Venture firm raises $15 million from tech leaders to support new Canadian businesses

Advertisement

Advertise with us

TORONTO - A venture firm backed by a who's who of the tech industry says it's raised $15 million in funding with the aim of building a new generation of Canadian companies.

Read this article for free:


or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/09/2025 (379 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO – A venture firm backed by a who’s who of the tech industry says it’s raised $15 million in funding with the aim of building a new generation of Canadian companies.

Simple Ventures says the cash came from a division of TD Bank, insurer Sun Life Financial Inc., grocer Sobeys, Wealthsimple founder Mike Katchen and Shopify Inc. president Harley Finkelstein.

Rounding out the list of backers is Knix founder Joanna Griffiths, serial investors Joe Canavan and Sam Duboc and an unnamed group of Canadian angel investors and family offices.

Wealthsimple's chief executive officer Michael Katchen is photographed at the company's Toronto office on Wednesday, July 30, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston
Wealthsimple's chief executive officer Michael Katchen is photographed at the company's Toronto office on Wednesday, July 30, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston

Simple Ventures hopes the funding will help develop businesses that otherwise wouldn’t exist because it will allocate the cash toward entrepreneurs creating new Canadian companies.

Katchen, a co-founder of the venture firm, and Finkelstein have been vocal in recent years about the need to support homegrown businesses and repatriate talent that has fled to other countries.

Business Development Bank of Canada data released in 2023 showed the country had 100,000 fewer entrepreneurs than it did 20 years ago, despite the population increasing by more than 10 million during the same period.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 22, 2025.

Companies in this story: (TSX:SHOP, TSX:SLF, TSX:TD, TSX:EMP.A)

Report Error Submit a Tip

More Stories

Waiver wire pickup leads Jets to victory in Pittsburgh

Ken Wiebe 6 minute read Preview

Waiver wire pickup leads Jets to victory in Pittsburgh

Ken Wiebe 6 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 11:12 PM CDT

PITTSBURGH – Now that’s a positive first impression.

The Winnipeg Jets swept a two-game road trip, thanks in part to Clay (Mud) Stevenson making 30 saves in his debut with the team that claimed him off waivers one week earlier.

Stevenson was excellent in a 3-2 victory for the Jets over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday night at PPG Paints Arena.

“He obviously made some big big stops, right up to the end of the game there,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “He was real solid and confident and looked comfortable. It was great to see a kid come in here like that, a new organization late in training camp. He came as advertised.”

Read
Updated: Yesterday at 11:12 PM CDT

Three Manitoba nurses censured for inappropriate behaviour

Morgan Modjeski 3 minute read Yesterday at 8:38 PM CDT

A Manitoba nurse has been disciplined for inappropriate behaviour towards students including what is being described as unwanted touching.

Morning-show veteran swaps microphone for macchiatos at new Corydon café

David Sanderson 9 minute read Preview

Morning-show veteran swaps microphone for macchiatos at new Corydon café

David Sanderson 9 minute read Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026

Good news if you were used to having your morning coffee with Terri Gale, who earlier this summer signed off from CTV Your Morning, after 15 years on the job.

Gale, the three-hour program’s longtime weather expert, and her husband Rob Gale, the ex-head soccer coach of Valour FC and co-founder of the Northern Super League’s new Winnipeg franchise, are the owners of Golden Hour Café and Bar at 775 Corydon Ave.

Gale (formerly Apostle) nods when she is asked who would know more about caffeinated beverages than a person who, for the last decade and a half, set her alarm to go off in the wee small hours.

“I do love coffee and take mine black. Except because I hate burning my tongue — not a good thing when you speak for a living — I got into the habit of throwing a couple of ice cubes in my cup, to be on the safe side,” Gale says, seated on the second level of their attractive, 2,100-square-foot premises, which officially opened in mid-September.

Read
Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026

Real journalists matter in an AI world

Paul Deegan 4 minute read Preview

Real journalists matter in an AI world

Paul Deegan 4 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

An algorithm can decide what you see, but it doesn’t report the news. Nunatsiaq News, an award-winning newspaper in Nunavut, recently reported that a so-called “news” website was posting AI-generated articles about the north by stealing real news stories produced by real journalists.

The articles were supposedly written by Nunavut correspondent Leah Qammaniq — a fake journalist, with a fake photo and a fake bio.

Governor General Louise Arbour warned us of fake news in her installation speech in June. She said, “We must continue to protect the public space in which our national debates take place: from schools and universities to the media, political parties, unions and civil society organizations …With instant access to vast amounts of information, it is very tempting to pay little attention to the reliability of sources. The lines between knowledge and belief, between truth and falsehood, between facts and assumptions, are increasingly blurred. AI could be threatening not only the way we live and work, but also the control we exercise over our own destiny.”

The Government of Canada has recognized the problem as well. Its recent discussion paper, Enhancing trust in artificial intelligence through increased transparency, stated, “Canadians encounter news reporting, product reviews, and audio-visual content across the internet, often without any indication of whether it was written by a person, generated by an AI system, or produced through some combination of both … A particular concern within this broader landscape is that generative AI greatly enables the creation and dissemination of deceptive or misleading content.”

Read
2:00 AM CDT

MPI lowers speed limit on tech upgrade with ‘IT roadmap’ following Project Nova debacle

Carol Sanders 5 minute read Preview

MPI lowers speed limit on tech upgrade with ‘IT roadmap’ following Project Nova debacle

Carol Sanders 5 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 9:44 PM CDT

Manitoba Public Insurance is now using an “IT road map” and phasing in new technology and systems after pulling the plug last year on its failed $164-million overhaul known as Project Nova, its annual report says.

Read
Updated: Yesterday at 9:44 PM CDT

A Selkirk woman was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison last week for nearly $500,000 in tax fraud, the Canada Revenue Agency says

Michele Gabrielle pleaded guilty to one count of fraud over $5,000 in provincial court in Selkirk on Friday, the CRA says.

The tax agency had uncovered a scheme in which Gabrielle fraudulently claimed Manitoba tax credits from 2016 and 2019. She also filed and amended returns for two family members and a romantic partner, using their names to commit further fraud.

She made false claims in 22 of her own returns and 33 returns file or amended on behalf of others, the CRA says.