Luge Capital, a new venture capital fund specifically Investing in early-stage fintech companies and artificial intelligence (AI) firms that are focusing on the financial sector, has completed a $75 million round of financing to begin operations, the Montreal-based fund announced on Monday.
The fund will focus on seed financing and series A funding investments worth between $250,000 and $2 million in fintechs that are looking for innovative ways to improve the customer experience, enhance efficiency, and to use AI and other data-driven approaches to decision-making.
“We are looking for young mission-driven companies that challenge how the world interacts with financial services,” says Karim Gillani, Luge Capital co-founder and general partner, in a statement. “We invest in bold teams that demonstrate passion, manage risk and optimize for performance.”
The fund initially raised $50 million from a group of investors including the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Desjardins Group. It has since added Sun Life Financial, the Fonds de Solidarité FTQ and La Capitale as limited partners. It may expand further to $100 million in the next few months.
“We have partnered with world-renowned institutions that bring considerable industry knowledge and resources to enable us to help entrepreneurs build their businesses,” adds David Nault, Luge co-founder and general partner. “In addition, our AI and data-driven companies will have the opportunity to partner with our investors to access key insights in order to build best-of-breed solutions.”
“This specialized fund, created on an initiative of la Caisse, will promote the development of innovative technologies that will accelerate the digital transformation of financial services,” says Pierre Miron, executive vice-president, chief operations and IT officer at Caisse de dépôt, in a statement.
Luge will also collaborate with iNovia Capital, Toronto-based venture capital firm, on co-investment opportunities and operations, the funds says in a news release.