Canada’s largest-ever venture capital fund plans to make substantial investments in a concentrated group of fast-growing companies across the Western world.
BNN Bloomberg spoke with Jordan Jacobs, managing partner and co-founder of Radical Ventures, about the Radical Breakouts Fund, the investment climate in Canada and the country’s potential to produce global technology leaders.
Key Takeaways
- The fund secured more than US$1 billion at its initial close and is ultimately expected to become a multibillion-dollar vehicle.
- Its backers include major Canadian pension funds, banks and asset managers, along with international investors.
- Larger investments will allow promising businesses to continue scaling as they approach initial public offerings.
- Canada could support domestic technology companies by becoming an earlier and more confident customer of homegrown innovation.
- Jacobs said political leaders across party lines are showing greater alignment on creating a more attractive investment environment.
Read the full transcript below:
LINDSAY: Toronto-based Radical Ventures is launching Canada’s biggest-ever venture capital fund, valued at US$1 billion. One of the stated goals of the fund is to create trillion-dollar companies. And here to tell us more is Jordan Jacobs, managing partner and co-founder of Radical Ventures. It’s great to have you join us. Thank you.
JORDAN: Thanks for having me.
LINDSAY: So, why is now the first time a US$1-billion fund has been created here in Canada?
JORDAN: Yeah, so this will actually be a multibillion-dollar fund. We closed just over one in our first close. The opportunity is now for a company like us to invest in both Canadian companies and foreign companies that are on their way to being worth a trillion dollars. We’re seeing this inflection in AI go from the labs into companies, and the growth of some of these companies now is extraordinary. So, we’re leading lots of deals in the best companies in the world, in Silicon Valley, London, New York and, of course, in Canada. And we look forward to doing that. This fund gives us the opportunity to write much bigger cheques into the fastest companies on the biggest growth trajectories.
LINDSAY: How did this fund come together, and who’s backing you?
JORDAN: We’ve announced the first group of backers: Canada Pension Plan, PSP, who’ve been with us for a very long time, along with TD, CI, OPTrust, HOOPP and BMO. So, some great Canadian backers. We have a big group of international backers as well, and it came together pretty quickly. We had a lot of demand from founders that we’ve known for a long time, both inside and outside the portfolio, to write bigger cheques as they scale into IPOs. We hadn’t been able to do that in the past. We went to our existing LPs with this plan, and they got behind it very quickly. We basically did this over the summer, killed some summer vacations for some lawyers and others, but got it done pretty quickly and announced it at the summit a couple of days ago.
LINDSAY: And where are you planning to invest the new fund?
JORDAN: We’re able to invest anywhere in the Western world. The goal is to invest in the 12 best companies on their way to trillion-dollar valuations. We think there’s a number of companies in Canada that will end up being in the fund. We’re excited to invest in them in particular.
LINDSAY: Yeah, because, as you say, you’re trying to help create trillion-dollar companies. Currently, Canada’s largest company is Royal Bank, which has a market capitalization of just under $400 billion. In addition to deeper capital markets, what does Canada need to do to develop these types of companies?
JORDAN: You know, we’re the first investors in Cohere, still the biggest shareholders. We’re the first investors in Waabi, a self-driving company. Very early investors in Xanadu, which has now gone public. A lot of these companies are on the right trajectory. They just need the time to execute. I think, as a country, we can become better customers of our own technology. We tend to wait for Americans and others to become customers and then come in. So, I think we need to have more self-confidence about making the decision that these companies actually deliver world-class technology and become customers without waiting for others to give that imprimatur to it. And we also need to celebrate our successes. We have extraordinary companies. I mean, outside of the U.S. and China, there are two companies in the world that build world-class LLMs: one in France, one in Canada. And I think we need to celebrate those successes in the way that countries around the world do. You know, we live next to the best marketers in the world, and maybe we are the least-good marketers, in some ways, about our successes. We need to lean into it more and celebrate those successes.
LINDSAY: You talk about the growth being extraordinary for some of these companies. You say a number of Canadian companies would fit the bill. Do you have any in mind that you could kind of share as examples?
JORDAN: Well, the ones I just mentioned, for sure. Cohere is on that trajectory. Waabi, we believe, is on that trajectory. Another company we invested in, called Aspect Biosystems in Vancouver, does tissue printing to cure disease. It’s cured Type 1 diabetes in animals. We’ll go into human trials soon. These are companies where the founders want to build $100-billion to trillion-dollar companies, and they’ve committed to doing it in Canada. They’ve had lots of opportunities to leave and be acquired, and have refused that opportunity along the way. So, I think — and those are just a few — there’s many more. We’re excited about the number of companies that are on that trajectory now.
LINDSAY: You announced this fund at the Canada Investment Summit. I wonder, like, what was your experience like at this summit?
JORDAN: I think it was great. I mean, it was an amazing experience to watch so many leaders of so many capital allocators globally come to the country, many for the first time, and hear this message, and then basically reflect back to us incredible optimism and enthusiasm about investing in Canada. So, I hope this is the first of many of these summits, but it was pretty extraordinary. I mean, you had the leaders of $120 trillion worth of capital all together at the same time, listening to the Canadian story, convened by the prime minister and the CEOs of PSP and CPP. They did an extraordinary job getting the people into the country and into the room together. I think we’ll be able to measure this over the coming years. But there was a lot of enthusiasm among the group that came in.
LINDSAY: Yeah. Do you think Canada’s investment environment is genuinely changing in a way that will make it more attractive for investors and capital coming into Canada?
JORDAN: There’s no question. I mean, we heard it from across the political spectrum, from premiers who come from a different party than the prime minister. At a dinner, I sat beside the premier of Alberta; sat at another dinner with the premier of Saskatchewan. They all felt like this federal government is open for business, understands their needs, and everyone is on the same page about wanting to create an environment that is most conducive to investment.
LINDSAY: Okay, we’ll leave it there for now. Jordan Jacobs, managing partner and co-founder of Radical Ventures, appreciate you joining us today. Thanks for taking the time.
JORDAN: Thank you.
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This BNN Bloomberg summary and transcript of the Sept. 17, 2026 interview with Jordan Jacobs are published with the assistance of AI. Original research, interview questions and added context was created by BNN Bloomberg journalists. An editor also reviewed this material before it was published to ensure its accuracy and adherence with BNN Bloomberg editorial policies and standards.
