Inovia Capital
Fund · Montreal · inovia.vc
A Montreal venture capital firm that backs companies from pre-seed to pre-IPO, with two partners based in Waterloo.
Inovia Capital is a venture capital firm that backs North American and European companies from pre-seed to pre-IPO. It says it is the largest Canada-anchored venture capital firm, with US$2.5B in assets under management. Chris Arsenault and Shawn Abbott co-founded it in 2007.
It reports more than 300 investments, 65 exits and more than US$3.1B in exit value.
In Waterloo, Partner Kory Jeffrey invests in pre-seed to Series A companies in software and deep tech, and Steven Woods is a Partner and its Chief Technology Officer. Its team page links to both partners' LinkedIn profiles.
What it invests in
Pre-seed to pre-IPO, through its Discovery, Venture and Growth strategies
Discovery: invests in pre-seed funds (23 emerging managers so far) and directly in startups
Venture: AI/ML expertise, and a focus on Fintech, Digital Health, Cybersecurity, Infra & Dev Ops and the Future of Work
Growth: companies scaling worldwide, with help from its platform team in talent, product and technology, corporate development, and marketing
AI-native companies and frontier tech, naming cybersecurity, infrastructure and DevOps, energy and compute, robotics, and quantum
North American and European companies, from investors in Montreal, Toronto, Waterloo, Calgary and London
Location
900 Blvd de Maisonneuve Ouest, Suite 2600, Montreal, QC H3A 0A8
News & coverage
VC fund coverage (11)
Canada’s Next Chapter: Building Global AI Champions From Home
I sat down with Aidan Gomez, co-founder and CEO of Cohere, at the CVCA’s Canadian Global Growth Forum this week — and walked away more convinced than ever that Canada’s moment is now. The numbers set the stage. Canadian growth equity has gone from $711 million in 2013 to $5.2 billion in 2025, an 18%…
The Open Source Inflection Point
Open source is everywhere. Building a business on top of it has never been harder. The developer toolchain has fundamentally changed. What started as a few essential tools has become a modular, interconnected ecosystem of 10-15+ components; each solving a specific problem, each creating ongoing maintenance surface area. Open source won the distribution battle. The…
Inovia Q2: 2 exits, 2 new investments, 1 follow on 1 new discovery partnership, 1 new partner, and key ecosystem events!
We hope you’re enjoying the start of summer. Q2 was an active quarter at Inovia, marked by several transactions and new partnerships strengthening our platform and the broader Canadian tech ecosystem. Here are just a few highlights: Scroll on for the stories that shaped the quarter. — The Inovia Team Portfolio News Fundraising — Portfolio…
Inovia Capital Promotes Mia Morisset to Partner
Mia Morisset joins the Inovia growth investment partnership after seven years of building the firm, its portfolio, and its people — growing alongside Inovia from a 15-person team to a firm of 50, and establishing herself as a pillar of Canada’s tech ecosystem and recognized leader in travel and hospitality tech. MONTREAL, CANADA — June…
Velocity and Innovation as a Strategy: Building the Canadian Giants of Tomorrow
“Canada does not have an AI supply problem. It has a demand problem.” – Chris Arsenault, Inovia Capital “Choosing not to invest in our Canadian AI champions means choosing to depend on everyone else’s.” – Chris Arsenault, Inovia Capital Canada trains approximately 10% of the world’s top artificial intelligence (AI) talent, yet captures only 2% of global…
Northleaf and Inovia Join Forces to Accelerate Canadian Venture Ecosystem
We are excited to share that Inovia is working with Northleaf Capital Partners to launch Discovery by Inovia x Northleaf, a platform designed to accelerate the next generation of Canadian venture firms and founders. This announcement reflects a natural evolution of a long-standing relationship. Since 2016, Inovia and Northleaf have co-invested across 13 primary, direct,…
Inovia Q1: 1 Exit, 1 New Investment, a Partnership with Mila to Launch a New Fund, and the 3rd Edition of our Canadian Software Report!
We hope you had a productive Q1. On our end, we kicked off the year on a solid note, creating momentum for the months ahead. Our team remained focused on driving the portfolio’s velocity, closing exciting new deals, building meaningful partnerships and sharing insights across the ecosystem. Here are a few highlights of this past…
The Next Layer of the Data Stack: Coordinating Data State
The Entire Data Stack Is Becoming More Modular. Now Someone Has to Coordinate It. Modern data infrastructure has largely solved execution. Storage is standardizing around open table formats, and query engines are increasingly modular and interchangeable. As a result, the hardest problems are shifting away from running workloads and toward coordinating evolving data state across…
Backing Modem – the First AI-Native Product Teammate
Over the past year, the product development world has been reshaped by AI-driven code generation. Building has become faster than ever. Barriers that once slowed teams down are rapidly disappearing, and the velocity at which small teams can ship meaningful software has increased exponentially. Yet despite this acceleration, one part of the product loop hasn’t…
State of Canadian Software: What 2025 signals for 2026
Over the last three years, Canada’s tech ecosystem has progressed with consistency and resilience. Our analysis shows that, in terms of company funding, Canada’s tech ecosystem is currently outperforming major non-U.S. international hubs in Europe and Asia, even as many of those markets experience periods of stabilization or contraction. Here is a peek at the…
Launching of the Venture Scientist Fund with Mila: Propelling Canada’s AI Research into Global Tech Champions
We are proud to announce Inovia’s partnership with Mila, a premier Canadian artificial intelligence (AI) research institute, to launch the Venture Scientist Fund. This early-stage venture capital fund is designed to transform frontier AI research and deep scientific expertise into impactful and enduring AI-native companies. A paper recently co-authored by Mila and Bain & Company highlights that…
Waterloo Region startups backed by Inovia Capital (7)
RouteThis
routethis.comRouteThis WiFi troubleshooting and support platform for Service Providers and Smart Home companies uses connected devices to send WiFi diagnostics and analysis from home networks to your support agents.
Scribenote
scribenote.comScribenote is the veterinary AI scribe trusted by 6000+ vets. Automatic SOAP notes in 2 clicks, custom templates, PIMS integration. Free plan available!
RunQL
runql.comRunQL is a free, open-source SQL IDE or extension for VS Code. Run queries, auto-document schemas, generate ERDs and charts, and save everything as Git-ready files.
Cavelo
cavelo.comCavelo helps MSPs manage cyber risk, reduce tool sprawl, and grow revenue with a unified platform that combines DSPM, data exposure management, and attack surface visibility.
EnPowered
enpowered.comEnPowered unlocks millions in electricity savings for our customers by making it easy to navigate electricity markets and demand management programs.
Vidyard
vidyard.comVidyard is an online video platform for business which allows you to increase leads, accelerate your pipeline and delight your customers. Learn more!
Clearpath Robotics
clearpathrobotics.comClearpath Robotics' fleet of mobile robotic platforms enable researchers and corporations to accelerate their robotics research and development.
From the fund's own portfolio page and public announcements of its rounds. Only Waterloo Region companies in the directory are shown.
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