Canada's seed market is smaller than Silicon Valley and more selective than it was three years ago. CVCA data through Q3 2025 shows CAD $650 million invested across 219 seed deals year-to-date, down roughly 15% from 2024 and back to 2020 levels. Fewer deals are closing, but the ones that do are larger and come with sharper investor expectations. The list of firms genuinely writing first institutional checks has shortened.
This guide covers the 15 funds and investors actively writing first checks in Canada in 2026, with details on who they back, how much they write, and what gets their attention.
Quick Reference: 15 Canadian VCs Writing First Checks
The Canadian Seed Market in 2026
The headline for Canadian early-stage funding right now is concentration. Megadeals above CAD $50M pulled in 60% of all VC capital deployed through Q3 2025, even though they represented just 5% of deal volume. Seed and pre-seed activity has stayed relatively stable in dollar terms, but the number of deals has compressed.
Ontario continues to lead seed activity, accounting for 44.5% of all seed rounds in H1 2025, with Quebec and British Columbia following. AI was the leading sector by capital deployed at pre-seed through H1 2025, ahead of digital health.
One structural factor worth knowing: About 80% of Canadian VC deals involve US co-investors. For founders targeting Canadian-led rounds, the list of domestic first-check writers is shorter than it appears.
1. Panache Ventures
Stage: Pre-Seed / Seed | Check Size: $250K to $1.5M CAD | Location: Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver
Panache is Canada's most prominent dedicated pre-seed and seed fund, with a stated goal of writing the first institutional check into companies across the country. As of late 2025, the firm had backed over 105 companies, with 5 new investments in the preceding 12 months.
The portfolio skews toward AI, SaaS, and deep tech, though sector matters less than the founder's credentials and the scale of the problem they are solving. Panache invests pan-Canadian by design, actively sourcing outside Toronto with investments in Atlantic Canada, the Prairies, and British Columbia.
They co-invest with BDC Capital on a significant share of their portfolio, which often means a Panache round opens the door to BDC follow-on capital.
How to approach: Cold inbound works for Panache. They are set up to receive it. A short, direct note with a clear problem statement and relevant founder credentials is the right format.
2. BDC Capital Seed Venture Fund
Stage: Pre-Seed / Seed | Check Size: $100K to $1M CAD (up to $2M exceptional) | Location: Pan-Canadian
BDC Capital's dedicated Seed Venture Fund is a CAD $50 million fund committing roughly $10 million annually into Canadian software startups. The fund has made 74 investments to date and is one of the few institutional investors in Canada that actively leads first institutional rounds.
The geographic scope is notably broad. BDC focuses on underserved regions, including Atlantic Canada and the Prairies, markets that larger funds typically avoid. For founders outside the Toronto-Montreal-Vancouver corridor, BDC is often the most accessible institutional first check available.
Check sizes start at $100K and go to $1M, with flexibility to invest up to $2M on an exceptional basis. The focus is B2B software, with particular interest in companies building for regulated industries.
How to approach: BDC accepts direct applications through their website. The process is structured and methodical. Expect 6 to 10 weeks from first contact to term sheet.
3. First Fund
Stage: Pre-Seed | Check Size: Up to $250K CAD | Location: Pan-Canadian
First Fund operates at the earliest end of the Canadian funding spectrum, investing at the pre-deck or pitch-deck stage. Their goal is to back 1,000 startups by 2033, which means they move at high volume and prioritise founder quality over polished traction.
For founders who are genuinely pre-product or pre-revenue, First Fund is one of the only institutional options in Canada. Checks up to $250K CAD are modest, but institutional backing at that stage carries a real signal when approaching angels or accelerators for follow-on capital.
How to approach: The process is deliberately accessible. A short application form and one or two calls are the standard path. Response times are generally faster here than at most Canadian funds.
4. Real Ventures
Stage: Seed | Avg. Seed Round Size: ~$2.5M CAD | Location: Montreal (pan-Canadian)
Real Ventures is one of Canada's most established early-stage funds, managing CAD $325 million across five funds with a portfolio of over 210 companies. The fund has backed four unicorns, including Clearco and Sonder, and has logged 43 exits since founding in 2007.
