U of T Startups Raise $10B, Disrupt Global Industries
From AI to quantum chemistry to health tech, startups from my alma mater are scaling globally – raising over US$10B since 2020 and reshaping industries. I’m excited to spotlight six founders from the University of Toronto ecosystem building game-changing companies: https://lnkd.in/gN9KBFHC These rapidly scaling companies include: - ada CX , an AI startup transforming customer engagement through intelligent, automated interactions. Version One Ventures has believed in Ada from the very beginning, backing the company as its earliest investor. - Xatoms, a tech startup harnessing quantum chemistry to accelerate water purification breakthroughs. - MedEssist, a health tech startup that’s equipping pharmacies with smarter tools to deliver personalized care at scale. Fueled by passionate entrepreneurs and world-class research, these companies are redefining industries and showing why the world invests at the University of Toronto. The numbers speak for themselves. U of T ranks in the top 20 globally for entrepreneurs (PitchBook, 2025) and is top 5 worldwide for university startup incubators. Explore the full list of startups: https://lnkd.in/gN9KBFHC
Backing Mission-Driven Founders Defines Version One Ventures DNA
Over the years, we've written blog post after blog post to share how we think publicly and as a tool to refine our investment strategy internally. These 5 posts (link in comments) capture Version One Ventures ' DNA well with...
AI Dominates Startups, yet “Why Now?” Still Matters
Thanks for resurfacing this, Dimitry Gershenson 🙏 ❤️ So much has changed since we put this together in 2023 (i.e. AI dominating the startup ecosystem) but also, not much has changed (i.e. the importance of asking "why now?").
AI's Incremental Rise Fuels Diverse Startup Opportunities
We Version One Ventures often get asked what’s our AI investment strategy is so we thought we’d share these reflections that we prepared for our LPs recently. At a high-level: - We’re seeing a slower take off toward super intelligence...
Hardware Dominates: V1 Ventures Backs Vertical Robotics
Two days ago, we Version One Ventures mentioned that this year we made 9 new investments, of which 8 (!!) have hardware. Proof that we LOVE the world of atoms, robotics, and physical AI. Here’s a quick refresher of our...
Record Year: 9 New Investments, LP Liquidity, Two Funds
While we at Version One Ventures have been around for 13+ years, 2025 was definitely one of the most fun: 9 new companies (8 of which have hardware!), liquidity for LPs, and 2 new funds 👀 to back even more...
Grateful for Founders' Support, More Stories Coming
Thank you Jordan Nel for telling the Version One Ventures story better than we could 🙏 and the ~200 founders who welcomed us on their journey so there'd be a story to begin with 🩷 Lots to write still... and...