White Star Capital, a transatlantic Venture Capital fund with offices in London, New York and Montreal, has closed its first institutional fund with USD70 million in Limited Partner commitments.
White Star Capital will deploy between USD500,000 and USD5 million in initial investments into companies in North America and Western Europe.
This first institutional fund is primarily backed by sovereign and institutional funds supported by entrepreneurs and family offices from over 18 markets.
White Star was co-founded by Eric Martineau-Fortin, an experienced technology M&A banker, and Christian Hernandez Gallardo, a former Facebook executive. Jean-François Marcoux, the co-founder of gaming company Ludia, is also involved along with a team of experienced former entrepreneurs, who have founded scaled and exited businesses.
“We are thankful for the support we have received from our Limited Partners in North America and Western Europe, and our peer funds, in evolving White Star Capital from our personal investment vehicle into an established transatlantic VC fund. We have built an investment team that can borrow from our combined operational expertise to support our entrepreneurs as they scale globally,” says Martineau-Fortin.
“The ability to create and scale world-class companies is now a global phenomenon; we founded White Star Capital to partner with ambitious entrepreneurs from established tech hubs like London and New York, and from fast-emerging clusters like Montreal and Berlin. We see ourselves as active partners to the entrepreneurs we back and will deploy funding, but also add our experience and global network to allow them to succeed in their ambitions,” adds Hernandez Gallardo.
“BDC Capital is proud to be the anchor investor in White Star Capital,” says Jérôme Nycz, Executive Vice President, BDC Capital. “We always look to support world-class teams of experienced operators and White Star is best positioned to identify, back and actively help entrepreneurs reach new international markets. Their performance to date showcases the strength of their business model and we look forward to our continued partnership with the team.