Their focus is on founders building with genuine technical differentiation. AI and enterprise software are consistent themes. The average seed round size across their portfolio is approximately CAD $2.5 million, which reflects a preference for companies with meaningful early traction before the first institutional round.
Real Ventures is Montreal-headquartered but invests across Canada. They run Founder Fuel, one of Canada's most respected accelerator programs, which gives them early access to founders before they are ready to raise.
How to approach: Warm introductions through portfolio founders carry the most weight. Real Ventures is selective and moves slowly on cold inbound. Building a relationship through community events or a Founder Fuel application is the more reliable path.
5. Golden Ventures
Stage: Seed | Check Size: $500K to $2M CAD | Location: Toronto
Golden Ventures is a seed-focused fund based in Toronto with a CAD $100 million fund. Their portfolio is deliberately broad, covering fintech, SaaS, marketplaces, and consumer businesses. The breadth reflects a conviction that strong founders are not concentrated in any single category.
They lead seed rounds and take an active role post-investment, working closely with founders on hiring and early sales. For Toronto-based founders at the seed stage, Golden is one of the most accessible Canadian-led options.
How to approach: Golden reviews both warm introductions and direct outreach. A specific, honest articulation of what you are building and what you need from an investor gets a response faster than a polished pitch.
6. Garage Capital
Stage: Pre-Seed / Seed | Check Size: $250K to $1M CAD | Location: Vancouver (BC-focused)
Garage Capital has backed over 120 early-stage startups, making it one of the most active first-check investors in Western Canada. Their portfolio is broad across SaaS and marketplace businesses, with a particular concentration in British Columbia.
They back founders before fully-formed companies and will engage at the concept stage if the founder has a strong background or a specific insight into the problem. For BC-based founders, Garage Capital is usually the first institutional conversation worth having.
How to approach: Direct outreach is accepted. The team is small. Messages that are specific about what you are building and why you are the right person to build it get through more reliably than generic pitch requests.
7. Luge Capital
Stage: Seed | Avg. Seed Round Size: ~$2.9M CAD | Location: Montreal, Toronto
Luge Capital is Canada's dedicated fintech and insurtech seed fund, based in Montreal. Founded in 2018, they have invested in 26 companies and are one of the few Canadian funds with a defined sector focus at the seed stage.
Their average seed round size of approximately CAD $2.87 million reflects a preference for companies with a real product and early customer validation. They co-invest with Brightspark Ventures and Ripple Ventures frequently, so a Luge round typically comes with a strong co-investor network attached.
For founders building in payments, lending, or insurance technology, Luge is the most focused Canadian seed option available.
How to approach: Fintech-specific cold outreach works here. Frame the regulatory environment you are navigating and why your distribution approach is defensible. Luge responds to founders who have thought carefully about the structural realities of financial services.
8. Diagram Ventures
Stage: Seed | Check Size: $500K to $2M CAD | Location: Montreal
Diagram Ventures is a Montreal-based seed fund focused on fintech, AI, and climate tech. Founded in 2016, the firm has invested in 24 companies and made two new investments in the 12 months prior to late 2025.
They back relatively few companies per year and take a high-engagement approach with each one. For founders based in Quebec or Eastern Canada, building in one of their core sectors, Diagram is worth pursuing specifically. They are more relationship-oriented than most Canadian seed funds, and introductions through their portfolio carry real weight.
How to approach: Founders in Montreal who can get introduced through the local tech community have the best odds. Diagram engages with cold inbound, but relationships built over time close faster.
9. Brightspark Ventures
Stage: Seed / Series A | Check Size: $500K to $2M CAD | Location: Montreal, Toronto
Brightspark is one of Canada's oldest active venture funds, founded in 1999 with a current fund size of CAD $67.5 million. They back enterprise software and SaaS businesses at seed and early Series A, with 48 companies in the portfolio and two new investments in the 12 months prior to mid-2025.
The longevity Brightspark has in the Canadian market gives it a depth of relationships that newer funds cannot replicate. For enterprise SaaS founders selling to financial services or professional services buyers, their introductions are a genuine advantage when opening early customer conversations.
