BDC Adds Money to Boris Wertz’s Version One Ventures Fund, Vows to Support Canadian Angels

Boris Wertz successfully raised $15 million for Version One Ventures last summer.

With the original target set at $10 million, V1V was already oversubscribed. Now the Vancouver superangel has received an additional investment from the Business Development Bank of Canada. It’s the first time that the BDC has backed an angel in this fashion. As a result, V1V’s fund now exceeds $19 million.

Wertz (who is an investor in Techvibes) typically invests between $250,000 and $500,000 in Canadian tech startups in and around spaces like ecommerce and software-as-a-service. So far, V1V has made 11 investments worth $2.5 million. Up to two dozen more startups will receive investments from the fund, Wertz estimates.

It’s a landmark deal for the Canadian bank. But Wertz may just be the beginning: the BDC says it wants to continue to support our nation’s angels.

“Investors who are knowledgeable and involved in their companies are as vital to a healthy startup ecosystem as the entrepreneurs themselves,” notes Senia Rapisarda, Vice President of Strategic Investments and Initiatives at BDC Venture Capital. “We are now making it our business to help successful superangels such as Boris Wertz, who possess a unique combination of operational and venture investment experience, to bring their investment activities to the next level.”

Version One investors include Canadians Jeff Mallett (ex-Yahoo), Ryan Holmes (HootSuite), Markus Frind (PlentyofFish), Hannes Blum (AbeBooks), Elton Pereira (ParetoLogic), Alan Juristovski and Milun Tesovic (MetroLyrics, now CBS), Dave Johnson and Andre Charland (Nitobi, now Adobe), and Patrick Lor (Fotolia, ex-iStockphoto).

Edited for accuracy.