Radical Ventures Secures $1 Billion for AI Breakouts Fund

Radical Ventures secured over $1 billion USD in its first close of the Radical Breakouts Fund, targeting late-stage AI companies that remain private until reaching valuations of $100 billion or more. The announcement took place during the inaugural Canada Investment Summit in Toronto, hosted by Prime Minister Mark Carney.

The fund aims to reverse a historical trend where Canadian AI scaleups rely on U.S. investors for growth capital, which often results in value creation leaving the country. Jordan Jacobs, co-founder and managing partner of Radical Ventures, stated that Canada has never lacked world-class AI companies, but has lacked capital at the scale required to keep them in Canada as they grow. He noted that for decades, the best companies looked to the United States for funding, and much of the value they created went with them.

Limited partners for the fund include seven major Canadian institutions: CPP Investments, PSP Investments, HOOPP, TD Bank Group, BMO Financial Group, CI Global Asset Management, and OPTrust. While the firm describes the final target as multi-billion-dollar, some reports indicate a specific goal of $4 billion USD. The launch is part of a broader government effort to curb capital flight, coinciding with other initiatives such as a planned billion-dollar fund from RBC.