Keen Venture Partners

We invest in early-stage R&D-focused individuals and teams solving complex technical challenges with large potential for commercial application. INVESTMENT AREAS We like to invest in teams building solutions in these technical domains: Software++AI & ML Big Data AR, VR & XR Cybersecurity Cloud/DevSecOps Distributed systems Performance computing Life SciencePersonalized medicine Drug discovery software Precision medicine Biofabrication Digital twins Organoids other BioTech, MedTech HardwareRobotics Automation IoT Industry 4.0 Nanotechnology Material Science Space

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.

Our global sphere of knowledge drives our investment thesis across all industries. We serve on the boards on some of the most innovative technology companies in the world. We see global trends as they are emerging. We combine this knowledge with data, lots of data, to know where the world is heading during the next seven-to-ten-years. We partner with the extraordinary We’ve developed a world class reputation for identifying, investing, and serving extraordinary entrepreneurs. We don’t meddle in their business. When asked, we deliver critical thinking that leads to scale and hypergrowth. We go beyond the investment We drive strategic growth, shorten the time to reach global scale, facilitate introductions, but we don’t stop there. We stick with it until the ink is dried. We drive revenue, recruit, and introduce future investors. As we look out at the next 10 years, we couldn't be more excited as the global world becomes smaller and more tightly connected. Read more to see where we think the industry is heading! We drive real value to our portfolio Through our Revenue Bearing Relationships, we have driven $400M in revenue to more than 40% of our portfolio companies. Technology buyers around the world trust our cohesive vision of the future. They come to us to identify emerging solutions that can give their businesses a competitive advantage.

After managing two successful funds, we now present YourNest Innovative Products VC Fund III. Focused on disruptive technologies to enhance the way mankind leverages the value of time, this US$ 75 mn fund will invest in startup founders across a spectrum of DeepTech domains: AI, IoT, Robotics, AR/VR/MR, Dev. Tools, Edge Cloud and other Digital products. As always, our intent is to create an opportunity for Indian entrepreneurs to scale into global markets with IP-led innovations: many of our portfolio companies in YourNest VC Fund II have secured patents and attracted customers in international markets. As a pioneering, pre-Series A, early-stage venture capital fund established in 2011 to support audacious startups building life-changing businesses, YourNest strongly believes in the human capability and works with the dictum of ‘what is impossible today is routine tomorrow’. We believe, too, that we are Challengineers: a team that actively pushes boundaries and engineers outcomes, standing shoulder to shoulder with our founders and supporting them with ‘Nurture Capital’. With an established network of professionals, innovators, business leaders, advisors and mentors, we offer the most enabling eco-system for any startup whose business is validated by customers. Our team prides itself on identifying committed entrepreneurs with the highest level of integrity, enabling their business ambitions and helping them to scale for international markets. In 2020, we launched our fast-track funding program SOAR which invested in five startups. The year also saw us exiting Uniphore and SmartQ from our first fund – YourNest Angel Fund – with a 0.7x DPI. Between the two funds, we are confident of multiple exits to deliver significant returns to our investors in the foreseeable future. Investment Thesis With the rise of entrepreneurs and the growth of startups in the past few years, we believe there are critical sectors, rooted in technology, that will fuel the next level of disruption in the coming decade. YourNest Innovative Products Fund-III will primarily seek to invest in enterprise-oriented, innovative, IP-led, tech-product startups. Its mission is to select products that are built around emerging technologies and have applications at scale. These product companies could be in sectors including Mobile Internet, Cloud Technology, Automation of Knowledge Work, Low-code or No-code Platforms, AI-based Cybersecurity, IOT, Edge Computing, Digital Twinning, Autonomous Technologies, Robotics, Electronic System Design & Manufacturing (ESDM). The focus of the Fund will be to invest in unlisted companies. The investment may start at an early seed stage and continue investing in promising companies at various stages of their growth. One or more rounds are likely to be made with co-investment from other investor(s) who may be an individual or an institution or an AIF or international investor such that the risk and reward of the portfolio company’s success is shared. ESG Policy Statement The YourNest Capital Advisors Pvt Ltd. i.e. Investment Manager (“IM”) of the Fund, commits to being a responsible investor, considering environmental, social and governance issues across all its investments. The IM is committed to comply with its ESG policy, applicable laws of the land and to be responsive to existing and emerging ESG concerns. We adhere to our responsibility to people and the planet while setting the stage for long-term success. Through ESG integration in our investment approach, we will endeavour to maximise business and investment opportunities. ESG integration will enable us to grow and improve the companies in which we invest, for long-term value generation opportunities for the benefit of all stakeholders. At the same time, we believe that ESG integration will help mitigate any liability, credit, market or reputation risks emanating from such issues. Nurture Capital Philosophy YourNest is a sharply focused early-stage DeepTech VC fund from India. The first fund established in 2012, raised US$ 14 mn and has several companies in the portfolio that have had multiple up-rounds and are on their way to a 4X+ return. Having completely invested its first two funds, YourNest is currently raising its third fund of US$ 75 mn to invest in Indian start-ups with a focus on DeepTech domains like AI, IoT, Robotics, AR/VR/MR, Dev. Tools, Edge Cloud and other Digital products. The YourNest team combines what may well be India’s widest access to prospective investees along with a rigorously prudent selection process that enables us to stay true to our investment thesis of nurturing high-potential entrepreneurs. In addition, we give our investors transparent access and exposure to high-growth, under-the-radar tech start-ups in India. In a country where entrepreneurship is encouraged but comes with its own challenges, the Indian DeepTech eco-system is rapidly evolving. As local Fund Managers, the YourNest team of experienced partners operates as unified enablers who have become adept at spotting emerging enterprises, nurturing and guiding them up the ladder of success. With a leadership coach as a founding partner, other partners bring complementary skillsets that including M&A, Financial Governance & Restructuring, Executive Development, Deal Flow Management, Building Intellectual Property and Global Scale. Brand building, Marketing and HR Practices are other competencies which have been added via the Venture Partners and Entrepreneur-in-Residence and are available to the portfolio companies. Our portfolio companies benefit from:‘Nurture Capital’ rather than plain ‘Venture Capital’. Our ability to mentor and coach entrepreneurs of investee companies. Our advisory expertise in key entrepreneurial matters: strategy, compliance, legal, HR, secretarial, talent sourcing, etc. Our network of corporates and individuals who can collectively multiply advantage for our investees.

