Spring Impact Capital unveiled today a $20 million impact fund targeting high-potential Canadian innovation in the fields of health and climate.
“Many structural tailwinds are creating dynamic impact investment opportunities in climate and health,” the company states. “We aim to fill the gap of pre-seed and seed funding for these companies in Canada.”
Founded in 2014, Vancouver-headquartered Spring operates at the intersection of impact entrepreneurship and investing, connecting and catalyzing founders and investors through programs and events.
The organization’s new $20 million venture fund represents an independent expansion of Spring, according to a statement from the company, which perceives “a massive opportunity to generate attractive returns and positive change by investing in early-stage Canadian businesses.”
“The Spring community has been asking us for years to start an impact fund based on the significant amount of deal flow and the broad network of support that we have,” explains Keith Ippel, who cofounded the BC fintech alongside Graham Day and Olivia Hornby.
“We already have a lot of early interest,” Ippel says, “and believe we can help supply the growing demand for impact investing as well as help fill the gap in the pre-seed and seed market in Canada.”
The fund intends to leverage Spring’s expertise in scaling high-growth, early-stage businesses to increase the development of impact ventures in Canada, according to Ippel.
Spring has been supporting rounds for 10 years, funding various ventures including Moment Energy, GotCare, Viridis Research, VoxCell Bioinnovation, and Open Ocean Robotics via the Impact Investor Challenge.
Moving forward, Spring Impact Capital achieved its first close this quarter and is “engaging a healthy pipeline of Canadian companies with plans to make their first two investments before year end.”
“The objective is to invest in the type of companies that you want to see leading the future of the next generation,” says Day, who serves as managing partner. “We believe our first two investments fit this niche: change-makers who have strong indicators of success and the potential to meaningfully influence health outcomes of Canadians and abroad.”
Spring’s fund is fixed toward companies with values-driven leadership “seeking to scale solutions where profitability is aligned with a positive influence on people or the planet. “
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