Version One Ventures LLC, the brainchild of Vancouver-based entrepreneur and investor Boris Wertz, has landed $57 million in commitments for its third fund.
“We’re doubling down on all that has worked in our previous funds – our strategy, geography, investment thesis and philosophy,” Wertz said in an October 17 blog post.
“It’s an exciting time to be launching a new fund as our focus on network effects and broad geography are driving opportunities in both existing and emerging markets.”
The company is focused on pre-seed and seed-round investments of US$500,000 to US$750,000 for companies based in Vancouver, San Francisco, Seattle and Toronto-Waterloo.
Version One Ventures promoted Torontonian Angela Tran Kingyens to general partner in September.
However, the newly naturalized U.S. citizen will be based out of San Francisco.
“We now have investment partners located in both the U.S. and Canada, offering portfolio companies strong networks and resources on both sides of the border,” Wertz said in the blog.
Wertz, a native of Germany, was the founder of Victoria’s AbeBooks, which he sold to Amazon.com Inc. in 2008.
Version One Ventures’ announcement comes the day after Vancouver-based growth fund Vistara Capital Partners announced it had raised US$40 million for its third fund.
Vistara’s goal is to raise US$100 million by year’s end.
While Version One Ventures is targeting early stage companies, Vistara managing partner Randy Garg told Business in Vancouver that his fund is aimed at more mature tech companies looking to expand through investments of US$10 million to US$15 million.
