Kensington Capital Partners Announces Final Close of Kensington Venture Fund II

Kensington Capital Partners completed its final close of its $150 million Kensington Venture Fund II in October. The new Fund will follow a hybrid strategy as both a fund-of-funds investing in venture capital (VC) funds and a direct investor into promising technology companies. The Fund, which was launched under the Government of Canada’s Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative (VCCI), has been backed by new and existing investors including several institutional, high-net-worth, and family office investors.

The new Fund completed its initial closing last December and has been actively investing since that time.  To date, the Fund has completed commitments to two direct investments and seven new VC funds, including several that represent longstanding Kensington relationships.

“We are delighted to have reached the final closing for our new Fund, and we’d like to thank all of our investors for their confidence in our venture capital program,” said Rick Nathan, Managing Director of Kensington Capital Partners.  “Our pace of new investment reflects the tremendous potential and high quality of opportunities we are seeing today in the technology market across our network in Canada and the U.S.”

About Kensington Venture Fund II
Kensington Venture Fund II invests in promising venture capital funds as well as direct investments in emerging technology companies. The diversified portfolio is expected to include more than 100 companies across key technology sectors and stages. The substantial majority of underlying fund managers and direct investments will be based in Canada, with the broader fund-of-funds portfolio covering Canada and the United States. The Fund was launched under the Government of Canada’s Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative (VCCI).

About Kensington Capital Partners

Kensington is a leading independent Canadian investor in alternative assets. Founded in 1996, and with offices in Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary, Kensington has invested more than $1.5 billion to date in private equity, venture capital, and other alternatives. Kensington’s active management approach and relationship-based business has generated top quartile returns for investors. For more information, visit www.kcpl.ca.