Women-owned venture capital firm bags US$90m for inaugural fund

Toronto-based Cross-Border Impact Ventures (CBIV) has announced the final closing of its first fund after exceeding US$90m in investor commitments.

The Women’s and Children’s Health Technology Fund will focus on investments in technology companies that address the health needs of women, children and adolescents.

The final close’s limited partners include KfW, M&G Catalyst, Wire Group and a large number of family offices and foundations. They join multiple prior investors, including J&J Impact Ventures, an impact fund within the Johnson & Johnson Foundation.

CBIV invests in health technology companies with global growth, high return and impact potential. The firm’s primary focus is on medical device, diagnostic and digital health companies based in North America and Europe that are globally relevant, including in emerging markets.

Target investments include healthcare software companies with US$1m-US$10m in revenue, as well as companies developing technologies that require regulatory approval and have at least one product that is CE Mark or FDA-approved.

The Women’s and Children’s Health Technology Fund is hoped to use a gender lens to invest and work with portfolio companies to improve their diversity and ensure products reach a broader audience.

Annie Thériault, managing partner at CBIV, said: “Our current portfolio has the potential to make a difference in the lives of millions of women, children and adolescents in North America and Europe, in addition to targeting underserved populations in emerging markets.

“Our fundraising success proves that there is a large pool of investors that believes they can earn market returns while achieving ambitious impact targets with their dollars.”

Donna Parr, managing partner at CBIV, added: “Our unique expertise in investing in medtech and health tech companies focused on women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health along with our impact approach is sought after by pipeline companies.

“We bring in industry and clinical experts from our international network to unlock growth and impact and we are building a portfolio of investments that we know is of interest to strategic acquirers.”

Since CBIV’s launch in December 2021, the firm has made five investments, backing the health infrastructure software company Pendulum, the UK-based gynaecological start-up Daye, the medical device company mOm Incubators, the French software development company Sonio and the digital health platform OncoLens.