A pre-seed and seed stage venture capital firm backing exceptional Canadian founders in the US and Canada.
Toronto
Joined March 2023
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Northside Ventures retweeted
We’ll be in SF next month for GDC and GTC, and we are bringing a new demo with us 👀
If you care about world models, real-time systems, or the weird edge cases that only show up when you try to run this stuff live, let’s grab time while we’re in town.
We want to see what you come up with
Northside Ventures retweeted
Congrats @lcastricato and Shahb on launching @overworld_ai model Waypoint-1! @NorthsideVC_ is proud to be an early supporter!
Northside Ventures retweeted
2026 is about showing up more in person and spending time with founders.
We’re planning more dinners, Socratica Symposium, Toronto Tech Week, and other small, high-signal gatherings across Toronto, Waterloo, and beyond.
This @wlootechweek workshop recap was just the beginning.
We’ve been quiet here for a while, but 2025 was our most active year since founding.
We screened nearly 5,000 companies, met 500+ founders, invested $3M across 12 Canadian-founded teams, grew the firm, and launched our Scout Program.
Full recap here: northsideventures.medium.com…
Northside Ventures retweeted
@NorthsideVC_ portfolio company @datacurve is hiring someone t lead growth / product / operations. Must be in SF in person. If you're interested DM me
Northside Ventures retweeted
Last night @Northside__VC in partnership with @AWSstartups and TD Innovation Partners hosted a Jeffersonian style dinner for founders in the Toronto ecosystem to discuss the topic of AI in the software application layer.
We covered topics including:
- The future of LLM and compute costs
- Incumbent threats and moat building
- Vision vs. reality - the quality of gen AI products today
- Financing AI startups the current VC environment
- AI governance and regulation
Sincere thank you to all the amazing founders who joined for the thought-provoking discussion.
@abhinav_boyed @_afshin @benzion_b @candicedisco @fungmoney @dianavirgovic @j4shah @LoriCasselman @seemalakhani
RT @AlexMcIsaac333: Thanks @tsx_tsxv and @TSXtechguy for the congratulations on @Northside__VC's inaugural fund!
I'm excited to get to wor…
Northside Ventures retweeted
Toronto’s @Northside__VC has closed its first early-stage fund at its $15M CAD target. I checked in with @AlexMcIsaac333 on what the #VC firm has been up to since launching last year, what it was like fundraising in this market, and what’s next. #CDNtech betakit.com/northside-ventur…
Northside Ventures retweeted
One year after announcing the launch of @Northside__VC , I’m excited to share that we’ve successfully reached the final close of our inaugural fund at $15M CAD ($11M USD)!
medium.com/@northsideventure…
Northside Ventures retweeted
I had an amazing time yesterday at the @fikavc First Look Retreat at the beautiful @TheHuntington botanical gardens in LA hearing from insightful founders, operators and leaders like @zachperret @Plaid, @Jacob_Heller @casetext, @sarahookr @cohere, @andykonwinski @databricks and Mayor Karen Bass, Mayor of Los Angeles.
Thank you @TXZhuo for the invite! #LAFirstLook
@Northside__VC
Northside Ventures retweeted
Check out The Hard Part podcast! Had a great time chatting with Evan McCann (@evansammccann) discussing Northside Ventures (@Northside__VC, how my time at BDC (@BDC_Capital) and Global Founders Capital (@Global_Founders) influenced my investing style, what it's like raising a new venture fund as an emerging manager in this market, and what I look for in exceptional Canadian founders!
My conversation with Alex McIsaac (@AlexMcIsaac333) the Founder and General Partner of Northside Ventures (@Northside__VC)!
Northside Ventures is a pre-seed and seed-stage venture capital firm backing exceptional Canadian founders in the US and Canada with unique insights derived from past experiences that serve as a competitive advantage in their next venture.
They invest in a founder’s first round of external capital, often at the point of company inception and ideation. Their typical cheques are $100K-500K.
They believe in a generalist approach to early-stage investing, prioritizing categories that can potentially transform our world's future greatly. Core investment categories include artificial intelligence, B2B SaaS, fintech and cleantech.
Takeaways
Operational experience is valuable for venture capitalists, as it provides credibility and a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by founders.
Learnings from being a founder at NRStor (acquired by Blackstone) and an investor at BDC and Global Founders Capital.
The best founders often have experience working at scaled ventures and have solved hard problems, giving them a competitive advantage in their next venture.
How Alex defines an exceptional founder and what characteristics they have.
Outbound sourcing and dealflow strategies Alex uses.
Raising a first-time fund as an emerging manager and solo GP.
Canadian founders are often more conservative and capital-efficient compared to their American counterparts, but the gap is narrowing as the ecosystem matures.
