Leading Pre-Seed Investor Hopes to Strike More Deals in Canada

2048 Ventures, a New York-based pre-seed-stage venture capital firm, recently secured $67 million USD for its second fund, to continue pursuing investments in emerging markets across North America.   

2048 Ventures was founded in 2019 by Alex Iskold and Paul Sethi (who is no longer with the firm). 2048 Ventures has styled itself as ‘geo-agnostic’ and ‘thesis-driven’, investing in regions showing strength and promising growth in particular sectors, including Canadian biotech hubs like Montreal and Toronto. At the end of 2021, 2048 Ventures reported that it had invested in a total of 50 companies across 22 cities. In an earlier interview, Sethi stated that the firm wants companies to be able to “build in their hometowns and grow in their hometowns, at least until they get to a later stage.” One of the firm’s first fund investments, Nomic Bio, is a bioengineering firm based out of Montreal.

For Fund II, 2048 Ventures plans to make 60 investments ranging between $500,000 to $1.5. million over the next three years. The firm plans to focus on digital health, robotics, AR/VR, blockchain, and other next generation platforms. In keeping with the firm’s geo-agnostic approach, 2048 Ventures is reportedly keeping its eye on growing Canadian tech hubs like Calgary and Edmonton. As newly minted General Partner Neha Khera stated, “Not a lot of investors south of the border are thinking about the unlocking of Calgary and Edmonton… Alberta, it’s kind of one of those things that unless you’re close … you don’t really hear about it or think about it … so we think that these are some of the unique advantages that we’ll have being focused on these markets and having me here in Toronto.”