Canadian business news — White Star Capital has launched a new seed fund to fill what it calls a critical gap in Canada’s venture capital market. The global, multi-stage VC firm secured a first close of $25 million USD for its North American Seed Fund, with a $50-million USD target — and the explicit goal of leading pre-seed and seed rounds for tech startups across Canada and the United States.
By Maplestime Business Desk | Toronto, Ontario | September 19, 2026
Sources: BetaKit, Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association | Last updated: September 19, 2026
Key Takeaways
- White Star Capital’s North American Seed Fund closed $25M USD of a $50M USD target
- The fund aims to lead pre-seed and seed financings — the exact stage where Canadian VC is collapsing
- Backers: Fonds de solidarité FTQ (anchor), Capital régional et coopératif Desjardins, La Caisse-funded Fonds québécois d’amorçage Teralys, and TD Innovation Partners
- Co-led by GPs Sanjay Zimmermann (Toronto) and Catherine Ouellet-Dupuis (Montréal, ex-Workleap, helped scale to $100M+ ARR); third GP in New York planned
- Strategy: 30 companies, initial cheques of $500K–$2M USD, “golden triangle” of Montréal, Toronto, and New York
The Gap White Star Wants to Fill
Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association data shows a steep decline in pre-seed and seed investment activity in Canada. Québec’s numbers are slightly stronger, but industry leaders have been sounding the alarm over poor fundraising figures for startups and VCs, declining entrepreneurship, and performance anxiety.
White Star general partner Sanjay Zimmermann told BetaKit he is “definitely concerned” about the state of early-stage Canadian VC. The firm’s diagnosis: “the missing piece” is a lack of lead investors at the seed stage capable of writing cheques above $1 million. CMD Capital set out to tackle the same problem but fell short after failing to secure anchor investors.
White Star’s bet is that with institutional backing, it can succeed where others stalled.
Big Canadian Institutions Are Backing the Bet
White Star secured backing from a slate of heavyweight Canadian institutions. Fonds de solidarité FTQ is anchoring the fund. Other limited partners include Capital régional et coopératif Desjardins, the La Caisse-funded Fonds québécois d’amorçage Teralys, and Toronto-Dominion Bank’s TD Innovation Partners (TDIP).
“By investing in White Star Capital’s new fund, [TDIP] aims to help fill this critical early-stage funding gap in the Canadian innovation ecosystem, helping to give founders the backing they need to launch, grow, and scale their ventures,” TDIP director of capital solutions Michelle Sabourin told BetaKit.
“We’ve been really happy with our track record overall in Canada,” Zimmermann said.
The Team and the Strategy
Zimmermann, a Toronto-based VC who has been with White Star for nearly nine years and was recently promoted to GP, is co-leading the fund alongside fellow GP Catherine Ouellet-Dupuis. She is based in Montréal and previously served as chief legal officer and chief strategy and corporate development officer at HR tech company Workleap, helping it scale past $100 million in annual recurring revenue. Zimmermann said the pair brings “complementary” skillsets across operations and VC investing. With its final close, White Star plans to add a third GP based in New York, where the firm already has a presence.
The investment thesis centres on what Ouellet-Dupuis calls a “golden triangle of Montréal, Toronto, [and] New York” — three markets where the fund will focus and work closely with founders based in or near each city.
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The fund’s goal is to exclusively lead and co-lead rounds while building a 30-company portfolio, likely deploying more capital in Canada than in the US. It will write initial cheques of $500,000 to $2 million USD, with follow-on capital reserved to support breakout companies through Series A and beyond. The firm is currently finalizing its first two investments.
Investments will be a mix of software startups — both business-to-business and direct-to-consumer — but not biotech, deep tech, or particularly capital-intensive businesses. Themes of interest include automation, cybersecurity, healthtech, and the sustainable economy.
The Firm Behind the Fund
White Star was founded in 2014 by managing partners Eric Martineau-Fortin and Jean-Francois Marcoux — both Canadian — as well as former co-leader Christian Hernandez Gallardo. It is headquartered in the UK and New York, with a strong presence in Canada. Since its founding, White Star claims it has backed more than 100 companies globally, growing to 50 employees (including seven in Canada) and $1 billion USD in total assets under management, with operations across North America, Europe, and Asia.
Maplestime will provide updates from Canada’s venture capital scene as announcements are made.
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Can one $50-million fund fix Canada’s seed-stage funding crisis — or is the problem deeper than any single chequebook can solve? Tell us in the comments, and share this with every founder who’s been told to “come back at Series A.”
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