Northside Ventures aims to back exceptional Canadian founders at the earliest stage and believes in the potential for Canada to produce more unicorns in the coming years.
podcasters.spotify.com/pod/s…
Northside Ventures retweeted
My conversation with Alex McIsaac (@AlexMcIsaac333) the Founder and General Partner of Northside Ventures (@Northside__VC)!
Northside Ventures is a pre-seed and seed-stage venture capital firm backing exceptional Canadian founders in the US and Canada with unique insights derived from past experiences that serve as a competitive advantage in their next venture.
They invest in a founder’s first round of external capital, often at the point of company inception and ideation. Their typical cheques are $100K-500K.
They believe in a generalist approach to early-stage investing, prioritizing categories that can potentially transform our world's future greatly. Core investment categories include artificial intelligence, B2B SaaS, fintech and cleantech.
Takeaways
Operational experience is valuable for venture capitalists, as it provides credibility and a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by founders.
Learnings from being a founder at NRStor (acquired by Blackstone) and an investor at BDC and Global Founders Capital.
The best founders often have experience working at scaled ventures and have solved hard problems, giving them a competitive advantage in their next venture.
How Alex defines an exceptional founder and what characteristics they have.
Outbound sourcing and dealflow strategies Alex uses.
Raising a first-time fund as an emerging manager and solo GP.
Canadian founders are often more conservative and capital-efficient compared to their American counterparts, but the gap is narrowing as the ecosystem matures.
Northside Ventures aims to back exceptional Canadian founders at the earliest stage and believes in the potential for Canada to produce more unicorns in the coming years.
podcasters.spotify.com/pod/s…
Northside Ventures retweeted
Today @Northside__VC hosted a private lunch for angel investors in the Toronto ecosystem and were honoured to be joined by @nilamg, former President of @Instacart, to discuss his journey building Instacart from seed to IPO, and the benefits of angel investing 🚀 – at Toronto, Ontario
Northside Ventures retweeted
Caught up with a portfolio founder who grew revenue 10x yoy to mid 7 figures and hasn’t touched a dollar of their pre-seed round. Blown away. Love to see it. – at Toronto, Ontario
Northside Ventures retweeted
Last year was a big year for @Northside__VC so we decided to summarize a few highlights here as we shift our focus to 2024.
In February, we launched our inaugural fund to invest in exceptional Canadian founders across the US and Canada at the earliest stage of ideation and company inception.
We made nine exciting new investments into companies led by Canadian founders across five major venture markets including Toronto, Vancouver, San Francisco, Miami and New York. These companies include Vertiree, Switch Growth and Terminal among others still in stealth.
We sourced over 3,300 companies and are excited by the quality of founders with exceptional experience launching new businesses across our core areas of focus that include AI, B2B SaaS, fintech and cleantech.
We are continually encouraged by the opportunity to invest at the pre-seed stage and believe this will be a strong vintage.
Last year we began building a Northside Community centered around in-person gatherings. We held four events throughout the year including two LP dinners in the spring, a GP-LP lunch during Collision and a fireside chat with over 40 Toronto-based founders in October. Keep an eye out for more Northside events this year.
We hope you've had a wonderful holiday season and look forward to working with you in 2024!
Follow me for the latest updates.
Northside Ventures retweeted
I’m so excited to share that we’ve closed a $14M Series A led by @craft_ventures with participation from @ycombinator, @AbstractVC, @jthandy, @CSandersonData, @jrdntgn, @s_breitenother and many other great investors in the data space!
We're building the the all-in-one data management platform for data teams. Our vision has been to make it easy for anyone to search, understand, and use company data, regardless of their technical ability and we're excited to double down on this vision with this new round of funding.
A huge thank you to our customers, investors, supporters and Secoda team - none of this would be possible without you, and we’re immensely grateful for your support: @harjtaggar, @garrytan, @jefffluhr, @gustaf, @jennylsui, @dessaigne, @mikemarg_, @mmccauley and everyone I don't have enough characters to add.
More info here: secoda.co/blog/secoda-series…
Northside Ventures retweeted
Thanks Josh for covering the Northside story! 🚀 – at Toronto, Ontario
I spoke with @Global_Founders alum @AlexMcIsaac333 about his plans for @Northside__VC, why he launched his own pre-seed #VC fund during a market downturn, and what he’s learned investing during a whirlwind few years for #CDNtech and the sector at large. betakit.com/former-global-fo…
Northside Ventures retweeted
I’m excited to announce Northside Ventures’ inaugural fund focused on backing exceptional Canadian founders in both the US and Canada at the pre-seed and seed stages with cheques from $100k to $500k.
medium.com/@NorthsideVenture…