Alterra Private Equity Group Inc. is launching the Alterra U.S. Venture Capital Fund LP in Canada with Spencer Trask Asset Management Inc. (STAM) — a subsidiary of New York-based venture capital firm Spencer Trask & Co. — serving as the fund’s sub-advisor.

The fund’s investment objective is to generate superior returns from a portfolio of 20-30 U.S. venture capital holdings. The fund will be diversified across U.S. industry sectors and geographical regions, focusing on high growth, investment-stage companies in the health care, biotechnology, medical devices, enterprise software, Internet services, hardware technology and telecommunications industries.

The fund is targeting higher returns for accredited Canadian investors and institutions from investments in early-stage opportunities, which have traditionally only been available to U.S.-based ultra high net-worth and institutional investors. The fund is denominated in US$ and is available via offering memorandum with a minimum investment of US$40,000 to accredited investors. A lower fee class is also available for institutional investors and wrap accounts.

Since its inception in 1992, Spencer Trask & Co. and its affiliates have placed over US$1.2 billion in private financings with high growth companies, which ranks it among the top U.S. venture capital firms.

“We firmly believe that there are lucrative investment opportunities beyond public markets, and venture capital has proven to be one of the most prolific wealth creation tools available,” says Jit Mistry, CEO of Alterra. “Through Alterra’s pioneering partnership with the Spencer Trask team of experts, Canadian retail investors in our fund have access to the high quality realm of U.S. venture capital funds, which was previously restricted due to much higher minimum investment thresholds.”