OMERS Ventures
Toronto, Canada · Invests in North America; US; UK; Europe · Website
Check size
🔒 $•• – $••Thesis
Back ambitious founders building disruptive early-stage technology companies. We provide not just capital but access to OMERS' multi-asset institutional platform. Our permanent pension backing gives us patient, long-duration capital unconstrained by traditional 10-year fund cycles.
Likely not a fit for
Consumer applications without enterprise B2B potential; pure trend-following AI companies without real defensibility; companies lacking real traction or economic discipline
How they invest
- Lead or follow
- Leads or follows
- Typical decision
- ~1 month
- Warm intro
- Preferred
- Involvement
- Takes a board seat
- Fund status
- Actively deploying
- Assets under mgmt
- $2B
- Decision process
- Partnership vote
Partners & team
10 contacts on file
t•••@om•••.com
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Octaura is a trading platform that provides proprietary insights and analytics for the leveraged loan and CLO markets, enabling real-time trading decisions and analysis.
Crux is the capital platform supercharging the clean economy by making capital markets more liquid, efficient, and intelligent.
Xanadu is a company focused on building quantum computers that are useful and available to people everywhere, specializing in photonic quantum computing.
Arize AI is an LLM observability and evaluation platform designed to help developers monitor, debug, and continuously improve their AI agents and systems, particularly in the context of complex AI models like LLMs and multimodal systems.
Snyk provides an AI-driven security platform that helps developers secure their code, manage vulnerabilities in open source dependencies, and protect containerized applications throughout the software development lifecycle.
Contentful is a content infrastructure platform that enables organizations to deliver intelligent experiences from a single source. It provides tools for personalization, analytics, and automation to streamline content workflows, allowing businesses to create highly personalized experiences at scale.
Hootsuite is a social media marketing and management tool that helps organizations manage their social media presence, analyze performance, and engage with audiences across various platforms.
Shopify is a comprehensive commerce platform that enables businesses to sell online and in person. It provides a suite of tools for building websites, managing sales, marketing, and analytics, catering to both small businesses and large enterprises.
DuckDuckGo is an independent, free browser that actively protects personal information, allowing users to search and browse privately without tracking.
TouchBistro is a restaurant management POS system that provides tools for managing restaurant operations, including order management, payments, and customer engagement.
WorkRamp is an AI-first Learning Management System (LMS) designed to enhance employee, partner, and customer learning experiences. It serves as an all-in-one platform that empowers organizations to develop talent, drive revenue, and inspire customer advocacy through effective learning solutions.
Recent activity
- Nov 2025
Xanadu Quantum Technologies
Growth · Participated
- Jun 2025
Octaura
Series B · Lead
- Apr 2025
Crux
Series B · Participated
- Jan 2025
Float Financial
Series B · Participated
OMERS Ventures in the news
Benefits and Pensions Monitor
OMERS Ventures head departs for Kensington Capital president role
1 month ago
The Logic
Saar Pikar leaves OMERS Ventures to join Kensington Capital as president
1 month ago
The Globe and Mail
OMERS Ventures head moves to Kensington Capital as president
1 month ago
The Globe and Mail
OMERS takes nine-figure loss as TouchBistro sold to Constellation Software for $100-million
1 month ago
BetaKit
Dominion Dynamics lands $139 million in Canada’s largest defence-tech Series A
2 months ago
The Globe and Mail
OMERS, other Canadian backers sitting on massive Xanadu stock returns – but they can’t sell yet
4 months ago
TechCrunch
The European startup market is ready for the limelight
9 months ago
The Logic
GoConfirm security app shuts down after a year of sluggish growth
9 months ago
BetaKit
Whitecap Venture Partners welcomes Damien Steel following his Deep Sky departure
9 months ago
Markets Group
OMERS Ventures making changes to leadership team
Jul 2025
Benefits and Pensions Monitor
OMERS Ventures drops senior VC leader amid US layoffs and shift in investment focus
Jul 2025
The Logic
Michael Yang is out as OMERS Ventures refocuses on Canada
Jul 2025
Blogger.com
Michael Yang Departs OMERS Ventures as Part of a Strategic Shift
Jul 2025
Buyouts
OMERS’ return to fund investing may signal the end of an era
Sep 2024
TechCrunch
OMERS Ventures didn’t exit Europe because of the market — but it had good reason to
Aug 2023
Venture Capital Journal
Fonoa nabs $20.5m Series A led by OMERS Ventures: TechCrunch
Nov 2021
Medium
Laura Lenz of OMERS Ventures: 5 Things I Need To See Before Making A VC Investment
Sep 2020
Venture Capital Journal
OMERS Ventures leads funding round for Flagstone
May 2020
Venture Capital Journal
OMERS Ventures takes a direct look at VC investing
Nov 2019
ai-cio.com
OMERS Ventures Opens California Offices
Feb 2019
Business Insider
A $72 billion Canadian investor is poised to start making venture-capital bets in Silicon Valley
Jan 2019
Venture Capital Journal
OMERS Ventures Founder and CEO John Ruffolo to depart
Sep 2018
Similar firms
Early-stage partner for founders building iconic, industry-transforming companies, demonstrated by two new funds totaling $347M.
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Research briefRead more
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