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Pender Ventures Completes $50 million First Close of Second Venture Fund

We are pleased to announce the first close of our second fund, Pender Technology Inflection Fund II (PTIF II), dedicated to investing in B2B software and health tech at the inflection point between commercialization and scale.

Pender Ventures launched in 2018 with our first fund, PTIF I. The founding investment team and firm, PenderFund Capital Management, have been investing in high potential technology companies for more than 20 years across multiple market cycles. From the start, our vision was to focus on fundamental investment principles: strong unit economics, tangible value creation and large market opportunities. Our mission was to build alignment, transparency and focus in our relationships with portfolio companies and our investors.

The strong performance of PTIF I has validated our strategy while demonstrating our ability to find and support enduring companies with best-in-class technology solutions, built by diverse management teams, that positively impact their stakeholders. Working alongside these entrepreneurs, we have been able to deliver our Fund I investors positive initial returns as well as meaningful co-investment opportunities.

As we launch PTIF II, we are grateful for the support from our existing institutional investors, Export Development Canada (EDC) and Vancity, as well as other individual founding investors. We are also thrilled to welcome new investors Bank of Montreal (BMO) Capital Partners, Kinsted Wealth, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), Pender Growth Fund and many more. Thanks to the support of our investors, we have already completed three investments in Fund II: DistillerSR (Formerly Evidence Partners), Traction Rec and Traction Complete. With their industry-leading products, demonstrated traction and proven management, each company exemplifies our investment thesis. We expect to close Fund II with additional commitments in the coming months.

What can you expect from PTIF II?

PTIF II represents a continuation and scale-up of the strategy from PTIF I[1]. While public markets and private valuations are down dramatically, as long-term investors we remain excited about the vast majority of Fund I portfolio companies and the strategy behind those investments. We feel as strongly as ever about the opportunity for technology to enhance business processes, especially in legacy industries such as healthcare, manufacturing, transportation, real estate and agriculture. We are especially excited to further pursue our B2B health tech thesis, as we see an urgent need for greater investment and go-to-market support in this area. Fund II will invest in B2B companies at the inflection stage of their growth, when early results indicate product-market fit and the next phase of evolution is achieving scale. The fund’s largest area of focus will be health tech – specifically, B2B software companies that improve healthcare delivery, also known as health IT. Under this umbrella, we will invest in areas like clinical decision support, software for drug development and patient data management. The other key area of focus for Fund II will be vertical SaaS companies, especially ones that address a well-defined problem and customer set, operate in markets that are less competitive and have clear paths to profitability and exit.

As was the case in Fund I, our goal will be to find resilient companies that can efficiently transform capital into tangible value. We love bootstrapped companies that have grown profitably, as well as venture-backed companies with strong fundamentals and a track record of capital-efficient growth. When structuring investments, we will continue our flexible approach, investing in both primary and secondary capital, always focused on finding alignment. We will also continue to do the hard work to build our conviction around an opportunity, be it as a lead investor or active syndicate partner.

While our strategy remains consistent, our ambitions and scale have increased. With more available capital, we can better support our companies with our initial investment and follow-on capital. The increased fund size has also enabled us to grow our team with an eye toward becoming a truly pan-Canadian firm. As we expand our investment activity across the country, we plan to make larger contributions to Canada’s burgeoning innovation ecosystems.  

Investing The Pender Ventures Way

Our values at Pender Ventures also proudly remain the same. We invest “The Pender Ventures Way,” which means we are highly cognizant of the effect our decisions can have upon our companies, communities and planet. When assessing investments, we employ a framework focused on diversity as well as environmental, social and governance factors. Our aim is to back companies that not only demonstrate strong investment outcomes, but also make a fundamentally positive impact on our world. Once invested, we are committed partners, providing hands-on support from our investment and platform team, our network of venture partners and advisors, and the entire PenderFund Capital Management team.

As we enter our next chapter at Pender Ventures, you can expect to hear more updates on our investments, ecosystem activities and market insights. Whether you are a founder, investor, service provider or ecosystem champion, we would love to connect and explore collaboration.


[1] Please note that Fund II is a separate and distinct fund from Fund I and that the results of our first fund are not indicative of the performance of our second fund.

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