We founded Mosaic as optimists who see technology as a force for good, and believe that the startup ecosystem will positively impact society. Our passion is to partner early with inspiring, ambitious tech founders: renegades who reimagine the world and shape it their way. We also believe in Europe. Breakthrough businesses are starting and scaling here with increasing frequency, powered by unparalleled engineering talent across the region. Our Promise to Founders We are excited to join your journey as an ally. We recognize that venture capital would not exist without entrepreneurs like you, who put everything on the line. We are thrilled when you choose to work with us, and honored to support your dream coming to fruition. As your partner, you can expect the following:‍ Trust: We have faith in you, and commit to supporting the business for the entire journey with intellectual honesty and unbiased counsel. Long term perspective: Success is not built overnight; we are in it for the long haul. Venture capital is a business that rewards patience on all levels.‍ Boutique service:We are a small, highly collaborative team who all pitch in to help across the portfolio. We typically make just 5-10 new investments per year, and every relationship matters. Growth mindset:We are humble, curious, open and straightforward -- having learned from both mistakes and successes. As independent thinkers we often take a different view from the herd. We don’t claim to know everything, and our approach is inquisitive rather than prescriptive. Low friction:We appreciate the value of your time and commit to simple, transparent business and quick turnarounds. Thesis-driven Since the 1990s, we’ve enjoyed a privileged ringside seat alongside hundreds of tech startups in many industries and geographies. Some have been successful, a number super-successful and inevitably, others didn’t work out. From these experiences, we have developed a thesis-driven approach to investing, where we try to imagine how a given market will unfold in the next 5-10 years, and then look for certain horizontal industry and business characteristics. Momentum is nice but we don’t need to see “traction” or baked KPIs to build conviction. There are general characteristics of businesses we like to invest in: Big, addressable markets and/or uncharted whitespace Distinctive product: love, trust, early customer evangelists Business model innovation, i.e. disrupting the value chain A large potential future moat, beyond pure scale and scope. From network effects, technical leadership, or other sources. This helps us derive the consequent gross margins and unit economics Broad customer (and supplier) distribution, i.e. no concentration immediately adjacent in value chain Long tail of independent adopters. Bonus for bottom-up word-of-mouth We invest in ‘whale-hunting’ too, but typically prefer to invest when there is a handful of customers (or highly relevant sector experience amongst the founders) Capital efficiency. After our first cheque, we are aligned with founders/on their side of the table, so funding pays for people, not inventory/asset Thematic Focus We look to back businesses catalyzed by emerging technology that may create a new market from nothing, or else materially disrupt the status quo. The themes we focus on evolve, as successive waves emerge, grow in force, and eventually ebb away. Historically, this led us to operate and invest in a wide range of web and mobile applications including search, social, and digital media. We are comfortable in both B2C and B2B businesses and particularly drawn to marketplace and SaaS/subscription business models. Our track record includes investing in global category leaders such as Alibaba, Etsy, Squarespace and Transferwise. In our current fund, the themes we are focused on include: Machine Intelligence Future of Money Edge Applications Work OS Open Bazaars Human Empowerment We continue to reflect on the impact of the pandemic. We will feel its reverberations not just in public health, but also in almost every aspect of the wider economy, as it impacts jobs and industries in ways that are still unfolding. We believe it also will become an accelerator for many tech trends and sectors, including health, education, and may have a dramatic impact on retail and real estate. In particular, as new work behaviours emerge and opportunities arise, we are deeply curious to understand what forms of value will be created. Our Story Mosaic was founded by Simon and Toby who first met in the U.S. in 1995 at graduate school. We were lucky enough to work in leading Silicon Valley startups at the dawn of the Internet and since then, have collectively amassed over 50 years working in tech, split equally between operating and investing, across the US and Europe (and approaching half of that time working together!) We set out for Mosaic to bring a focused proposition to early stage investing in Europe, providing unique perspective, culture, and founder experience. In the six years since launch, and now we are proud to have created a firm with a strong operating philosophy and values based in trust, intellectual honesty, and integrity, and an amazing group of talented individuals to deliver on our promise to founders.

