ACTAI Ventures

Azolla Ventures invests in early-stage technology companies with the potential for gigaton-scale climate impact. Azolla Ventures was created by Prime Coalition, a nonprofit organization that partners with philanthropists and other mission-driven investors to support market-driven innovations designed to catalyze, deepen, or accelerate solutions for climate change

Celtis Venture Partners is a venture capital firm with a broad investment mandate. We work closely with our portfolio companies and our investor community to create long-term value. Our team thrives on collaboration, entrepreneurship, and clear, authentic communication.

Capital for an economy that respects planetary limits. Some generations have built cathedrals. Some have navigated across oceans and expanded the frontiers of the known world. Others have had to rebuild war-torn continents. Our generation’s greatest challenge is equally immense: to create an economic system that respects the planet’s limits, and overcome the ecological crisis. If we are to rise to the challenge, we're going to have to innovate. In a radical way. This means taking risks - carefully considered, never unnecessary, ones. Having the courage to take the long view once again. Rewriting the rules of economic activity from the ground up, by standing alongside those who recognize that the greatest ambition of all lies in finding alternative means to create wealth. Our mission is to support the entrepreneurs who are repairing the world - from the very beginning of their journey, and with no time limit on our commitment. How? By bringing together a broad and diverse community of first-rate investors, and steering the flow of capital to where it is most likely to make a difference. One sector at a time, one start-up at a time, thereby increasing the number of tipping points. Allowing what will save us to thrive in the face of overwhelming adversity. So that we can finally initiate the systemwide transformational change which all of us are calling for, without always knowing where to start.

We are an early-stage venture capital firm investing in companies that jumpstart new industries in the emerging markets of Europe. Investment thesis Infrastructure for innovation We invest in startups that build the infrastructure for innovation and jumpstart new industries by breaking vicious cycles. The root of all evil Vicious cycles are endemic in emerging ecosystems - they are the byproduct of systemic deficiencies and make it difficult or even impossible for the emerging ecosystem to grow and develop. Example of such a vicious cycle at work in Central and Eastern Europe: the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) is slowed down by the lack of the charging infrastructure; conversely, the charging infrastructure is not being built because of the lack of the EVs to use it. Because of their systemic origin, breaking such vicious cycles is a capital-intensive and a long-term endeavor - the kind of task a VC fund is both qualified and responsible to assume. On a high note - the root of all evil is where the promise of venture returns lies. A (technological) leap of faith Emerging ecosystems are strong enough to leapfrog existing technologies and adopt the solutions of the future. It happened in the past (see LTE adoption in Africa/India leapfrogging classical landlines) giving birth to a breed of companies that created their own markets. These startups are the backbone of the future ecosystem populated by dependent/client third parties. Opportunities A brave new world B2C - The rising billions In 2000, 6% of the world population was connected to the internet. In 2010, online adoption increased to 23% or 2 billion people connected. In 2020, more than 66% of all people will have online access. That’s an additional 3 billion people that will get access to the internet, raising the total number of connected population to 5.5 billion. B2B - The unicorn of one It is now possible to start a company valued at $1BN from your garage, with no assets and basically no employees. And this company may serve the giants of the corporate world. Fortune 500 companies already acknowledged that innovations come from small companies agile enough to disrupt industries. Today, the business development and strategy VPs turned into innovation scouters actively seeking emerging technologies and valuable teams to acquire or hire. Let’s talk money How we do it Our philosophy Our philosophy is quite straightforward: we invest at the earliest stages in companies whose founders have skin in the game, are coachable and address big markets. If the opportunity is real, we prefer to be the first institutional investor in such startups. Geography Our firm recruits regionally (in CEE) and invests locally (in Romania) to take advantage of country’s great technical talent, low labor costs, low operating costs and high-speed Internet access. Equity Because of our active engagement with our companies, we typically will take a correspondingly substantial equity ownership position (5% to 15%) in our investments and will join as a member of the company’s board of directors (Series A). Accelerator Stage At the Accelerator stage - we invest anywhere between €50,000 and €200,000 in exchange for 5% to 15% common stock. Series A At the Seed stage - our sweet spot is €500,000 but, if the opportunity is real, we can invest up to €4,500,000 in one company. Timing We are fast to say NO – won’t waste your time. Saying YES takes a bit longer: 4 to 6 weeks on average, but that depends on you too.

