TORONTO and MONTREAL, March 10, 2022 – Portage Ventures (“Portage”) announced the sixth closing of Portage Ventures III LP (together with its parallel funds and master fund, “Portage III”), its third venture fund focused on fintech investments in the United States, Canada and Europe. Portage III has raised US$616M to date, making it one of the largest early-stage fintech-focused venture funds in the world. Portage’s aggregate AUM, including Fund I and Fund II, has grown to $3.3B as of December 31, 2021. The fund received commitments from new and existing capital partners, including family offices, financial institutions, pension funds, and institutional investors worldwide.
The opportunity to invest in a Portage fund is also open to individual Canadian accredited investors for the first time. This access is available exclusively through Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. Portage expects to hold the final close for Portage III in April 2022.
“We are thrilled to welcome returning and new investors to the Portage family. Through these partnerships, we are building a truly global platform,” said Paul Desmarais III, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Portage Ventures and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sagard. “We have created a unique fintech ecosystem with deep expertise and a powerful network. We have a focused, thesis-driven approach, and we are delivering strong results.” Portage has delivered a 57.5% and 54.9% Net Fund ITD IRR for Funds I (2016 vintage) and II (2018 vintage), respectively. Please see below for additional information on these performance measures.
Portage has steadily increased its geographic reach in the US and abroad since its founding in 2016. Portage’s five largest portfolio investments by fair market value as of December 31, 2021, in Fund I and Fund II, are Wealthsimple, KOHO, Clark (Germany), Albert (US), and Alpaca (US). Additionally, Portage III has deployed close to $110M, with over half invested in US-based companies and the rest covering fintechs in Europe, Australia, Canada, and Israel.
“We are proud that in just over five years, Portage has grown to become a global leader in the early-stage fintech venture space, with 62 portfolio investments by three fund vintages in 13 countries. We look forward to continuing to empower entrepreneurs in reshaping financial services across our key investment verticals in wealth and asset management, insurance, and consumer and small business finance,” said Adam Felesky, Co-Founder and CEO of Portage Ventures.
Portage delivers value above and beyond financing through access to seasoned advisors, as well as an expert partnership and value creation team providing support to portfolio companies and LPs in areas such as growth, enterprise sales, cybersecurity and commercial partnership opportunities.
New LPs investing in Portage III include HarbourVest Partners, Kensington Capital Partners and Meridian Credit Union.
They join previous LPs in Portage III, such as Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) and Eldridge.