By founders for founders
It's Canada's time
This will be the largest venture capital fund ever raised exclusively by Canadians, for Canadians, with a focus on helping our founders become world leaders.
True North Fund I will invest specifically in growth-stage technology companies – keeping them in Canada, and driving our innovation economy to new heights. Convening our best funders and founders, the fund will raise CDN$200 million to invest in growth-stage technology companies over the next five to 10 years.
A dream team of funders & founders
Creating a billion-dollar revenue company takes a lot more than simply writing a cheque at the right time. You need the right people surrounding you – peers who have been there before, and coaches who can guide you through difficult spots.
True North Fund I will leverage Canada’s global diaspora, providing access to knowledgeable expats inside the world’s top tech giants, and veteran founders with past successes and stories to share.
A data-driven approach to selecting performers
With the True North Fund I, we will find True North Strong™ companies – elite performers in the tech ecosystem who display capital-efficient growth, scalable opportunities and global leadership potential.
Team True North spotlights the best of Canadian tech—high-performing tech firms tracking to $1 billion in annual revenue with growth rates that match the top one per cent of companies in the world. Why did we form Team True North? Because it is Canada’s time—this is the best place on the planet to work in tech, invest in tech and build amazing things.
Investment team
Chris Albinson, Managing Partner
Chris launched his global investment career at Newbridge Networks and progressed to JP Morgan Partners, Panorama Capital, Founders Circle Capital and BreakawayGrowth Fund.
A five-time founder, Chris has led companies through IPO twice. A proven investor across five funds and more than 70 companies, Chris has achieved a lifetime 3.6x return, returning $1.49B on $410M invested.
Chris is an HBA and MBA graduate of the Ivey Business School at Western University, and has enthusiastically represented Canada on the world stage.
He co-founded the C100, a network of influential Canadians in Silicon Valley, to support Canadian founders at home and abroad. And, in 2021, Chris moved back home to Canada to lead Communitech as President and CEO.
Why True North Fund?
Why now?
Canada’s Waterloo-Toronto Corridor is a diverse, super-connected ecosystem pumping out top founders.
It is the second-largest and fastest-growing innovation cluster on the planet, with more than 200,000 tech workers, 15,000 tech companies and 5,200 tech startups (CBRE).
In the corridor, 150 languages are spoken, and it’s home to 16 universities and colleges including the University of Waterloo, whose startups generate the second-highest investor ROI in North America, ahead of Stanford, MIT and Harvard (AngelList).
University of Waterloo ranks 22nd globally for producing founders and 16th for raising capital. It is one of three schools in the top 25 outside the USA; the other two are in Israel (Pitchbook).
Trust is the new currency in the global economy
No country in the world is more trusted than Canada. Building trust into technology is our competitive advantage. That means big, billion-dollar opportunities for Canadian startup founders in sectors where trust is critical, from applied, ethical AI, fintech and cybersecurity to healthcare, sustainability and smart cities. Canada is outperforming every other place on the planet on AI talent.
Canada is trusted
We’re mindful of the advantages AI can create and the damage it can cause (we’re the place where the robots don’t kill the humans).
Canada has credibility
We’re the first country in the world to develop an AI strategy.
We’re True North Strong™
There’s a narrowing window to realize commercial advantage and claim our position as world leaders in the innovation economy. The True North Fund bridges the gap in the investment landscape for our later-stage companies. The True North Fund exists to supercharge capital available to the next generation of Canadian startups.
For more information, contact Amber French