In the past 15 years, Canada’s innovation ecosystem has taken off. Startups, accelerators, incubators, investors, and forward-thinking policies have created a true hotbed of entrepreneurship. Bold ideas are flourishing, transformative ventures are thriving, and Canadian technology is reshaping industries, driving growth at home and societal impact worldwide. We could look back and self-applause our progress, but let’s be radically transparent: major challenges remain and there is still a lot left to be done. A majority of our technology companies are not achieving the global scale they legitimately could attain. They do not achieve their full potential; frequently selling prematurely instead of being the market consolidator and building for the long term. ​ A central cause of this problem is the lack of early-stage venture leadership and risk-taking at the true “inflection point” - when startups have early revenue, signs of product-market fit, and are ready to scale. Canada has no shortage of funds willing to follow on, but far too few are prepared to lead Seed and Series A rounds: to structure financings, set valuations, negotiate terms, and define the conditions for success. The “Death Valley” is real. Canadian venture capital lacks leadership, and needs to contribute more expertise. The “Death Valley” is the critical scaling stage that most companies fail to overcome. It happens as a company attempts to bridge the gap between early commercial success and achieving significant revenue scale. In 2024, roughly six in ten Canadian seed rounds included foreign investors, a dynamic that intensifies by Series A and beyond. Half of that was led by US Too often, the most promising Canadian startups saw their early rounds led by U.S. VCs. While we welcome foreign investors, global connections strengthen our ecosystem, Canada simply lacks enough lead investors to keep ownership at home. For early-stage and scale-up companies, the shortage of funding alternatives is a major barrier. Many of our best founders head south in search of stronger capital partners. The gap is readily filled by international investors, and who can blame them? Canadian founders are known to outperform and to be more capital efficient than their U.S. peers. The best founders will always attract global capital and seek out the strongest partners. But this comes at a cost. Every time leadership is ceded abroad, Canada loses ownership of its most successful businesses. An ecosystem of “follower investors” produces an economy of subsidiaries, when what we need are global leaders. The problem is twofold: not enough Canadian capital to lead at the inflection point, and not enough seasoned expertise to scale our champions. If you believe, as we do, that local technology champions will be the cornerstone of our future economic prosperity, then our ecosystem must level up. We need more early-stage capital that doesn’t just follow, but leads. Equity financing must evolve to deliver not only dollars, but expertise, resources, and technology to nurture local champions. Understandably so, when they lead funding rounds, most Canadian VC firms will either focus on the pre-seed stage, where the power-law is magnified and placing many small bets is more important than bringing expertise, or the growth stages (Series B+) where significant risk is already behind and larger checks drive the outcomes. A paradigm shift is required. New organizations must emerge that add real value and aren’t afraid to take the lead at the Seed stage. This is why we are launching Amiral Ventures. Amiral Ventures is a new venture capital firm on a mission to empower Canada’s most ambitious founders with dynamic capital and scaling expertise, building the next generation of technology flagships with lasting societal impact. Vaisseau Amiral (French for Flagship): A ship or building that is recognized for its size and strength, making it the pride of a fleet or an organization As entrepreneurs ourselves, we have utmost respect for the founder journey. We don’t just invest, we aim to deserve the right to partner with them along the way. Amiral creates the ecosystem where visionary founders thrive, with capital, expertise, global networks, and technology to fuel their growth. We’ve built scale-ups, felt the entrepreneurial highs and lows, and now channel that experience into backing the founders solving the world’s toughest problems. Prosperity Decoded Backing Canadian founders at seed to series-a to drive enterprise productivity, sustainability & resilience The challenges we face, low productivity, climate urgency, and fragile infrastructure, are systemic. But they also represent one of the greatest investment junctures of our time. New enterprise technologies, powered by AI and software, can equip leaders with transformative, mission-critical solutions. Productivity. Canada’s productivity gap is real—our workers produce only ~70% of what their U.S. peers achieve. The answer isn’t more talk, it’s action: applied AI, automation, robotics, and digital platforms. We back Canadian founders building these solutions at home and scaling them worldwide. Sustainability. Profitability and environmental impact can no longer be at odds. The transition to renewables and the optimization of energy use are urgent. Software and AI will be the linchpins of this shift, from clean energy production to efficient consumption. Resilience. Supply chains, industries, and critical infrastructure are under strain. Building resilience means more autonomy, security, and sovereignty, enabled by smart industry, robotics, digital twins, cybersecurity and intelligent manufacturing. More than just capital. Founders-led and founders-backed. Amiral Ventures will focus on leading early-stage rounds between theSeed and Series A and will actively support companies to achieve a strong global position. Capital is a commodity, expertise is not. An integral part of our investment thesis is having a dedicated impact team that will create value post-investment. Our initial focus is helping portfolio companies expand globally and seize international opportunities to scale. Over time, Amiral’s impact team will operate like a service organization, combining internal expertise, external networks, and proprietary technology to empower founders. Our goal is clear: every dollar invested by Amiral should deliver a measurable impact on a founder’s trajectory. Beyond the Amiral team’s expertise, we are surrounding ourselves by an unprecedented group of investors who are themselves founders, CEOs, CTOs, CROs, and not only share our vision but are eager to roll up their sleeves to help our flagship companies. ​Building an enduring franchise We are proudly Québécois but our market is much wider. We believe that for Québec & Canada to succeed, we must expand beyond our borders just like the Admiral butterfly. Papillon Amiral (French for Admiral Butterfly): Emblem of Québec, it is known for its rapid flight, its impressive migration, resilience and its noble appearance. Building a dynamic, resilient, and cleaner economy means securing local ownership while scaling globally. Amiral is an investment firm with an entrepreneurial mindset, built to create value for the next generation of innovators. We stand on the shoulders of the Canadian venture pioneers who came before us. History will mark the early 2020s as an inflection point. Technologies once magical are now everyday tools. The means to create prosperity are in our hands. But good is no longer good enough. High-paying jobs, economic development, and new technologies are necessary but we must also increase Canadian ownership in our champion companies, deploy smarter capital, and elevate our ecosystem. The “Death Valley” for Canadian startups must be crossed. Ambitious founders are ready to take flight on the global stage. Let’s build the next generation of Canadian flagships.