Sierra Ventures invests in the future of The Enterprise. We invest early – primarily Seed and Series A – and look for proven product market fit, disruption in the market, and strong IP. We tend to lead investment rounds and reserve capital for follow on rounds to support our entrepreneurs as they grow. We believe that partnership is paramount. We work closely with all of the entrepreneurs we invest in, guiding them with expertise and capital to help their companies grow and deliver on their promise. We understand that great companies don’t get built overnight, and we don’t mind rolling up our sleeves and getting our hands dirty. In fact, we enjoy it. Sierra’s Investment FocusDATA/AI The volume of data has exploded, and with the emergence of the cloud, new tools are being developed with many data infrastructure software platforms focusing specifically on artificial intelligence (AI) & machine learning (ML). We’re excited about companies that make it easier to ingest, access, and analyze data. Sub-sectors within Data/AI include AI/ML and Big Data. VERTICAL SAAS Many industries that rely on excel or pen and paper have been forced to dramatically increase the pace of technology adoption. Vertical SaaS represents the shift to specialization where software is business-specific and is designed for a specific domain. Sub-sectors within Vertical SaaS include FinTech, EnterpriseApps, and Security. INFRASTRUCTURE Next-Gen Infrastructure will be the core connecting fabric for all future technology capabilities. Wide-scale improvement is needed in order to enable applications to run consistently in almost any location across the globe. Organizations have expedited infrastructure modernization strategies which continues to drive growth in the sector. Sub-sectors within Infrastructure include Cloud and IoT. Next-Gen TechnologiesDIGITAL HEALTH Adoption of Health software has been faster than ever before due to the pandemic tailwind and technology trends that put the consumer in charge. New tools are being developed to reach patients creating opportunities with Pharma, Providers, and Payers. We anticipate a dramatic shift towards more value based care (payer / provider) and digitization and decentralization (pharma). WEB3 Web3 promises to make the internet as accessible, open sourced, secure, and decentralized as possible with the goal of benefiting the people engaging, not central organizations. We are looking at the full Web3 ecosystem including Decentralized Applications (DApps), Decentralized Finance (DeFi), Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), Cryptocurrencies, and more. A sub-sector we focus on within Web3 includes Blockchain. INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION Digitally non-native industries like Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Logistics are seeking ways to find cost parity and production reliability while adhering to increasing demand across the globe. Humans alone will not be able to keep pace with these market trends and automation will be a key driver in movements like Industry 4.0. Sub-sectors within Industrial Automation include Robotics and Devices. CONSUMER The ubiquity of smartphones has enabled consumers to access goods and services with relative ease and companies are tuning into customer needs and engaging with their increasingly loyal customer base, leading to viral adoption patterns. Additionally, Consumer social platforms have allowed individuals to express themselves and make money doing it, giving more power to the “Creator Economy”. We are interested in Creator Economy and mission driven D2C Applications & Marketplaces. ECOMMERCE A fast growing eCommerce market has been bolstered by the pandemic and every part of the value chain is seeing disruption. The eCommerce software market is driven by market trends like headless eCommerce and ReCommerce. B2B eCommerce has exploded globally and we think the US market will catch up in the coming years. A sub-sector we focus on within eCommerce is Marketplaces. EDTECH Digital and tech-enabled learning has been accelerated in the classroom and the boardroom by the pandemic and social trends such as “the great resignation”. Trends like VR/AR and the Metaverse becoming mainstream combined with the price of enablement devices like smartphones, tablets, and computers decreasing to make technology more accessible than ever have created a market that is ripe for EdTech to flourish.