By
Tolu Ajiboye
December 12th, 2019
Luge Capital says that big organizations are pouring massive investments as Canada’s FinTech space is showing considerable growth.
Canada-based Luge Capital has recently secured fresh funding for its fintech-focused venture capital (VC) fund. Luge recently secured $10 million funding from iA Financial Group and BDC Capital which takes its fund value to $85 million. iA Financial Group is Canada’s giant financial services company with over $187 billion of assets under management. On the other hand, BDC Capital manages over $3 billion in funds as AUM.
Headquartered in Toronto and Montreal, Luge Capital invests in early-stage fintech and AI startups to help them build the next-generation financial technology services. Speaking on the latest investment, Karim Gillani Co-Founder and General Partner at Luge Capital, said:
“Our portfolio companies actively engage with our fund investors, trade ideas on industry trends, and work towards commercial partnerships. The backing of iA Financial Group and BDC Capital strengthens our value as venture investors, and better positions Luge to support globally minded entrepreneurs.”
In addition to BDC Capital and iA Financial Group, some of the other investors in Luge Capital include Desjardins Group, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Sun Life Financial, La Capitale, and Fonds de solidarité FTQ. Luge Capital said that this fund will majorly focus on investments in the Canadian tech industry, it will also have some exposure to startups in North America. Speaking to TechCrunch, Gillani said:
“We’ve seen growth in terms of absolute numbers of fintech companies. We think it’s because there’s new access to capital. Companies can now find themselves getting funded and there’s a bigger appetite for larger companies to partner with these startups.”
“Our investors, network of financial institutions and experienced team help us help companies. Over the last year, we’ve developed a collaboration playbook for early-stage fintech companies to work with financial institutions and it’s proving to work well. The addition of iA Financial Group and BDC Capital to the Luge investor base allows us to expand our reach and deepen our ties to industry leaders,” shared David Nault, Co-Founder and General Partner at Luge Capital
Jérôme Nycz, Executive Vice President, BDC Capital, shared that their commitment to Luge corresponds to their aims related to the provision of necessary assistance to promising fund managers in Canada and to win the attention and support of strategic and corporate partners to take part in the venture capital asset class, including the FinTech sector.