We’ve written a new venture capital playbook – a global platform that unifies tech investment across continents, investors, entrepreneurs and leading corporations to accelerate innovative startups even further and stronger onto the global stage. As a multistage fund with offices across San Francisco, New York, Paris, Shanghai, Beijing and Singapore, we invest in startups positively impacting the world through technology. Investing globally We invest in startups at the center of the digital revolution across North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa. We work with visionary and mission driven teams to help them grow and lead markets. We back startups at the inflection point of growth, with revenues between $5M to $20M, that will benefit from guidance on refining the company, maximizing performance and creating long lasting value. Our initial check sizes range from $5M to $40M. We can lead or follow, and keep reserves for follow-on investments. We leverage the larger social evolutions at play, taking into account a startup’s contribution towards sustainability, analyzing the global competitive landscape, and integrating the insights of our Fortune 500 ecosystem. Investing for good We built our strategy around the idea that the future of venture capital, startups, incumbent companies, and innovating for good - is converging. A startup’s contribution to sustainability is a critical component to our investment philosophy, taking into account various issues such as economic growth, social interests and safeguarding the planet. Our values ONE TEAM FOR ONE WORLD As one global team from various backgrounds and cultures, we strongly believe that sharing diverse perspectives and knowledge significantly benefits everyone. ADD VALUE BY BEING USEFUL We believe our vision of a collaborative ecosystem, with global reach and local expertise, is best achieved by building trust between different stakeholders and constantly being useful to our partners in achieving their goals. SAY WHAT YOU DO AND DO WHAT YOU SAY We firmly believe in sincerity, transparency and being the kind of partner who always gives it straight and delivers on their commitments. FOR PASSIONATE ENTREPRENEURS We want to empower passionate entrepreneurs who can demonstrate that they have the determination and clarity in purpose to turn visions into reality. FOR THE DETERMINED AND COURAGEOUS Startup success requires a high personal price and we believe in standing by our entrepreneurs to help, both in good and challenging times. CHANGE THE WORLD FOR THE BETTER We are proud to work with those who share our vision and commitment to sustainability and are positively impacting the world through technology. How we started Cathay Innovation is a global venture capital partnership, created in affiliation with Cathay Capital. Our story began in 2015 when Cathay Capital Founder and serial entrepreneur Mingpo Cai met Denis Barrier, a French venture capitalist and innovator in his field. Together, they infused the Cathay Capital platform with venture capital.