Inovia Closes US$200 Million First Round of Its First AI-Native Venture Fund

Montréal-based Inovia Capital has completed a US$200 million first close of its sixth early-stage venture fund, about C$282 million, BetaKit reported on October 19 after the firm announced the milestone on LinkedIn. Inovia partner Karamdeep Nijjar called Fund VI the firm’s “first completely AI-native fund,” meaning every company it backs is expected to use AI from day one.

The close puts Inovia more than halfway to a US$325 million target that it hopes to reach by the first quarter of 2027. It took about six months to get here. Returning limited partners include the Business Development Bank of Canada, La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, CIBC, Fondaction, the Fonds de solidarité FTQ, Investissement Québec and Teralys Capital, a list that leans heavily on Quebec institutions and publicly backed capital.

Nijjar told BetaKit the fund will target AI-native startups and frontier technology across cybersecurity, infrastructure, developer operations, energy, compute, robotics and quantum. Inovia plans 15 to 20 core investments from seed to Series A in North America and Europe, overseen by six partners. He credited the performance of the fifth fund, which holds stakes in companies such as Cohere, Flare, Gaia and Spellbook, for keeping investors on side in a difficult fundraising market.

What it means in practice

Inovia Closes US$200 Million First Round of Its First AI-Native Venture Fund — contextual photo

The raise adds private money to a year in which Canadian AI capital has come largely from public programmes, such as Ottawa’s $500 million top-up to the Regional AI Initiative. Inovia is also tied to the research pipeline through the $100 million spinout fund it runs with Mila, and its best-known portfolio company keeps growing, as seen in Cohere’s North 2 launch and PwC alliance.

For founders, an AI-native label narrows the field: companies pitching AI as a feature bolted on later may find the bar higher. The cross-border mandate also means Canadian startups will compete with European and American teams for the same 15 to 20 cheques. Inovia’s growth-equity team, which has raised US$365 million toward a US$450 million third fund, could later follow winners into larger rounds. The first close lifts the firm’s total assets under management to US$2.7 billion.

What to watch: whether Fund VI reaches its US$325 million target on schedule, how many of the first cheques go to Canadian companies rather than U.S. or European ones, and whether the Discovery Program that Inovia is rebuilding with Northleaf Capital Partners brings new emerging managers into the market.