Inovia hits US$200M first close on sixth VC fund

Montreal-based Inovia Capital has closed US$200 million (C$282 million) in a first close of its sixth early-stage venture fund, putting it more than halfway to a US$325 million target, according to BetaKit, which reported the firm announced the close on LinkedIn on Oct. 19.

The first close took about six months, BetaKit reported. Inovia is aiming to reach its US$325 million target by the first quarter of 2027. With the close, the firm’s assets under management reach US$2.7 billion.

Partner Karamdeep Nijjar called Fund VI the firm’s “first completely AI-native fund” and said the progress came in a “tough fundraising market” because of trust built with limited partners “over many years,” BetaKit reported.

The fund is expected to be similar in strategy and size to Fund V, which closed at US$325 million in 2022. Inovia plans 15 to 20 core investments at the seed to Series A stages across North America and Europe, with a focus on AI-native startups and frontier technologies such as cybersecurity, infrastructure, developer operations, energy, compute, robotics and quantum.

The backers in the first close are returning limited partners, most of them Quebec or federal public and quasi-public institutions: the Business Development Bank of Canada, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, CIBC, Fondaction, Fonds de solidarité FTQ, Investissement Québec and Teralys Capital.

That mix matters for Canadian founders. Public money from Quebec and Ottawa remains a main source of capital for domestic early-stage funds, at a time when Canadian venture fundraising is difficult. Inovia’s close follows other Canadian AI-focused fund announcements, including Radical Ventures’ $1-billion fund and the three AI funds totalling $2.5 billion that were announced last month.

Six partners will oversee Fund VI: Nijjar, Magaly Charbonneau, Shawn Abbott, Kory Jeffrey, Taha Mubashir and Steve Woods. Jeffrey and Mubashir were promoted to partner last year, BetaKit reported.

Nijjar said Fund V has posted top-quartile performance against Cambridge Associates and Carta benchmarks, citing portfolio companies Cohere, Flare, Gaia and Spellbook. Those figures are Inovia’s own claims and were not independently verified. Cohere, one of Canada’s best-known AI companies, recently agreed to buy cybersecurity firm Aisle, one of the areas Fund VI says it will target.

Inovia’s growth equity team, led by partner Mia Morisset, has raised US$365 million of a planned US$450 million for its third fund, according to BetaKit. The firm is also co-launching a US$100-million Venture Scientist Fund with the Quebec AI institute Mila, which was announced earlier this year.

The fund has not yet reached its target, and the final close figures could change. Inovia’s own announcement was not independently reviewed by Canada News Media.

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Source: BetaKit, Oct. 19, 2026.