TORONTO — Realize Capital Partners, a wholesaler for the Government of Canada’s Social Finance Fund (SFF), today announced the final close of its blended finance, impact fund-of-funds, Realize Fund I, having raised $276.7M in total capital – $141.7M of private capital to match the Government of Canada’s $135M anchor investment in 2023. With this close, Realize Capital Partners is delivering on the SFF ambition to use the Government’s capital to multiply and mobilize private capital participation in the social finance market. The fundraise underscores investor interest in sustainable and equitable Canadian investment solutions and confidence in Realize Capital Partners to deliver strong impact outcomes and financial returns over the coming years.

Fund I’s $276.7M positions it as one of the largest funds in Canada’s impact investment market; research has revealed that recent impact funds have been commonly closing in the $10-100M¹ range. The strong close is significant against the backdrop of a difficult fundraising environment that private market funds, not just impact funds, have been dealing with the past few years.² The private capital raised also helps many smaller impact funds, as Fund I’s fund-of-funds model has often taken large, anchor positions in first closes to help catalyze additional investment.

With this final close, Fund I, which has completed about 40% of its planned investments, will continue to construct a portfolio that tackles inequity through multifaceted, positively reinforcing investments, while targeting competitive risk-adjusted returns. Examples of investments made to date include a private credit housing fund building affordable housing in Indigenous communities; a microlending fund providing loans to foreign-educated professionals to enable newcomers to meet their economic potential; a cleantech private equity fund investing in commercially ready solutions that decarbonize the power supply and electrify transportation; and a health-focused venture capital fund investing in novel therapies and technologies to fight cancer.

“There has been a lot of discussion recently about the importance of government initiatives to accelerate investment from Canadian wealth holders into domestic companies and projects that improve the lives of Canadians. With this final close achieved, we believe Realize Fund I can provide a blueprint for achieving exactly that. The close allows us to continue to build a strong portfolio of fund partners enabling an inclusive and resilient economy of sustainable Canadian businesses that’s better able to tackle large complex problems now and into the future.”

“When Canadian investors support social finance and social purpose organizations, they achieve both financial returns and positive social, economic and environmental outcomes for Canadians. With more than 80 social purpose organizations supported through the Social Finance Fund, this milestone demonstrates how purpose-driven investments are strengthening Canada’s economy and communities.”

“RockCreek Canada is pleased to partner with Realize Capital Partners as it works to expand and strengthen Canada’s social finance market. Its collaboration with the Social Finance Fund creates a differentiated platform to increase access to high-impact investment opportunities and support the continued development of Canada’s impact investing ecosystem, including for emerging and first-time fund managers. As an OCIO serving mission-driven organizations including the Metcalf Foundation, Toronto Foundation and Waterloo Region Community Foundation, this investment reflects an important step in furthering our focus on the Canadian impact investing market.”

“We’ve always had an ambition to deepen our social equity work and we recently launched the Inclusive Opportunities Fund to formalize this. To better tackle the social challenges Canadians face, we knew we needed to draw on more of the bank’s resources and expertise, implementing both philanthropic and investment strategies. Realize Fund I was a perfect first allocation to activate the investment portion of this strategy, and will be an important catalyst to future follow-on impact investments.”

“Concordia University Inter-Generational Fund has been among Canada’s leading institutional investors in sustainability and impact investment, something we’re very proud of. Realize Fund I provided a compelling opportunity to further deepen this approach through a diversified, de-risked and scalable platform, offering exposure to a range of impact managers and investment opportunities across Canada that are closely aligned with Concordia’s mission and priorities. We are proud to have supported the fund as an anchor investor with a $25M commitment – we feel the investment not only meets our baseline fiduciary duty but sets a new standard for aligning the portfolio more closely with our institutional mission. We are encouraged by Realize Fund I’s successful close and hope it contributes to advancing the adoption of impact investing across Canadian institutional portfolios.”