We hope you had a great summer and are recharged for a busy fall ahead.
Our team of company builders was hard at work, driven by a strong pipeline of opportunities across venture and growth, and the continued momentum in our portfolio.
Here are a few highlights of this past quarter:
- Check Point® Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP) announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire portfolio company Lakera
- SecurityScorecard acquired portfolio company HyperComply to bring AI-powered automation to supply chain risk management
- Portfolio company Wealthsimple acquired portfolio company Fey, to bolster its investment research capabilities
- We co-led Cohere‘s $600M round to build a global champion in enterprise AI
- We also doubled down on Cavelo and Bench IQ, and welcomed Credibur, Miru, Belfort, and GoodFit to our discovery portfolio
- We welcomed Telegraph Ventures to our portfolio of emerging managers
- We co-organized Canadian Innovation Delegations in Saudi Arabia and in the UAE with the Canadian Embassies, bringing together Canadian tech companies, VCs, and AI research institutions to meet with key stakeholders and explore new technology, investment, and research partnerships. More details in The Logic’s recent article!
- Chris Arsenault and Patrick Pichette joined a Mila roundtable with Prime Minister Carney and Minister Solomon to participate in shaping Canada’s AI future
- Patrick Pichette was invited to join the new AI Task Force to help Ottawa update its AI strategy
- From Startupfest, Forum Fintech Canada, ALL IN, and the return of our Montreal Tech Rides, to the inaugural Waterloo Tech Week, J.P. Morgan 100 Club in the Nordics, SKIFT Global Forum in New York, and the networking breakfast we hosted in London featuring Fractile’s CEO, our team remained active throughout the quarter, sharing insights and building connections across the tech ecosystem
- Finally, we launched our Canadian Roots. Global Mindset. campaign, where some of the most ambitious founders in the country shared their thoughts on the country’s AI leadership and VC ecosystem, and why they chose to build in Canada.
Read below for more about additional activities during the last quarter!
— The Inovia Team
Portfolio News
Fundraising – Portfolio Companies
- Cohere Adds $100M in Second Close to Latest Round as it Scales Security-First Enterprise AI I Bloomberg
- Bench IQ Raises $5.3 Million Seed Round to Arm Litigators with AI-Driven Intel on Judges I Press Release
- AI Start-up Cohere Raises $500mn as it Challenges OpenAI for Business Clients I Financial Times
- Cybersecurity Startup Cavelo Secures $5-million Seed Extension Round Led by Inovia Capital I BetaKit
Fundraising – Discovery Portfolio
- GoodFit Raises $13M Series A to Reshape GTM in the Modern Era I Press Release
- Belfort Launches World’s First Hardware Accelerator for Encrypted Compute and Raises $6M Seed Round I Press Release
- Miru has Raised $2.7M to Build the Future of Cyber Intelligence! I LinkedIn
- Nicolas Kipp and Kim Kachegarov Launch Credibur Out of Stealth with Their API- and AI-first Platform That Automates the Lifecycle of Structured Debt I LinkedIn
Emerging Managers
- Telegraph Ventures Secures $35 Million to Back Enterprise AI Startups in Québec I BetaKit
- GTMFund Builds Their Own Internal AI Tool Called xVa I LinkedIn
M&A and Partnerships
- Announcing HealthVerity eXOs: Accelerated Real-World Evidence for Emerging Biopharma, Powered by Medeloop, Through Groundbreaking Agentic AI I Press Release
- BenchSci Announces Strategic Partnership with Thermo Fisher Scientific to Create AI-powered Tools to Accelerate R&D Productivity I Press Release
- Check Point Acquires Lakera to Deliver End-to-End AI Security for Enterprises I Press Release
- SecurityScorecard Acquires HyperComply to Bring AI-Powered Automation to Supply Chain Risk Management I Press Release
- ResQ Announces Integration with ServiceTitan, the Leading Software Platform Powering the Trades I LinkedIn
- Medeloop Partners with Stanford Health Care, Unlocking 20+ Years of Health Data for Research I LinkedIn
- Lark Delivers Operational Simplicity and Profitability with Mews I LinkedIn I Mews
- Wealthsimple Acquires Fey to Bolster its Investment Research Capabilities I BetaKit
- Jaide Health Partners with KidsX to Expand Access to Care Through Voice AI I LinkedIn
- Cohere and Bell Team Up to Sell AI Tools to Canadian Governments and Firms I The Logic
