White Star Capital has announced the first close of its new $50 million North American Seed Fund. The fund is anchored by the Fonds de solidarité FTQ, with additional limited partners including Capital régional et coopératif Desjardins, Fonds québécois d’amorçage Teralys, and TD Innovation Partners. This initiative aims to support early-stage founders across the U.S. and Canada who are building globally scalable solutions.
White Star Capital is stepping forward with capital, operational expertise, and a long-term commitment to visionary entrepreneurs from the earliest stages. The North American Seed Fund builds on White Star’s decade-long track record of early-stage investing, which includes backing over 100 companies and delivering top-quartile returns across multiple fund vintages. The fund will be co-managed by Sanjay Zimmermann, based in Toronto, and Catherine Ouellet-Dupuis, based in Montreal.
White Star’s seed strategy blends local insight with global reach.
North American Seed Fund initiative
Portfolio companies gain access to a broad network of venture partners, advisors, and go-to-market experts across White Star’s international hubs, which span New York, Toronto, Montreal, Austin, Miami, London, Paris, Zurich, the UAE, and Singapore.
The fund will lead investments ranging from $500,000 to $2 million, with reserves for follow-on capital through Series A and beyond. Sanjay Zimmermann, General Partner, said, “As a Series A and B investor deeply embedded in the New York, Toronto, and Montreal tech ecosystems for the past decade, my colleagues and I have always dreaded having to pass on exceptional founders that were ‘too early’ for us. With the strategic support of Fonds de solidarité FTQ, we are thrilled to be in a position to provide North American entrepreneurs with an unfair advantage, even earlier in their journey.”
Dany Pelletier, Executive Vice-President of Private Equity and Impact Investing at the Fonds de solidarité FTQ, added, “Over the past ten years, the Fonds de solidarité FTQ has made direct and indirect venture capital investments totaling $2.7 billion.
With this new seed fund from White Star Capital, we are continuing our commitment to emerging companies shaping the economy of the future.”
Catherine Ouellet-Dupuis, General Partner, expressed her excitement about joining White Star Capital to build a Seed Fund that gives local early-stage companies the backing they need to grow into global champions. She emphasized the value of having the right people in your corner when scaling a business internationally. As the fund moves toward its final close, White Star Capital plans to introduce a new General Partner based in New York to further strengthen its North American presence.