Relay Ventures closes third fund at $150 million, targets early-stage startups across North America

Relay Ventures has closed its third fund at $150 million (CAD$220 million), as the Canada-based venture capital (VC) firm looks to target early-stage investments across the U.S. and Canada.

The new fund comes a little more than four years after the firm’s previous $150 million pot, which was launched alongside a rebrand from ATP Capital.

Founded in 2008 by Kevin Talbot and John Albright, Relay Ventures almost exclusively targets mobile-focused startups and has so far invested $265 million (CAD$355 million) in 76 companies — including Kiip, Luma, Tempo AI, Rally.org, and Scanadu — about a third of which have exited. Relay Ventures has hubs in Toronto and in Menlo Park, California, and for its new fund it has enlisted a number of limited partners, including Royal Bank of Canada, Northleaf Capital Partners, Kensington Capital Partners, Generation Capital, La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, EDC, and AEC.

“Canada has extremely talented entrepreneurs and best-in-class start-ups,” said Talbot. “And while not every company has to be located in Silicon Valley, we believe that Silicon Valley needs to be in every startup. This is Relay’s differentiation, the rationale behind our full-time team in Silicon Valley, and why our entrepreneurs describe us as a top-tier venture investor. It’s an anchor in our strategy that will continue with this new fund.”

During the raising of the new fund, Relay Ventures says that it concurrently invested in a number of new companies across North America, including FreshGrade, which closed an $11.6 million fund back in May. That very same month, Norman Winarsky, Siri cofounder and ex-SRI Ventures president, joined Relay Ventures as its first-ever executive in residence (EIR).

Relay Ventures III comes hot on the heels of Menlo Park’s Redpoint Ventures, which recently announced a $180 million pot aimed at China; Northzone, which closed a fresh $335 million fund; Partech Ventures, which announced a $440 million fund; E.ventures, which launched a $150 million fund; Accel, which introduced a $500 million fund; Index Ventures, which sealed a $550 million pot; and Marlin Equity Partners, which dealt out its first dedicated European offering in the form of a $360 million fund. A brand-new Silicon Valley firm called Clear Ventures also cropped up and launched with $120 million for early-stage startups.