Radical’s new Canadian-based VC fund secures $1-billion for AI megadeals

Radical’s new Canadian-based VC fund secures $1-billion for AI megadeals SEAN SILCOFF TECHNOLOGY REPORTER PUBLISHED 56 MINUTES AGO UPDATED 1 MINUTE AGO COMMENTS SHARE SAVE FOR LATER Listen to this article Learn more about audio Log in or create a free account to listen to this article. Open this photo in gallery: Radical Ventures co-founders Jordan Jacobs, left, and Tomi Poutanen, in 2019. FRED LUM/THE GLOBE AND MAIL Jordan Jacobs had trouble sleeping after reading a new study from Google in September, 2017, titled, “Attention is All You Need.” It introduced a concept that would radically speed up and improve the accuracy of artificial intelligence models designed for writing and interpreting language. Mr. Jacobs, an entertainment lawyer-turned AI startup founder, immediately grasped its significance. The findings would transform AI and language models from a promising but limited technology into something vastly bigger. “Every piece of software on earth will get replaced or embedded with this over the next decade,” he recalled thinking at the time. So, Mr. Jacobs and co-founder Tomi Poutanen sold their startup, Layer 6, to Toronto Dominion Bank and leaned hard into their side hustle: investing in other AI startups. They believed they could build the world’s best AI investment firm to capitalize on the coming wave. That bet is paying off. Their company, Radical Ventures is now one of Canada’s biggest venture capital firms, with US$2.5-billion in assets under management. Now, Radical is making Canadian financing history with the launch Tuesday of its Breakouts Fund, the country’s largest venture capital vehicle. Radical said it has secured US$1-billion from investors for the new fund, including past backers Public Sector Pension Investment Board, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan, TD, CI Global Asset Management and OPSEU Pension Trust, plus the Bank of Montreal. Prime Minister Mark Carney was expected to highlight the fund in the opening remarks of his global investor summit Tuesday. The amount raised so far is a Canadian venture capital record. But the goal for the Breakouts Fund is far more ambitious – US$4-billion, two sources familiar with the matter said (Mr. Jacobs would only say the target is a “multi-billion dollar” amount). The Globe and Mail is not identifying the sources as they aren’t authorized to discuss the matter. Radical plans to initially invest up to US$250-million apiece in 12…