Is Vancouver ready for a new seed fund?
Summary of my meetings with investors and founders
We’ve been investing in Vancouver tech since 2015. In addition to the many organic reasons to be optimistic about a thriving local tech scene, our strategy of investing in seed-stage startups founded by Global entrepreneurs with an Iranian background meant that we needed to have a strong presence here.
The talent movement from Iran to the US and Canada and to a lesser extent the UK has become a cadence since the early 90s. The educational system back home has consistently produced high quality academic and junior tech talent. We provided funding support so this talent can turn into a globally competitive entrepreneurial force.
With a recent relocation to Vancouver, I started thinking about launching a seed fund in Vancouver. I met many local investors and founders and asked them this question:
Is Vancouver ready for a Silicon Valley style seed fund?
The short answer: NO.
I grouped the reasons into two:
- Culture
- Liquidity
Culture includes: conservative culture of the potential LP base here; laid back work culture and a preference to build tech startups rather than financial ones.
Liquidity includes: lack of quality deal flow; lack of large exists (hence capital and talent recycling) and lack of tangible value-add of a seed fund for investors given the management fees and long fund cycles.
What do you think?
