Boreal Ventures will invest in deep tech companies emerging from ÉTS Montréal’s incubator Centech and the wider Quebec ecosystem.

Canada-based venture capital fund Boreal Ventures has launched with an initial C$26m ($20m) to invest in startups across the Quebec ecosystem, including companies emerging from ÉTS Montréal-founded incubator Centech.
The fund will target deep tech sectors, including artificial intelligence, medtech, industry 4.0 and connected objects. It will invest in pre-seed and seed-stage companies.
Created in partnership with Centech, Boreal’s partners also include ÉTS Montréal itself, the provincial government of Quebec through Investissement Québec, Teralys Capital, Desjardins Capital, BDC Capital and Hewitt Group.
David Charbonneau, managing partner at Boreal Ventures, said: “Boreal Ventures is addressing a real need among companies in deep tech. Cutting-edge innovation is marked by a development cycle that is sometimes longer and requires more capital than its purely software counterparts.
“Consequently, there are few Canadian funds available for this type of company. However, the potential for companies specialized in deep tech is vast and what they create meets the needs of today’s and tomorrow’s society.
“In addition to supporting companies with strong growth potential, Boreal Ventures wants to play a unifying role in Quebec and thus help attract foreign capital to support local innovation.”
– This article was updated on March 1, 2021 after news site Betakit confirmed Boreal had used Canadian dollars in its announcement, not US dollars.

Thierry Heles

Thierry Heles is the former editor-at-large of Global University Venturing and Global Corporate Venturing, and was the producer and host of the Beyond the Breakthrough podcast until December 2024.