Does Vancouver need a new Seed Fund?
Summary of my meetings with investors and founders
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?