BCF VENTURES AND THE HOLT FINTECH ACCELERATOR ANNOUNCE VENTURE CAPITAL PARTNERSHIP

MONTREAL, QC (May 19, 2018) – BCF Ventures, a brand new Montreal-based investment fund launched by BCF Business Law partners and Holt Fintech Accelerator, are proud to announce their strategic venture capital partnership. This program is based in Montreal and extends the entrepreneurship legacy of Sir Herbert Holt, Quebec’s energy pioneer, who created one of the largest privately owned utility in the world. With this partnership, BCF Venture’s funding initiative is destined to promote a great trend of investment in pre-seed startups in Canada and allow them to better support the next generation of entrepreneur talents operating in the fintech industry.

“Until now, we have witnessed new incumbents changing the basis of competition in the market, but not the competitive landscape. At BCF Ventures, we are looking for fintech startups that are developing technologies that respond to the changing and complex needs of financial institutions, particularly with regards to big data analysis, artificial intelligence and cloud computing. The partnership with Holt Fintech Accelerator is providing us with an excellent platform to identify, track, fund, and support disruptive startups changing the current financial services competitive landscape.” said Sergio A. Escobar, CEO of BCF Ventures.

BCF Ventures is Quebec very first “Super Angel Fund”, which could potentially invest $5 million over a ten-year period. This investment fund is led by Sergio A. Escobar, a recognized technology entrepreneur in the international community and recipient of several awards recognizing his entrepreneurial and mentoring skills. Mr. Escobar is also a business mentor for startup accelerators in the US, Canada, Europe and the Middle East. BCF Ventures aims to drive the growth of technology startups and will invest $500,000 by the end of 2018, a sum that can be renewed annually by the BCF Business Law’s partners who pooled their resources to create the fund.

“At Holdun, we are very honoured and humbled to announce this partnership with BCF Ventures. By merging our experts and our specialties together, more startups will be able to benefit from our services and our council in their development. This will help make our program the ideal infrastructure to integrate fintech and exponential technologies industries”, says Brendan Holt Dunn, Founder and Managing Partner for the Holt Fintech Accelerator Program.

The Holt Accelerator is currently engaged in a global search for the next 400 rising stars in fintech to take part in the program, and it encourages all interested candidates to submit their applications through the Holt Accelerator website by July 29th for a chance to participate. The company offers participants a unique opportunity to benefit from hands-on help through committed partners, training, world-class mentors, immersion in the fintech environment, board meetings and financial investments. The Holt Accelerator Program is also the only accelerator offering one of Canada’s largest applied AI solution providers, Stradigi AI, an undeniable resource for all fintechs wishing to get ahead. Everything is thought through to get the best out of the program and unleash the selected startups’ full potential.

About BCF Ventures

Led by Sergio A. Escobar, the BCF Ventures Super Angel Fund works alongside the other investors in the industry in order to multiply the fundraising capacity of the companies that are selected. By means of investments of a maximum of $50,000 per company, the actions initiated by BCF Ventures complement the strategies deployed based on grants and soft loans already offered by government programs operating in pre-seed and seed stages. The advisory committee of BCF Ventures is constituted by the angel investor and venture capitalist Mike Cegelski, Managing Director of Panache Ventures, Lawyer and businesswoman Anne-Marie Boucher, lawyer Jocelyn Auger, investor and businessman Nicolas Bélanger and angel investor and businessman Louis Carbonneau. The Chairperson of Invest in Canada Mitch Garber also acts as special advisor on a volunteer basis. This committee works in close coordination with Mr. Escobar in order to select the businesses with the most promising viability and growth potential.

About Holdun

The Holt-Dunn family is the direct legacy of Sir Herbert Holt, and one of Montreal’s finest. Their ancestor immigrated to Canada in 1873 and built the Montreal Light, Heat & Power Company, which would later be expropriated and is now known as Hydro-Québec. Business people at heart, members of the family founded or owned over 300 companies locally and internationally. At one time, the family possessed assets accounting for about three billion dollars (equivalent to forty billion dollars in today’s currency). That amount was 10 times larger than the Canadian government’s circulating currency. Sir Herbert Holt was inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame in 1979 and is, to this date, the longest-serving chairman and president of RBC (from 1908 to 1934). His participation was crucial in turning RBC into the country’s largest bank and the third largest in North America.

For more information, contact:

Ludovic Soucisse, BCF Ventures, ludovic.soucisse@bcf.ca, 514-397-2627

Geneviève Sorel, Citoyen Optimum, genevieve.sorel@citoyenoptimum.com, 514-973-2135