Q2 was a dynamic quarter at Inovia, marked by new investments, follow-on rounds, as well as M&A and strategic partnerships that reinforced reacceleration across our portfolio. We also deepened our engagement with the broader ecosystem by hosting and contributing to several high-impact events.
Here are just a few highlights:
- Portfolio company Wealthsimple acquired portfolio company Plenty, bringing together two teams committed to making financial freedom more accessible for modern families.
- We doubled down on Novisto and Botpress and welcomed Vessel and Diamo* to our portfolio.
- Our 2025 AGM, Cocktail Reception, CEO Summit, and GP Summit brought the Inovia community together in Montreal for a high-energy week of insightful conversations and meaningful connections. In case you missed it, here’s our AGM recap video!
- We participated in the VC Platform Summit in Miami and the first Québec Slush’D, co-hosted a dinner with BDC during Web Summit in Vancouver, joined Invest Canada 2025 in Calgary, took the stage at the inaugural SOHN Montreal Investment Conference, shared insights at Table Ronde in Montreal, and wrapped up the quarter with warm summer vibes at our Inovia After Hours event during Toronto Tech Week.
- Chris Arsenault participated in a Canada–UAE business roundtable in Ottawa, contributing to the shaping of dialogue on scaling innovation globally ahead of the inaugural investment summit in Abu Dhabi this December.
- We also welcomed two new Executives in Residence — Paul Church and Ilia Tulchinsky — to support our healthcare-focused portfolio companies.
Scroll on for the stories and milestones that shaped the quarter.
— The Inovia Team
* Officially spun out of portfolio company Lifehouse, which remains a shareholder and led its $4M seed round announced in Q2-25.
Portfolio News
Fundraising – Portfolio Companies
- Botpress Closes CAD$34M Series B to Help Companies Build and Deploy AI Agents I BetaKit
- How AI Sales Startup Landbase Nabbed Ashton Kutcher’s Sound Ventures to Lead Its $30M Series A I TechCrunch
- Conduit Raises $36M in Series A I Conduit Blog
- ESG Reporting Platform Novisto Fuels Up for European Expansion with CAD$37.7M Series C I BetaKit
- Diamo Lands $4M to Help Smaller Hotels with Revenue Management I PhocusWire
Fundraising – Discovery Portfolio
- AI Startup Decagon in Talks to Raise $100M at a $1.5B Valuation I Forbes
- How Delos is Building an AI Operating System for Business I The French Tech Journal
- Tailscale Raises $230M, Reaching $2B Valuation on Surging Demand from AI Companies I The Globe and Mail
M&A and Partnerships
- AppDirect Gets $100M from La Caisse to Buy Energy Brokers I The Logic
- Cohere Partners with Canada and UK Governments on Secure AI I Cohere
- HealthVerity and Medeloop Strategic Partnership: AI, The Disruptor-in-Chief I Politico
- AppDirect Expands Innovative Technology Marketplace to Own Energy Procurement with Acquisition of Broker Online Exchange I Press Release
- Wealthsimple Acquires Plenty Team to Improve Family Finance I Forbes
- Cambridge Health Alliance Pioneers Jaide Health AI-Powered Translation to Enhance Patient Care I Press Release
- Lloyds and HTS Partner to Launch Travel Booking Portal Designed for Modern Travelers I Hopper
- Jazeera Airways Partners with HTS to Introduce Game Changing Products First Time in the Middle East I Hopper
- OpenAI Rolls Out Nue in Just Eight Weeks I Nue
Hiring, Talent Movement and Board Appointments
- Lark Appoints Boundary-Pushing Hospitality Leader Amber Asher to Its Board of Directors I LinkedIn
Podcast
- Inside the Paper That Changed AI Forever – Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez on 2025 Agents I The MAD Podcast
Other Exciting News
- Karl Moritz Hermann on Reframing AI Problems with System 1 and 2 Thinking I Reliant AI
- Most Ambitious: Bold Visions from Cohere, Photonic, Wealthsimple & Neo in BetaKit’s New Feature I BetaKit
- Q&A with Daniel Saks, Co-Founder & CEO of Landbase I citybiz
- Photonic to Open $49M Quantum R&D Hub in the UK, Expanding Canadian Innovation Abroad I Techcouver.com
- Faster, Smarter Playbooks: Add Fallbacks, Build from Model Docs, and Generate Powerful Rules with AI I Spellbook
- Stephan Batory of Booksy Recognized Among Winners of Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2025 Midwest Award I EY
- Wealthsimple Takes On Big Six With Launch of Credit Cards and Loans I The Logic
- Pine Unveils New Real Estate Tools After Topping $1B in Managed Mortgages I BetaKit
- GTMfund Honored as One of Angellist ‘s Top Funds in Times Square I LinkedIn
- Spellbook Listed in Business Insider: Legaltech Startups Have Raised Over $1B This Year. Here Are 10 Companies to Watch. I Business Insider
- Cohere CEO Claims AI Startup “Not Far Away” from Profitability as It Snags Dell and SAP Partnerships I BetaKit
- AI Firm Cohere Doubles Annualized Revenue to $100M on Enterprise Focus I Reuters
- PayShepherd Has Been Named a Winner of the 2025 Products That Count Awards I LinkedIn I Products That Count
- Navya Gupta from Talent.com Named One of the Top 50 Chief Product Officers of 2025 I Products That Count
- Five New Tech Companies Launched onto the International Stage Thanks to Québec Tech I Québec Tech
- BenchSci’s Casandra Mangroo and WorkJam’s Louise Clements nominated as Two of Canada’s Best Execs for 2025 I The Globe and Mail
- Lakera, Poolside, Reliant, and Tera AI: Four Inovia-backed Companies on CB Insights’ 2025 AI 100 List I CB Insights
- Forbes AI 50 Features Five of our Emerging Managers’ Investments: Clay (Maple), Decagon (Wayfinder), Writer (GTMfund), xAI (Metalab), and Cohere (Union) I Forbes
Inovia Thoughts
Investment Blogs
- Investing in Vessel: A Full-Circle Journey Built on Relationships I Chris Arsenault, Pascale Archambault, and Alexis Garneau
- Doubling Down on Novisto: Why We’re Backing the Next Chapter of Sustainability Reporting I Hugues Lalancette, Mia Morisset, and Rania Ajakane
News
- Welcome to Inovia Executive in Residence Ilia Tulchinsky I Portrait
- Welcome to Inovia Executive in Residence Paul Church I Portrait
Insights
- Revenue Per Employee (RPE) the New Alpha I Felicia Bochicchio
- Unlock the Power of Analyst Relations I Inovia, AppDirect, and Neo4j
- The Board Meeting Playbook for Scaling SaaS Companies | eBook in collaboration with portfolio company Vasco
Our Team in the News
- Europe is Rising on the Radar of Canadian Tech I BetaKit article featuring Patrick Pichette
- Canada’s BDC Makes ‘Buy Canadian’ Pitch to Venture Capitalists I Bloomberg article featuring Hugues Lalancette
- MSBi – Canada’s Most Important Venture Fund I The Matt Roberts Newsletter
- Photonic Inc. Offers a Unique Approach to Quantum Computing I CIBC Blog featuring Shawn Abbott
Podcasts
- Osler Deal Points Report: Venture Capital Financings 2024 I Osler Report featuring Chris Arsenault
- The New Rules of Workforce Planning I What the FTE? Podcast featuring Krista Skalde (also available on YouTube)
Industry Highlight
- Canadian Tech Leaders from Shopify, Cohere, and Wealthsimple Tell the Next Generation to “Learn to Say No” at Homecoming I BetaKit