Maple Bridge Ventures announced this week it has secured $10.2 million from anchor investors Farm Credit Corp. and Realize Capital Partners as well as other partners that include former Canopy Growth CEO Mark Zekulin.
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A new Ottawa-based venture fund founded by a former Export Development Canada executive has raised millions of dollars in a bid to help immigrant entrepreneurs get cutting-edge tech startups off the ground.
Maple Bridge Ventures announced this week it has secured $10.2 million from anchor investors Farm Credit Corp. and Realize Capital Partners as well as other partners that include former Canopy Growth CEO Mark Zekulin.
Launched in late 2023, Maple Bridge says it’s Canada’s first “institutional-grade” venture fund aimed specifically at immigrant founders. The firm’s debut fund is now more than halfway to its target of $20 million.
“In this particular climate, it’s incredibly hard to fundraise, period,” says founder and managing partner Eric Agyemang, a native of Ghana who moved to Canada 16 years ago to study international business at Algonquin College. “That gives us a really strong footing for us to keep going.”
The 2024 Forty Under 40 recipient spent nearly a decade at EDC, where he helped manage cross-border finance deals and partnerships with leading innovation hubs and startup accelerators across Canada. He also served seven years as a volunteer with the Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization, including a stint as president from 2020-23.
At OCISO, Agyemang helped newcomers to the National Capital Region navigate the often-frustrating process of searching for a job, an experience he calls “an eye-opener.”
“I engaged with people who were PhD-trained masters in very unique areas but could barely get an entry job in Canada,” Agyemang explains.
Seeing what he considered the “untapped potential” of new Canadians to contribute to the country’s economy, he decided to combine his passions for helping entrepreneurs and immigrants in one venture.
“Canada has never been in need of more entrepreneurs,” says Agyemang. “If we can help create more builders, more innovators in Canada – including those who’ve recently become Canadians – let’s give them the tools, the capital to be able to make it happen.”
Immigrants already punch above their weight when it comes to starting new businesses, Agyemang notes. According to the Business Development Bank of Canada, immigrants accounted for 24 per cent of Canada’s total population in 2023 but represented more than a third of the country’s entrepreneurs.
Agyemang says he’s not surprised by those statistics. Uprooting your life and relocating to a foreign land requires the same type of resilience and perseverance as launching a new business from scratch, he says.
“Those are attributes and fundamental traits you look for in a successful entrepreneur,” Agyemang says. “We were just blown away by the similarities between an entrepreneurial journey and often what immigrants really have to go through to pursue the Canadian dream.”
Maple Bridge Ventures plans to make initial investments ranging from $250,000 to $1 million, with 40 per cent of the initial fund reserved for follow-on deals with portfolio companies.
Agyemang has also brought two high-powered partners on board.
Billy Lai, a former executive at iGan Partners and Deloitte, serves as CFO and venture partner, while Shelley Li, who previously worked at CIBC Innovation Banking and Silicon Valley Bank, joined the firm as a principal earlier this month.
Agyemang says the firm will focus on financing startups in three main fields – agriculture and food technology, health-care technology and enterprise solutions such as AI.
“If we can harness those incredible talents to power innovation in these three sectors, we believe we are making a contribution to Canada,” he says, adding he believes there is a “national opportunity” to support “new Canadians building (businesses) in all corners of our country.”
The firm’s investors say they share Agyemang’s enthusiasm for backing the next generation of immigrant business-builders.
“FCC is proud to invest in Maple Bridge Ventures because it backs an underserved population that is a vital source of innovation and entrepreneurship in Canadian agriculture and food,” Adam Smalley, managing director of FCC Capital, said in a statement.
“By supporting this fund, we’re unlocking new ideas and opportunities that strengthen producers’ ability to succeed and help ensure a secure, sustainable food supply for Canadian families – now and for generations to come.”
Agyemang says Maple Bridge Ventures is already in talks with “a number” of potential startups looking for seed funding, adding he expects the firm to start writing cheques very soon.
“It’s really inspiring to see all the different companies that are coming through our pipeline from all across the country,” he says. “If we can inspire more and more new Canadians to really build for the betterment of our country, then we believe our work in some way has really been done.”
As a proud resident of the nation’s capital for more than 15 years, Agyemang hopes some of Maple Bridge Ventures’ portfolio companies will spring from his own backyard.
“Maybe in a small way we can help get Ottawa back on the map as Silicon Valley of the north. We’re happy to play our part in the local ecosystem.”
