BCF Ventures Doubles its Potential Size to $12 million and Presents its Portfolio

MONTREAL, Dec. 11, 2018 /CNW Telbec/ - BCF Ventures, one of Canada's very first super angel funds investing in pre-seed and seed stage startups, is proud to announce that it has increased its potential fund size from $5M to $12M in just six months following its inception and has invested in six innovative companies now part of its portfolio.

Passion led us here. (CNW Group/BCF Ventures)

Led by award-winning techpreneur Sergio A. Escobar, a renowned business mentor in the international startup scene, BCF Ventures has already participated in investment rounds totalling over $7.8M, investing in multiple opportunistic sectors across Canada and the United States with its wide network of international co-investors extending from Silicon Valley, New York and the Midwest to Israel and Asia. The fund was initially capitalized with a $5M investment over a ten-year period from the partners at BCF Business Law, acting as Limited Partner in BCF Ventures¹. With the addition of family offices and wealthy accredited investors as LP's and by doing so, more than doubling its initial fund size, BCF Ventures is now considered a full-fledged venture capital fund².

As a core investment thesis, the fund believes in the future of Cloud & Software-as-a-Service companies leveraging the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data, Analytics and Security. The economic impact of its portfolio companies across industries is impressive as they have a total user outreach of over 200 companies, including Fortune 500 corporations, and over 200,000 suppliers.

Here are the six BCF Ventures portfolio companies:

• Alpin (Colorado, USA) is an innovative enterprise that provides a SaaS data monitoring and management platform for cloud enterprise software applications via a single dashboard. The deal was made in co‑investment with US‑based venture funds such as Next Frontier Capital (Montana) and Rocky Ventures (Colorado).
• BRIDGR (Montreal, CA) is a data‑driven project management marketplace for manufacturing companies to find Industry Experts 4.0 (AI, Robotics, Industrial IoT, Smart Factories). The round closed alongside co‑investor Right Side Capital (San Francisco).
• CareTeam (Vancouver, CA) is an AI‑enabled digital health platform allowing patient‑centered care collaboration for individuals suffering from chronic illnesses. Many venture funds such as Right Side Capital (San Francisco), Globalive Capital (Canada), Atrium Ventures (Canada) as well as renowned angel investors such as Barney Pell (associate founder of Singularity University and co‑founder of Moon Express) and Ajay Agarwal (founder of Creative Destruction Lab) helped close the round.
• FightCamp (Los Angeles, USA), on its way to becoming one of the next giants of the fitness industry, is an AI‑powered interactive at‑home boxing subscription service that allows everyone to train in the comfort of their home. The round closed alongside co-investors such as Panache Ventures (Canada), Y Combinator (San Francisco) and StreetEdge Capital (San Francisco).
• FleetOps (Toronto, CA) is an AI‑enabled freight transportation and logistics marketplace that allows instant matching of trucks to shipments. The deal was made in co‑investment with Hike Ventures (Japan), Fenox VC (San Francisco) and Panache Ventures (Canada).
• Prospectify (Tempe, USA) is a data‑driven enterprise that provides a sales management platform for sales leaders worldwide and has many notable clients such as Facebook, Informatica, HubSpot and ScaleFactor. The round closed alongside many co‑investors such as Techstars Ventures (Colorado), Loup Ventures (New York) and Stout Street Capital (Denver).

"The enthusiasm and the need for funding at the pre-seed and seed stage are huge in the US/Canada and BCF Ventures' unique model has filled that gap, allowing us to quickly develop promising partnerships with major international co-investors. We are committed to helping our portfolio companies grow their corporate expansion and leverage the remarkable capabilities of Montreal as a global hub in artificial intelligence, said Sergio A. Escobar, CEO & Partner at BCF Ventures. On top of that, our partnership with BCF Business Law firm gave us the expertise to develop a strong due diligence process through its certified scientific IP and patent experts. To obtain valuable intellectual property rights for our entrepreneurs and to protect their core proprietary technologies are key components to BCF Ventures' distinctive approach. Ultimately, we want our founders to become world leaders."

About BCF Ventures

BCF Ventures is a pioneer in the Canadian investment scene by being one of the first Super Angel Funds, now converted to a full-fledged venture capital fund. Based in Montreal, BCF Ventures invests at the pre-seed and seed stage of technology-based startups, mostly in North America and opportunistically in Europe/Israel. The fund leverages its extensive network of international co-investors in order to multiply the fundraising capacity of the companies that are selected. As part of the team, Mr. George Korkejian is now Investment Counsel at BCF Ventures overseeing the analysis of investment opportunities. BCF Ventures' advisory committee is composed of Mike Cegelski, Managing Partner of Panache Ventures, Anne-Marie Boucher, tax lawyer and businesswoman, Jocelyn Auger, IP lawyer, Nicolas Bélanger, head of W Investments and Louis Carbonneau, founder and CEO of Tangible IP and Venture Partner at Cycle Capital Management. The Chairperson of Invest in Canada, Mitch Garber, also acts as a special advisor on a volunteer basis.

To know more: www.bcfventures.vc or at [email protected]

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¹ The BCF Business Law's partners have committed to invest $500,000 a year for an initial 3-year period starting July 1, 2018, along other accredited investors who have joined them and committed to invest $700,000 a year for 3 years. A sum that can then be renewed at the investors' discretion, annually, for 7 years following the initial period, which could potentially reach a grand total of $12M over ten years.
² Ibid.

SOURCE BCF Ventures

Media contact: Camille Boileau, Senior Communications Advisor, T : [phone], C : [phone], [email protected]