Version One exceeds target, raises $35 million for second fund

Canadian early-stage venture capital firm Version One Ventures has closed its second fund with $35 million in commitments, exceeding the $30 million target, said Boris Wertz, founding partner.

Northleaf Venture Catalyst Fund and BDC Capital are anchoring the new fund and were joined by existing investors from Fund I.

Version One raised about $20 million for Fund I, which closed in 2012. The firm, which is based in Vancouver and has an office in Palo Alto, California, focuses on seed-stage and Series A companies in marketplaces/platforms, SaaS and mobile sectors.

Wertz, who also serves as a board partner for Andreessen Horowitz, said the new fund will maintain the same focus, but will also branch out into healthcare, cryptocurrency and Government 2.0.

Wertz expects to begin investing the second fund right away and will aim to back 20 to 25 deals. Investment sizes will range between $500,000 and $1 million dollar, which is slightly larger than Fund I.

“The larger Fund II will allow us to make bigger investments, lead rounds and do more follow-ons,” said Wertz, who, before Fund I was formalized, was an angel investor in Flurry and Wattpad, among others.

Fund I backed 20 companies, including online cosmetics company Julep; business intelligence platform Mattermark; healthcare app Figure1; and SMB purchase marketplace Kinnek. Version One reported that its Fund I portfolio is currently valued at more $600 million, with the companies having since raised $200 million more collectively following the firm’s initial seed investment.

Update: Earlier this year, peHUB Canada interviewed Wertz about his firm. At the time, Version One Ventures had just been ranked No. 8 in a list of 115 leading North American VC investors.

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