Additional capital for Québec startups

MONTRÉAL, Oct. 17, 2019 /CNW Telbec/ - La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) announced today that it will commit an additional $50 million to Québec seed funds. Through this commitment, CDPQ will support more funds that focus their efforts on fostering the emergence of new, innovative companies. 

Over the last five years, CDPQ has significantly increased its involvement in Québec venture capital funds, including seed funds such as Anges Québec Capital, InnovExport and Real Ventures. This approach gives CDPQ access to a roster of promising companies that often gives rise to potential targets for direct investments, as seen with Hopper, Breather, Dialogue, AlayaCare and many others.

"Without a rich and dynamic startup ecosystem, there is a risk of considerably fewer quality investment opportunities in the subsequent growth and maturity phases, especially in disruptive niches. It is therefore key to invest at the very start, when companies are created, and then monitor their progress over time," said Charles Émond, CDPQ's Executive Vice-President and Head of Québec Investments and Global Strategic Planning.

Seed funds are critical to providing not only financing, but ongoing support for new companies. To provide solid support to these funds' teams, CDPQ has mandated Teralys, with its deep knowledge of the Québec venture capital ecosystem, to manage this envelope.

"This CDPQ initiative dedicated to local seed funds fits well with our desire to help expand entrepreneurship in Québec by providing support with high added value," added Éric Legault, Managing Partner at Teralys Capital. "We are proud of CDPQ's renewed confidence, which over the last ten years has allowed Teralys Capital to build the largest Canadian investor specialized in innovation right here in Montréal."

With the creation of this mandate, CDPQ aims to support the professionalization of new Québec startup managers and ensure they adopt best practices within their firms.

ABOUT CAISSE DE DÉPÔT ET PLACEMENT DU QUÉBEC
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) is a long-term institutional investor that manages funds primarily for public and parapublic pension and insurance plans. As at June 30, 2019, it held CAD 326.7 billion in net assets. As one of Canada's leading institutional fund managers, CDPQ invests globally in major financial markets, private equity, infrastructure, real estate and private debt. For more information, visit cdpq.com, follow us on Twitter @LaCDPQ or consult our Facebook or LinkedIn pages.

ABOUT TERALYS CAPITAL
Teralys Capital is a private fund manager financing private venture capital funds investing in innovative businesses in information technologies, life sciences, and clean or industrial innovations. Our partner funds cover the entire investment spectrum from early stage start-ups to expansion, growth and technology buy-outs. With more than $2 billion in assets under management across four venture capital funds of funds and two additional legacy portfolios of funds, Teralys Capital is the largest innovation-focused investor in Canada. Visit teralyscapital.com for more information.

SOURCE Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec