Radical Ventures launches Canada’s largest VC fund at over $1 billion

Toronto-headquartered Radical Ventures has unveiled the Radical Breakouts Fund, a late-stage growth vehicle with more than $1 billion committed after its initial close. The fund is the largest-ever venture fund in Canada, according to the firm.

Radical co-founder and managing partner Jordan Jacobs said he wants the fund to eventually become a multibillion-dollar investment vehicle. 

It is backed by three of Canada’s largest pension managers: PSP Investments, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and HOOPP, the fund for Ontario healthcare employees. Toronto-Dominion Bank, Bank of Montreal and CI Global Asset Management are also involved.

The fund’s launch coincided with the Canada Investment Summit in Toronto, an event hosted by Prime Minister Mark Carney to attract investment to the country. 

Radical said the initial close came together in less than six weeks after founders inside and outside its portfolio asked for later-stage capital.

Radical Ventures, founded in 2017, focuses on artificial-intelligence companies. It was an early investor in Cohere and has backed autonomous-trucking startup Waabi and quantum-computing company Xanadu Quantum Technologies. 

The Breakouts Fund will invest in companies already in Radical’s portfolio as well as businesses the firm has not previously backed.

Jacobs said the fund is designed for a market in which companies remain private longer and reach much higher valuations before going public. He also said it could help prevent promising Canadian startups from moving to the US to access deeper pools of capital.

Cohere, one of the few large-language-model providers based outside the US or China, is benefiting from demand for alternatives after US restrictions limited access to Anthropic’s latest models earlier this year, Jacobs said. 

Carney said the new fund should help Canadian AI companies scale while remaining Canadian and serving domestic customers.