How to approach: Warm introductions through their portfolio are the most reliable entry point. Direct outreach is reviewed, but the team is small and moves selectively.
10. MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund (IAF)
Stage: Seed | Check Size: $250K to $2M CAD | Location: Toronto (Ontario focus)
MaRS IAF is consistently cited as Canada's most active early-stage venture investor, with a focus on B2B software, fintech, and digital health companies in Ontario. The fund is part of the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto, which gives portfolio companies access to corporate partnerships and talent connections that are genuinely harder to find elsewhere.
The fund is designed to be the first institutional cheque into Ontario-based companies, often co-investing alongside angels before helping founders structure a broader seed round. The Ontario mandate makes MaRS IAF less relevant for founders in other provinces, but for Toronto-area founders, it should be on every shortlist.
How to approach: Applications through the MaRS portal are reviewed on a rolling basis. Being present in the Toronto founder community through MaRS events or the Creative Destruction Lab meaningfully increases visibility.
11. Radical Ventures
Stage: Seed | Check Size: $2M to $5M CAD | Location: Toronto
Radical Ventures is Canada's most prominent AI-specialist fund. In early 2024 they closed a CAD $800 million dedicated AI fund, one of the largest AI-focused funds in North America at the seed-to-growth stage. Their average seed round size of approximately CAD $9.5 million reflects the capital intensity of the companies they back.
Radical invests exclusively in AI, covering foundation models and applied AI infrastructure. The bar for getting a meeting is high: a published research background or a technical co-founder with a strong ML track record is what gets attention. Founders without genuine depth in machine learning or AI systems will find other funds on this list a better fit.
How to approach: Introductions from researchers or founders in the Canadian AI research community are the most common path in. Radical has deep ties to the Vector Institute, so that network is worth cultivating before a raise.
12. Relay Ventures
Stage: Seed | Check Size: $500K to $2M CAD | Location: Toronto
Relay Ventures backs seed-stage companies building in mobile technology, connected devices, and B2B software. Based in Toronto, they take a hands-on approach with founders through the early stages of product development and go-to-market.
Their portfolio skews toward companies with a hardware-software intersection or a mobile-first distribution model. For founders building in IoT or connected health devices, Relay is one of the few Canadian seed funds with real domain expertise rather than generalist interest.
How to approach: The team is accessible and reviews direct applications. A working product demo carries more weight than a polished deck.
13. Inovia Capital
Stage: Seed to Series B | Seed Check Size: $500K to $5M CAD | Location: Toronto, Montreal, Calgary
Inovia is Canada's largest domestically managed venture fund, with over CAD $2.2 billion in assets under management and more than 75 portfolio companies. They invest from seed through IPO, so a first check from Inovia comes with the expectation of continued participation through the full company lifecycle.
Their portfolio includes Lightspeed, Snapcommerce, and Coveo. The sector range is broad, covering SaaS, fintech, and AI businesses across Canada, the US, and Europe. Inovia is particularly well-suited to founders who are Canadian but targeting a global market from day one.
At seed, Inovia sets a high bar for early traction. For a founder with $300K to $500K in ARR and a repeatable sales motion taking shape, Inovia at seed is a credible and high-signal lead. For pre-product founders, other funds on this list are better first calls.
How to approach: The team is active in the Canadian founder community and attends major events. Warm introductions from portfolio founders move things considerably faster.
14. OMERS Ventures
Stage: Seed / Series A | Check Size: $5M to $25M CAD | Location: Toronto, London, Silicon Valley
OMERS Ventures is the venture arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, with a portfolio of 98 active companies and three new investments in the 12 months prior to mid-2025. Check sizes start at $5 million, making OMERS the right conversation for founders at the upper end of seed or moving into Series A.
The focus is on enterprise technology, cybersecurity, and fintech. As a pension fund-backed investor, OMERS brings institutional credibility that resonates with enterprise buyers and later-stage co-investors. For B2B software founders approaching a first institutional round with meaningful traction, OMERS is a high-value target.
