Frontier Tech

BDC Capital's Deep Tech Venture Fund is a dedicated venture capital fund established in 2021 by BDC Capital, the venture and growth capital arm of the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), Canada's federal development finance institution. The fund was designed to address a persistent financing gap in Canada's deep technology sector, providing capital to Canadian startups commercializing transformational technologies requiring longer development cycles and specialized expertise to reach commercial scale. The fund targeted investments across four foundational technology areas: quantum computing, advanced electronics and photonics, next-generation semiconductor applications, and foundational artificial intelligence systems. With a mandate to invest in 15 to 20 companies over at least 12 years, the fund committed CAD 200 million to build Canada's deep tech commercialization pipeline, focusing on companies at the intersection of scientific research and commercial viability, often bridging the gap between university spin-outs and Series A institutional venture rounds. The fund made 12 investments before BDC's broader portfolio review led to a strategic restructuring of its venture capital activities following a CAD 220 million write-down in the value of BDC Capital's VC portfolios in fiscal year 2024 (ending March 31, 2024). BDC subsequently wound down the Deep Tech Venture Fund after approximately four years, shifting focus to a defence-technology successor mandate. The fund achieved Closed status as BDC redirected resources toward next-generation technology investment programs, having demonstrated early commercialization potential in several portfolio companies operating in quantum, photonics, and AI infrastructure.

Backed 3 is the third and largest fund raised by Backed VC, a London-based seed and pre-seed investment firm focused on European deeptech founders building companies with global ambitions. The fund closed at its EUR 86 million (USD 100 million) hard cap on November 13, 2025, coinciding with Backed VC's 100th portfolio investment milestone across its three-fund history. Backed 3 represents the firm's most ambitious vehicle to date, expanding investment capacity and broadening its US presence alongside a deepened European portfolio strategy. The fund concentrates on three frontier technology themes: AI therapeutics and computational biology, blockchain and banking infrastructure, and manufacturing automation, areas where Backed has identified compounding technological advantage and durable market opportunity. Backed leads pre-seed and seed rounds with check sizes of USD 500,000 to USD 5 million, taking conviction-weighted positions in early teams before commercial traction is established. Portfolio construction is designed to generate a small number of category-defining winners across a European and global portfolio, with Backed 3 scaling the firm's already proven model from its first two vehicles. Backed 3 attracted close to 50% of commitments from ten institutional funds of funds, including new investors Isomer Capital and Wunderland Capital, with the remainder sourced from over 50 family offices and experienced technology entrepreneurs including founders from Backed's existing portfolio. Backed's first fund achieved top-decile performance, returning 35% of capital to investors in October 2025, providing a strong track record validation ahead of Backed 3's deployment. The fund is based in London and invests primarily across Europe with expanding activity in the United States.

The fund is designed as a European closed‑end venture capital vehicle managed by Kibo Ventures. It aims to back early‑stage software businesses with global ambition, leading or co‑leading pre‑series A and series A rounds. Its investment policy places a geographic emphasis on companies whose center of operations, management or strategic base is in Spain, with the intention that at least two‑thirds of invested capital goes into Spanish companies. The duration of the fund is estimated at ten years from the first close, extendable by up to two additional one‑year periods, and it targets a portfolio of B2B software companies with differentiated technologies and scalable international models. Typical checks are in the order of ~€2 million into early‑stage rounds, seeking minority positions (~10‑20%) in companies ready to scale, demonstrating product‑market fit and growth potential.