Montréal venture capital (VC) firm Boreal Ventures has officially launched its second seed fund after securing a $43-million CAD first close towards its $60-million target.
Boreal’s second fund will invest in capital-efficient, business-to-business (B2B) Canadian technology startups. The early-stage VC firm announced the news on Monday. It also shared that ex-Lightspeed Commerce president and chief revenue officer (CRO) JD Saint-Martin has officially stepped in as co-managing partner of Boreal alongside founder David Charbonneau. Saint-Martin announced in December that he was leaving Lightspeed to take the new role at Boreal.
Boreal now manages over $80 million across its two funds.
Current investors in Boreal’s second fund include returning limited partners (LPs) such as the Government of Québec through Investissement Québec, BDC Capital, La Caisse-backed Fonds québécois d’amorçage Teralys, and Capital régional et coopératif Desjardins. Lightspeed founder and CEO Dax Dasilva is also an LP in Boreal Fund II.
Boreal was founded in 2021 in partnership with deep tech-focused incubator Centech. Fund II appears to mark a departure from its more than $38-million first fund, which was initially targeted towards deep tech startups. As Charbonneau told BetaKit last year, once markets normalized after a hot 2021, Boreal shifted its focus to software startups building for “overlooked,” blue-collar industries.
Boreal now manages over $80 million across its two funds. This first close of Fund II comes amid especially challenging market conditions: a recent RBCx report found that 2025 was the worst year for Canadian VC fundraising since 2016.
With Fund II, Boreal plans to invest across Canada, with a particular focus on Québec and underserved markets. The fund will target vertical software-as-a-service startups and firms developing AI, industrial tech, FinTech, digital health, and manufacturing solutions with “early product-market fit” looking to build scalable go-to-market (GTM) engines.
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“Canada builds exceptional products, but commercialization remains a key challenge and can limit the growth potential of many promising companies,” Charbonneau said in a statement. “Fund II is designed to help address this gap, and JD Saint-Martin will play an important role in that effort. He brings valuable experience scaling revenue at Lightspeed, along with a strong network and a deep understanding of the ecosystem.”
Saint-Martin co-founded Chronogolf before selling it to Lightspeed and joining the company, where he worked his way up to CRO and president. Saint-Martin told BetaKit last year that at Boreal, he hopes to bring his GTM expertise to the VC firm’s portfolio companies and encourage nascent startups to stay in Canada.
Boreal’s portfolio companies currently include Montréal startups like gym management software provider FLiiP, employee background check tech firm Trustii, and nicotine addiction treatment company Ditch Labs, and Québec City’s Femtum, which is building lasers for semiconductor manufacturers, among others.
Feature image courtesy Boreal Ventures.
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