, it remains to be seen what kind of effect the firm will have on Toronto ecosystem.
The financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Source: Reuters