Radical Ventures Secures Over US$1B at First Close of Late-Stage AI Fund

Radical Ventures announced on September 15, 2026 the first close of the Radical Breakouts Fund, a new late-stage strategy that secured more than US$1 billion in commitments and that the firm describes as the largest-ever venture capital fund in Canada.

Commitments came from the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments), the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), HOOPP, TD Bank Group, BMO Financial Group, CI Global Asset Management and OPTrust, alongside other global investors. The announcement was made as part of the official programming of the inaugural Canada Investment Summit in Toronto, which the release describes as the first gathering of global investors, chief executives and business leaders hosted by the Government of Canada alongside CPP Investments and PSP Investments to draw investment into the Canadian economy.

A Late-Stage Fund for AI Scale-Ups

Radical describes the Breakouts Fund as a multi-billion-dollar vehicle that will invest in AI scale-ups it says are on a path to becoming the next trillion-dollar businesses. According to the firm, the strategy targets a market in which the most valuable companies now remain private far longer than in the past, raise one large private round after another and arrive on public markets already worth $100 billion or more. Radical says capturing that value requires private capital on a scale that has so far existed almost entirely in the United States.

The announcement names Cohere, Waabi, Xanadu, Veeda and Aspect Biosystems – each backed by Radical – among the Canadian AI and deep tech companies that have repeatedly had to seek late-stage capital outside the country to continue growing. The firm said the new fund expands its capacity to back leading AI companies worldwide, including in Canada, and gives domestic companies a home-country source of late-stage capital at the scale they need.

Jordan Jacobs, co-founder and managing partner of Radical Ventures, said the firm competes to invest and partner with the best AI founders and companies in the world and wins. He said the world’s most important AI founders often choose Radical to incubate their startups and lead their investment rounds, pointing to portfolio companies including Discovery Loop, Cohere, Waabi, World Labs, Veeda, Xanadu, Etched, Crusoe, Generalist, Prime Intellect, Decart, Latent Labs, Muon Space and Aspect Biosystems.

“Canada has never had a shortage of world-class AI companies. What we have lacked is capital at the scale required to keep them here as they grow,” Jacobs said. He added that for decades this dynamic sent Canada’s best companies to the United States to fund their most important years, with much of the value they created leaving with them, and said the Radical Breakouts Fund closes that gap. The result, he said, is a Canadian firm investing at home and around the world, with investment returns flowing back to Canada.

Canadian Pension Funds and Banks Anchor the First Close

PSP Investments President and Chief Executive Officer Deborah K. Orida said the pension investor has been an anchor investor in Radical since the launch of the firm’s first institutional fund. She said Canada has emerged as a global leader in AI innovation, citing its talent and research institutions, and said investments like these are ultimately about creating long-term value and supporting the retirement of Canadians who serve the country.

CPP Investments President and Chief Executive Officer John Graham said his organization has partnered with Radical Ventures since its first institutional fund in 2019, citing the team’s strategy, network and AI expertise as the basis for its conviction. The new fund, he said, lets CPP Investments extend that partnership into later-stage companies as they scale, with the goal of delivering attractive long-term returns for the CPP Fund.

HOOPP President and Chief Executive Officer Annesley Wallace said that, building on an existing partnership, the fund gives the pension plan an opportunity to earn strong long-term returns for members, deepen its understanding of transformative AI technologies and support Canadian companies that HOOPP believes can become global leaders. TD Bank Group’s Group President and Chief Executive Officer Raymond Chun said Canada has the talent and ambition to lead in AI and needs capital to grow Canadian companies into global champions, adding that TD has partnered with Radical Ventures from the very beginning.

BMO Financial Group Chief Executive Officer Darryl White said Canada has the talent and resources to lead in innovation from discovery through commercialization and adoption, and that Canada’s first bank has been investing in innovation for centuries. CI Global Asset Management President and Chief Investment Officer Marc-André Lewis said his firm’s global search for a venture capital partner for Canadian investors in its private markets funds began with the question, “Who is at the epicentre of AI development?” and led to Radical Ventures. OPTrust President and Chief Executive Officer Peter Lindley said the investment backs Canada’s next generation of success stories while generating value for the pension fund’s members.

Firm Background and Regulatory Filing

The release states that Radical Ventures has invested at every stage of company growth since its founding, from day-zero incubation through pre-IPO, and names Cohere, Waabi and World Labs among the companies it incubated. Alongside its Canadian portfolio, the firm has led rounds and invested in global AI companies including Discovery Loop, World Labs, Etched and Crusoe.

In a Form D filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on September 11, 2026, the vehicle is identified as Radical Ventures Breakouts Fund I, L.P., an Ontario limited partnership formed in 2026 and categorized as a venture capital pooled investment fund. The filing claims exemptions under Rule 506(c), which permits broadly marketed private placements sold only to accredited investors, and under the Investment Company Act provision covering funds owned by qualified purchasers.

The filing states that the fund’s date of first sale had yet to occur, lists the total offering amount as indefinite and records no investors to date. RV BF1 GP Inc. is named as the general partner, and the filing was signed by Jacobs as CEO and director of the general partner. John F. Megrue Jr., Blair Bernholtz and David Katz are listed as executive officers, and the issuer’s address is given as 59 Hayden Street, Suite 300, in Toronto.