How to approach: OMERS is selective and harder to reach via cold outreach than smaller Canadian funds. The most reliable path in is through legal advisors or accountants who work regularly with Canadian tech companies.
15. Round13 Capital
Stage: Seed to Series B | Check Size: $1M to $10M CAD | Location: Toronto
Round13 Capital invests from seed through Series B, with a focus on AI, healthtech, and enterprise software. Based in Toronto, they have backed companies including Wattpad, Tulip Retail, and League.
At seed, Round13 backs founders with a clear sense of how they will build a repeatable revenue engine. They back Canadian companies targeting global markets, and their depth in health technology gives them one of the strongest networks in Canadian digital health investing.
How to approach: Round13 reviews direct inbound. For healthtech founders specifically, a technically credible email with specifics about clinical validation or regulatory pathway gets attention faster than a generic pitch.
How to Approach Canadian VCs in 2026
The Canadian investor community is smaller and more interconnected than it looks from the outside. Panache and BDC co-invest in a significant share of early deals. Luge and Brightspark co-lead frequently. Inovia often follows a BDC or Panache seed round into Series A. Getting into one of these networks tends to accelerate the rest of the process.
Warm introductions still matter more in Canada than in the US market. A founder who can get a note from a portfolio company founder at Panache or Real Ventures will move to the front of the queue. Investors across the board are also asking sharper questions about unit economics than they were in 2021. Even at pre-seed, a clear articulation of how you will acquire your first 10 paying customers is more persuasive than a market size claim.
When you share your deck, use a trackable link rather than a PDF attachment. Canadian investors receive a high volume of decks, and knowing when they opened it and which slides they focused on gives you the context to follow up at the right moment. Pitchwise gives founders slide-level analytics and real-time open notifications for exactly this.
The full list of 50 active LatAm investors — with stage, ticket size, sector focus, and contact details — is available in the Pitchwise Resource Library. Download it free here
Frequently Asked Questions
Who are the most active pre-seed investors in Canada?
The most active pre-seed investors writing first institutional checks in Canada are Panache Ventures ($250K to $1.5M), BDC Capital's Seed Venture Fund ($100K to $1M), and First Fund (up to $250K). For Ontario-based companies, MaRS IAF is also consistently active at pre-seed. Outside these four, most Canadian VC activity happens at the seed stage with some traction already established.
How much do Canadian VCs invest at the seed stage?
Seed check sizes in Canada typically range from $500K to $3M CAD for the first institutional round, with pre-seed checks starting as low as $100K to $250K. According to CVCA data through Q3 2025, the median seed deal size in Canada has held relatively steady, even as deal volume has declined. Investors are writing fewer but larger checks. AI-focused companies command a premium, reflecting global trends.
Do Canadian VCs invest in companies outside Canada?
Most Canadian early-stage funds focus primarily on Canadian-founded or Canadian-headquartered companies, though several invest across North America. Inovia Capital, OMERS Ventures, and Radical Ventures all have cross-border investment activity. US-based funds are increasingly active in Canadian deals. BDC data indicates that approximately 80% of Canadian VC deals involve at least one US co-investor. That share is growing.
What sectors are Canadian VCs prioritising in 2026?
AI is the dominant theme across Canadian early-stage investment in 2026, particularly in Toronto, given the city's research infrastructure through the Vector Institute and the University of Toronto. Fintech, digital health, and climate tech follow, with B2B SaaS remaining a consistent theme at seed across all geographies. Consumer-facing businesses attract less institutional interest than they did in 2021, consistent with global patterns.
How long does it take to close a seed round in Canada?
A well-prepared seed round with a lead investor committed typically takes 8 to 16 weeks from the first meeting to close in Canada. BDC Capital runs a structured process that typically takes 6 to 10 weeks. Smaller funds like Panache and Golden Ventures can move faster, sometimes reaching a term sheet in 4 to 8 weeks when conviction is high. Building relationships with target investors 3 to 6 months before you are ready to raise is the most effective way to compress the timeline.
When you are ready to share your deck with investors on this list, use a trackable link so you know who opens it and which slides they focus on. Pitchwise gives you slide-level analytics and real-time open notifications. Start free at app.pitchwise.se.
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