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:
- Two of our portfolio companies were acquired this quarter: Reliant AI by fellow portfolio company Cohere, and Jaide Health by AMN Healthcare.
- We welcomed Float Financial and Ranger AI to our portfolio.
- We doubled down on gaiia, which raised a US$40M Series B led by JMI Equity.
- We partnered with Northleaf to launch Discovery, a platform to accelerate the next generation of Canadian founders and emerging venture firms.
- Portfolio company Cohere acquired Germany’s Aleph Alpha.
- Mia Morisset was promoted to Partner on our growth team.
- Our 2026 AGM brought the Inovia community together in Toronto, and Chris Arsenault took the stage at The Canadian Club of Montreal for a conversation on Canadian AI and velocity.
Scroll on for the stories that shaped the quarter.
— The Inovia Team
Portfolio News
Fundraising — Portfolio Companies
- Toronto fintech Float hits $548-million value with new funding as it pushes into AI finance software I The Globe and Mail
- La Caisse Partners with Novisto to Help Organizations Prepare for Their Sustainability Transition I Press Release
- Exclusive: Ranger AI Raises $8.4M to Automate Industrial Bidding I Axios I Press Release
- Photonic Raises $200-Million, Becoming Latest Canadian Quantum Developer to Reach Multibillion-Dollar Valuation I The Globe and Mail
- gaiia Raises $40M Series B Led by JMI I Press Release
Fundraising — Discovery Portfolio
- Exclusive: Ex-Google CFO backs European payout infrastructure in a €4M raise to fix how platforms pay creators I Tech Funding News
- Record OS Announces Pre-Seed Round Led by Episode 1 Ventures, Form Ventures, Houghton Street Ventures, Inovia Capital, and Others I LinkedIn
- kopa.ai Has Raised €2 Million in Pre-Seed Funding I LinkedIn
- Chips Startup Fractile Raises $220 Million to Speed Up AI Queries I The Wall Street Journal
- Zellify 2.0 Launches and Announces Their $3.7M USD Seed Round I LinkedIn
- Handhold Raises €3M to Replace Fragmented Software Buying Journeys with AI Account Managers I TechEU
Emerging Managers
- N49P Has Raised US$25M for a Major New Pre-Seed Fund I The Logic
Deals, M&A, and Partnerships
- Cyber unicorn Aikido acquires Israeli startup Root I CTech
- AI-for-Health Care Startup Signal 1 Takes Off as It Borrows Page from Shopify and Slack I The Globe and Mail
- LabGenius Therapeutics and LG Chem Enter a Research Collaboration, Option and License Agreement to Develop an AI/ML-Designed Tumour-Targeting Antibody I Press Release
- Neo4j Acquires GraphAware to Launch Intelligence Analysis Alternative to Palantir Gotham I Press Release I Neo4j Blog I Q&A with Michal Bachman 🔉👀
- Engineering Production-Grade Voice Agents with PolyAI and ai-coustics I Case Study
- Cancel For Any Reason Powered by HTS (Hopper Technology Solutions) Arrives at WestJet I Press Release
- Cohere Acquires Reliant AI, Expanding Presence in Life Sciences I The Globe and Mail
- Anthropic in Discussions to Buy Inference Chips from UK Startup Fractile I Data Center Dynamics
- Canadian AI Firm Cohere, Germany’s Aleph Alpha Announce Merger I The Globe and Mail
- Mila and AlayaCare Announce Partnership to Develop Robust Agentic AI for Home Care I Press Release
- Cohere Lands Significant AI Deal with Federal Innovation Department I The Logic
- Ottawa’s Capital Exhibition Centre Announces Rebrand to Cohere Centre in Partnership with Canadian AI Leader I Press Release
- Neo Financial Enters Institutional Capital Markets with $150 Million Inaugural Securitization I Press Release
- Neo Financial and United Airlines Unveil United® Mileageplus® Neo World Elite® Mastercard® I Press Release
- AppDirect Acquires PartnerStack to Build Unified Platform for Partner-Led Growth I BetaKit I Nasdaq Board
- Ensemble and Cohere Building the First RCM-Native Healthcare LLM I Press Release
Hiring, Talent Movement and Board Appointments
- Rachad Alao Joins Cohere as VP, Engineering, and Paul Teyssier Joins as VP, Product AI I LinkedIn
- Spellbook Lands Ex-Shopify CTO Jean-Michel Lemieux in New ‘Executive Skipper’ Post I The Globe and Mail
- Frank Jessop Has Joined Botpress as VP Finance I LinkedIn
Updates & Other Exciting News
- Motion introduces Runneth, the AI brain for Marketing I X
- Signal 1 Co-Founder Mara Lederman Named to Becker’s 2026 Women in Health IT List I Becker’s Healthcare
- Canada’s AI Champion Cohere Is Standing Up the Load-Bearing Walls of Our Economy I BetaKit
- Olé, Oh-l’eh: What a Collaboration Between Canadian and Spanish Tech Companies Means for Digital Sovereignty I The Toronto Star
- Introducing Command A+: Making Sovereign Agentic Capabilities Available to All I Cohere
- A PhD Pivot, a Stint in VC and a Rumoured Anthropic Deal: Why Europe Is Watching Walter Goodwin I Sifted
- Poolside’s Laguna Release Highlighted on Bloomberg I LinkedIn
- Introducing Mozart Studio 1.0 — a Generative Audio Workstation with VSTs I LinkedIn
- Dakota Smith, President and Co-Founder of Hopper, Recognized as One of Canada’s Best Executives I The Globe and Mail
- Wealthsimple Gets Regulatory Approval to Enter Prediction Markets I BetaKit
Inovia Thoughts
Insights
- Velocity and Innovation as a Strategy: Building the Canadian Giants of Tomorrow I Inovia Blog 🔉👀
Inovia News
- Inovia Promotes Mia Morisset to Partner on Growth Team I BetaKit I Press Release
- Inovia Partners with Northleaf to Boost Canada’s Emerging VCs I Venture Capital Journal
- Accelerating the Future: Announcing the Canadian Robotics Council Capital Committee I Press Release
Our Team in the News
- Meet Shawn Abbott: Haskayne ScaleUp Mentor I Haskayne School of Business 🔉👀
- Taha Mubashir of Inovia Capital on the Five Things You Need to Create a Highly Successful Career in the Cybersecurity Industry I Authority Magazine
- Celebrating 10 Years of Espace CDPQ I LinkedIn 🔉👀
- From Hype to Impact: Navigating AI Investment and Adoption in a Maturing Market I Davies
- Why Yield Optimization Is the Only Travel AI Story That Matters Right Now I Skift
- Steve Woods of Inovia Capital on How to Build a Purpose-Driven Culture That Attracts Top Talent I Authority Magazine
- Chris Arsenault, Co-Founder of Inovia Capital, on Building a Billion-Dollar Fund I Instagram 🔉👀