One of the venture funds seeded under the federal government’s initiative to rejuvenate the venture capital (VC) market in Canada has closed a second round of funding.
Kensington Venture Fund, which was launched last November with $160 million in initial funding, has now boosted that total to $193 million, Toronto-based Kensington Capital Partners (KCP) announced on Thursday.
The second closing of the fund includes increased commitments from brokerage Richardson GMP Ltd. and other investors who participated in the initial round, says KCP, the fund’s general partner.
The fund has also added Torstar Corp. as a new investor, KCP says.
The fund is a fund of funds that invests in both other VC funds and makes direct investments in technology companies, focused on the IT, telecommunications, energy, cleantech, and digital media sectors.
Since its launch, the fund has made investments in six Canadian venture capital funds and direct investments in four firms, KCP says.
“The current venture capital market remains very strong, and our pipeline of high quality investment opportunities continues to grow,” says Rick Nathan, managing director at KCP. “In this environment, our team has been moving quickly to implement our strategy and assemble the core building blocks of our portfolio.”
The fund received its lead investment from the federal government under its Venture Capital Action Plan (VCAP), which aims to catalyze the Canadian VC market. It remains open to new accredited and institutional investors until it reaches its maximum size of $300 million.