HarbourVest Partners, a global private markets asset manager, has been chosen by the Government of Canada to participate in the country’s Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative (VCCI) to increase the availability of late-stage venture capital in Canada.
The Government of Canada, through the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), has committed to support the creation of a new venture capital fund of funds formed under the VCCI program.
“We are honoured to have been chosen to participate in the new Canadian-focused Venture Capital Initiative,” says Senia Rapisarda, Managing Director at HarbourVest in Toronto. “Following on the success we have had with Canada’s Venture Capital Action Plan program, we’re aiming to continue injecting growth capital into innovative Canadian small and medium-sized businesses through VCCI. We are very pleased with how our portfolio is developing under VCAP, which to date includes commitments to 12 Canadian managers, eight US managers, and nine companies, and we look forward to implementing the strategy of the VCCI program on behalf of investors.”
HarbourVest’s VCCI investment mandate will focus on investing in a core group of Canadian venture and growth managers, top-tier international managers that have historically invested in Canadian companies, as well as making direct co-investments into Canadian companies in growth equity stage transactions.
In order to help increase gender equality in venture capital and support women-led companies, the Canadian government stressed the importance of diversity in its selection process and required that each investment manager in the VCCI program demonstrate how it will enhance diversity and increase the participation of women across the venture capital ecosystem.
“Increasing gender diversity in our industry has been an important focus of HarbourVest and is part of our environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment and fund diligence screening process,” says Rapisarda. “As a female leader in our industry, it was especially gratifying to see the emphasis placed on how the participating investment managers will enhance diversity and increase the participation of women across Canada’s VC industry.”
