East Coast Venture Capital Firm Gets Boost From N.B. Innovation Foundation
HALIFAX – The New Brunswick Innovation Foundation (NBIF) is giving a new venture capital firm a financial boost.
NBIF announced Thursday that it’s committed $500,000 to Concrete Ventures, a venture capital firm that focuses on pre-seed investments in promising startups in Atlantic Canada. Concrete Ventures counts more than 20 limited partners, including some of the region’s top entrepreneurs and investors, with the fund now standing at nearly $18-million.
“Our mission at NBIF is to find and support the startups with the most potential to build a globally relevant business,” said Thomas Bird, investment associate with NBIF, in a release. “That’s a mission shared by Concrete Ventures. They have an investment thesis very similar to NBIF’s, so our approach to investing is clearly aligned. By making this funding available to them, we will expand our startup portfolio while delivering strong financial returns to NBIF that we will in turn invest in other companies.”
Halifax-based Concrete Ventures was launched in early 2019 and has made investments in eight startups located in Atlantic Canada since then, including Motryx, SalesRight, Securicy and Rally.
The firm is headed up by general partner Patrick Hankinson, the founder behind Tether and Complir, which was acquired by lynda.com and subsequently LinkedIn. Hankinson has been an active investor with investments in numerous start-up companies prior to launching Concrete Ventures.
“NBIF is one big reason why New Brunswick has excelled as a startup hub. They have a strong team with a professional and rigorous approach to making investment decisions. By working together, we can find and fund more of the most promising startups Atlantic Canada has to offer,” said Hankinson. “This kind of regional support is important to the startup ecosystem here in Atlantic Canada. We’re looking forward to working collaboratively with NBIF.”