Radical Ventures Launches Record-Breaking US$1-Billion AI Fund
Canadian venture capital firm Radical Ventures has secured US$1 billion for its new Breakouts Fund, setting a record for Canadian VC fundraising. The fund aims to reach US$4 billion and will invest up to US$250 million per company in scaleup AI firms.
Radical Ventures, the Canadian venture capital firm co-founded by Jordan Jacobs and Tomi Poutanen, has launched its new Breakouts Fund with US$1 billion in initial commitments. This achievement marks a record for Canadian venture capital fundraising, establishing the Breakouts Fund as Canada's largest venture capital vehicle to date.
The fund has an ambitious target of reaching US$4 billion, according to two sources familiar with the matter, although founder Jordan Jacobs confirmed only a "multi-billion dollar" goal. The strategy behind the Breakouts Fund is to address the trend of top-tier tech companies remaining private longer, often with valuations in the tens or hundreds of billions. Radical Ventures plans to initially invest up to US$250 million apiece in 12 scaleup companies that it believes have the potential to become trillion-dollar-valued businesses.
Key investors backing this initiative include major Canadian pension funds and banks such as the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP), Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP), TD, CI Global Asset Management, OPSEU Pension Trust, and Bank of Montreal (BMO). Prime Minister Mark Carney highlighted the fund at his global investment summit, where Jacobs spoke on a panel.
Radical Ventures currently manages US$2.5 billion in assets. The firm was founded after Jacobs and Poutanen sold their startup, Layer 6, to Toronto Dominion Bank. Poutanen left TD as chief AI officer in 2022 to build Signal1 AI Inc. but remains a partner at Radical Ventures. The firm has previously backed prominent AI companies including Waabi Innovation Inc., Aspect Biosystems Ltd., and Cohere Inc.
The launch of the Breakouts Fund enables Canadian financiers to participate meaningfully in massive AI funding rounds that were previously beyond their capacity. It also supports the growth of Toronto as a leading AI hub by retaining talent and backing local startups. Notably, Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez co-authored the 2017 Google paper "Attention is All You Need," which inspired Jacobs and Poutanen.