OVCF confirms $20 million for EdgeStone's venture fund

On the heels of the breaking news post of last week (“Edgestone VC team wins big backing from OVCF” April 2-09), the Ontario Venture Capital Fund has now formally confirmed that it has committed $20 million to EdgeStone Capital’s third venture fund. From the official press release:

As the lead investor in EdgeStone Capital Venture Fund III, OVCF’s commitment will assist the fund in reaching its first close milestone of $100 million and achieving its ultimate target of $150 million in total capital commitments.

CPP Investment Board had provided EdgeStone’s first two funds with $50 million commitments (see prior post “CPPIB Canadian general partner Q3 2008 performance numbers” February 16-09), but CPP has consolidated their venture effort in a small fund-of-fund model managed by TD Capital Private Equity Partners, who also happen to be the decision-maker on the OVCF.

Some of EdgeStone’s venture investments include: Workbrain, SlipStream Data, Cirba, Solace, RapidMind, pVelocity, Overlay TV, Shoplogix, RedMere, Protus IP Solutions, and Varicent.

Still no public word on the fund commitments that have already been made by OVCF to U.S.-based VC funds such as Mayfield, among others (see prior post “Did the Ontario Venture Fund finally pull the trigger?“), but the Ontario venture capital ecosystem is delighted that 2007-vintage OVCF (see prior post “$165MM MRI Fund: blessing or curse?” December 3-07) is now up-and-running.

MRM