Maple Bridge founder and managing partner Eric Agyemang says first-generation Canadian entrepreneurs represent a largely untapped resource in the quest to scale up companies and position them as exporters.Justin Tang/The Globe and Mail
An Ottawa-based venture capital fund established to back immigrant-led, agri-food, health and enterprise solutions technology startups has raised $10.2-million and is evaluating investments.
Maple Bridge Ventures said on Tuesday FCC Capital and Realize Capital Partners are anchor investors in the business, which it describes as the first institutional-grade venture fund aimed at the underserved entrepreneurial group.
The fundraising represents the first close toward an eventual target size of $20-million, Maple Bridge founder and managing partner Eric Agyemang said.
The fund, established in 2023, also has backing from Vancouver Foundation and Fairmount Foundation, along with strategic investors and industry players including former Canopy Growth Corp. chief executive officer Mark Zekulin.
How small businesses stay competitive on shoestring budgets
First-generation Canadian entrepreneurs represent a largely untapped resource in the quest to scale up companies and position them as exporters, Mr. Agyemang said in an interview. It’s doubly difficult to build a company while also becoming familiar with a new culture, he said.
Yet many newcomer entrepreneurs have the advantages of top-rate education from institutions around the world, as well as strong links to other markets.
Establishing Maple Bridge addressed a question Mr. Agyemang said he asked himself during a decade working for Export Development Canada supporting small-business leaders: “How do we activate this critical engine to make sure that we are firing on all cylinders, that we are building an economy that is really resilient, but also tapping into all of its potential?”
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce Data Lab recently reported that companies led by immigrant entrepreneurs represented 16 per cent of Canada’s exporters in 2020, up from 12 per cent a decade earlier. That showed strong progress but also a large pool of untapped talent, it said. In addition, 800,000 people were employed by immigrant-led businesses.
Maple Bridge said its initial investments will range from $250,000 to $1-million, and will make addition funds available for follow-on rounds. The company said it will back funders from across Canada whose technology in the three target fields has global scale potential. It aims to support them through a platform that connects immigrant entrepreneurs to funding, mentorships and strategy networks.
“We’ve just begun to tell the rest of the country we’ve built Maple Bridge. We’ve secured mission-aligned investors who really believe in this thesis we’ve been able to develop over the last couple years, and we’re here ready to deploy,” said Mr. Agyemang, who first came to Canada from Ghana to study at Algonquin College in Ottawa, before furthering his education and career.
Grants and rebates lift small businesses out of survival mode
“We are ready to really put that money to good use, to engage the community and ecosystem more broadly,” said Mr. Agyemang, who up until October, 2024, was a past president of the non-profit Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization.
Adam Smalley, managing director of FCC Capital, a division of Farm Credit Canada, said in a statement that he expects its support for the fund will help unlock new ideas for helping producers ensure sure and sustainable food supply.
For Realize Capital, an impact fund managed by Toronto-based Rally Assets, the investment aligns with its goals of “accelerating social equity” by promoting immigrant-led businesses that can have impact and diversify the investment market, said Lars Boggild, the portfolio manager for Realize Fund.
With the first close completed, Maple Bridge also announced two executive additions. Billy Lai, who previously worked at iGan Partners and Deloitte, has joined as chief financial officer and venture partner. Shelley Li has signed on as principal, having experience in startup financing and ecosystem partnerships at CIBC Innovation Banking and Silicon Valley Bank.
Editor’s note: This article was updated to clarify that FCC Capital is a division of FCC, formerly Farm Credit Canada. (Oct. 28, 2025) The article was further updated to correct that update: FCC Capital is a division of Farm Credit Canada.