- Cohere Partners with Mila and Opens Montreal Office I Mila
Hiring, Talent Movement and Board Appointments
- Lightspeed Announces Strategic Appointments to Its Board to Further Position the Company for Profitable Growth I Press Release
- AppDirect Welcomes CrowdStrike CFO Burt Podbere to Its Board to Support the Company’s Next Growth Chapter I LinkedIn
- Cohere Lands Ex-Meta AI Star Joelle Pineau I The Logic
- Alex Campeau Joins Spellbook as VP Engineering I LinkedIn
Thought Leadership
- How to Get Your Employees to Embrace AI — Even the Ones Who Hate Tech I Fast Company article featuring Ryan Fox, CTO at Super.com
- The Future of Prenatal Care: Fewer Visits, More Connection I Jaide Health Blog
- Bridging the Healthcare Language Divide: AI for Equitable Patient Care I Healthcare Technology & Innovation Podcast featuring Joe Corkery, CEO & Co-Founder of Jaide Health
- The Unheard Patient: How Language Gaps Drive a Crisis in Pediatric Care I Jaide Health Blog
- Tera AI Shares Their First Research Paper, “TARDIS STRIDE: A Spatio-Temporal Road Image Dataset and World Model for Autonomy” I Tera AI
Other Exciting Features
- Neo4j Invests $100 Million in GenAI and Launches Key Agentic AI Innovations I Neo4j
- Hopper Leans into AI With Virtual Customer Service Agent It Says Is as Good as Humans I The Globe and Mail
- Novisto, Certn, BenchSci, Lightspeed on The Globe and Mail’s Top Growing Companies of 2025 I I The Globe and Mail
- Saba El-Hilo, CTO at Certn in Betakit x Toast Top 25 Women in Tech I BetaKit
- Quantum leap: How Canada Became a World Leader in Quantum Tech, One of the Most Promising and Potentially Terrifying Technologies of the Future I The Globe and Mail
- How I Went From Selling Textbooks to Leading a Top Edtech Company a Canadian Business article featuring Maggie Leen, CEO of Top Hat
- AlayaCare Celebrates 10 Million Monthly Visits I LinkedIn
- Spellbook for Law Schools Program Re-launching this Academic Year I LinkedIn
- BeyondTruck’s Natasha Martinez Details the Importance of a Diverse Supply Chain Background: Women in Supply Chain Award I Food Logistics
- Surviving COVID, PMMC Fit & Scaling To $200M ARR: An interview with Hussein Fazal, Co-Founder & CEO at Super.com I Open Source CEO
- Federal Challenge Grants Photonic and Xanadu Funding to Advance Quantum Defence Tech Projects I BetaKit
- Cohere, Ottawa Signs Non-Binding Agreement on Government AI Uses I The Globe and Mail
- Cohere’s New AI Agent Platform, North, Promises to Keep Enterprise Data Secure I TechCrunch
- Canada’s Tech Heavyweights, Including Cohere and Photonic, are Planting Flags in the UK I BetaKit
- Inovia and Discovery Fund Emerging Managers Behind 8 of Canada’s Top 10 AI Rounds I LinkedIn I CB Insights
- Photonic Recognized Among Quantum Leaders in EE Times’ Silicon 100 2025 I EE Times
- Cohere Opens Montreal Office I Cohere
Inovia Thoughts
Investment Blog
- Inovia Co-Leads Bench IQ’s $5.3M Seed to Redefine Litigation Strategy with AI I Karamdeep Nijjar, Kory Jeffrey, and Noah Nagle
Insights
- Decoding Agentic Systems and Tooling: What MCP Enables (and Doesn’t) I Taha Mubashir, Etienne Gauthier, and Ayush Malhotra
- Unlock Your Growth Potential: Strategic Positioning for B2B SaaS I Inovia Blog
Our Team in the News
- Canada’s Tech Leaders Court Oil-Rich Gulf Countries in a Push for Investment and Sales I The Logic
- Canada’s Innovation Delegation sets sights on Saudi Arabia I Arab News
- Debow, Pichette and Pineau are Among the Tech Leaders Who Will Help Ottawa Update its AI Strategy I The Logic
- How AI is Automating Fundraising Processes, I Venture Capital Journal article featuring Vessel & Chris Arsenault
Podcast
- The Venture Cyclist: Etienne Gauthier, Associate @ Inovia Capital on Investing and Innovation I Flagship Podcast
- The New Era of Investing – Lessons Learned for Investors I Travel Tech Insider Podcast featuring Mia Morisset
Other Industry Highlights
- Toronto Tech Week Returns in 2026 I BetaKit
- Nick Frosst Sells Canada I BetaKit (article covering Inovia’s Canadian Roots. Global Mindset. campaign)
- Canada Will Get a National Summit in October to Back Procurement of Homegrown Tech I BetaKit
- Canadian Venture Capital Market Overview H1-2025 I CVCA Report
- The Age of AI: Canadian CEOs — including those from AlayaCare, Hopper and Cohere — are Embracing Generative AI for Its Speed and Efficiency I The Globe and Mail