CPP Investments manages approximately CA$114 billion in assets across Canada. Its holdings span hundreds of companies in sectors including technology, financial services, natural resources, renewables, and infrastructure. This article is the first in Mapping Canadian Capital, a new series from CPP Investments Insights Institute. Each installment spotlights an investment from CPP Investments’ Canadian portfolio, offering insight into how a major global capital allocator approaches long-term partnership, value creation, and the complexities of investing in an evolving economic landscape.
In 2019, Radical Ventures was little more than a bold idea and a business plan. Toronto-based artificial intelligence (AI) entrepreneurs Jordan Jacobs and Tomi Poutanen had just sold their company Layer 6 to TD Bank. Now they wanted to do something even more ambitious: raise and deploy one of North America’s first dedicated AI venture capital (VC) funds.
“We set out to build something new—a world-class AI investment fund with Canadian roots,” said Jacobs, managing partner and co-founder. “A lot of this technology was made in Toronto and Montreal, so we knew the talent was here. And we knew we had the unique perspective and expertise that would help companies grow.”
Today, Radical operates out of three global hubs—Toronto, San Francisco, and London —and manages over US$2.5 billion in assets. Its portfolio includes Canadian AI leaders like Cohere, Waabi, and Aspect Biosystems, as well as global standouts like Hebbia and World Labs.
CPP Investments has been at its side from the start, anchoring its first, US$325 million institutional fund with a $50 million commitment. Since then, the fund has made several follow-on investments with its total commitment to date reaching US$280M.
Radical’s vision for Canadian AI leadership
The founding of Radical coincided with a critical inflection point for Canada’s AI ecosystem. Canadian universities and research institutions had long been home to foundational work in AI, but the local VC infrastructure was underdeveloped. The team behind Radical was determined to bridge that gap. At a time when the average Canadian VC fund was US$111 million, Radical was aiming to raise an initial institutional fund of US$325 million, focused specifically on AI opportunities.
Radical also offered a rare combination of attributes that aligned with CPP Investments’ mandate as a long-term investor. The firm was founded by a team of seasoned entrepreneurs with deep technical expertise and strong roots in the Canadian AI ecosystem. Jacobs and his co-founders were instrumental in building the Vector Institute and the Creative Destruction Lab—institutions that have helped position Toronto and Canada as global AI hubs. And Radical’s focus on AI matched CPP Investments’ strategic view of the technology as a transformative economic force.
“When we first met and backed the Radical team, it was more than three years before the launch of ChatGPT and the explosion of AI adoption,” said Max Miller, Managing Director, Growth Equity at CPP Investments. “Even then, we believed Canada was well positioned to lead if the opportunity materialized—and we believed Radical had the team, the network, and the vision to build something exceptional, headquartered right here in Toronto.”
For Radical, CPP Investments played a catalytic role, both in helping it raise that first institutional fund and in establishing its global credibility, said Jacobs. Over the years, it has remained a committed partner—sharing strategic insights, tapping into networks, and helping the team navigate emerging trends.
“That support immediately opened doors for us,” Jacobs said. “At the same time, having this world-class organization right in our backyard has been an incredible learning opportunity. When you’re starting small and aiming to be the best, getting feedback from one of the top investors in the world makes an enormous difference to your cadence of learning.”
That knowledge has flowed in both directions, with Radical offering insights into emerging technologies, talent trends, and the evolving landscape of AI-enabled value creation.
What Radical Companies Are Building
- Aspect Biosystems: Using 3D bioprinting to develop implantable tissues for regenerative therapies.
- Waabi: Developing AI-powered self-driving trucks that can safely navigate complex routes while cutting emissions.
- Hebbia: Reimagining how knowledge workers extract insights from vast corpuses of legal and financial data using custom AI agents.
- World Labs: A spatial intelligence AI company building large world models (LWMs) to perceive, generate, and interact with the 3D world.
- Intrepid Labs: Fast-tracking next-generation drug formulation and therapeutics development by leveraging active machine learning, advanced robotics and pharmaceutical expertise.
Scaling companies, shaping an industry
Critically, Radical is not just sourcing deals—it is actively shaping the companies it backs. Its Velocity platform offers practical support to founders across hiring, computing infrastructure, and commercialization. And its AI Founders Masterclass is designed to nurture and inspire the next generation of AI entrepreneurs. The program has drawn thousands of participants each year, offering technical and commercial mentorship from global AI leaders like Geoffrey Hinton, Fei-Fei Li, and Daphne Koller.
“These things have been major differentiators for our companies and for us in the market,” said Jacobs. “From day one, our thesis was that this would set us apart, that founders would seek us out to partner with them, and it has turned out to be correct.”
One of Radical’s earliest and most transformative investments was in Cohere, a Toronto-based leader in large language models for enterprise. Beyond capital, Radical provided Cohere with strategic guidance and access to a community of industry experts and leaders. As of 2025, Cohere is valued at US$5.5 billion.
But Radical’s impact extends beyond one company. Its portfolio includes firms tackling urgent, real-world problems—from Waabi’s efforts to revolutionize autonomous freight transport, to Aspect Biosystems’ pioneering work in regenerative medicine through bioprinted tissues.
AI startups are now capturing a skyrocketing share of global venture capital investment—rising from 16% of total VC funding in 2019 to 36% in 2024. Based on a total global VC deal volume of US$340 billion in 2019 and US$380 billion in 2024, this implies AI-specific funding grew from approximately US$54 billion to US$135 billion over the same period.
Amid this boom, a key challenge for funds like Radical will be to maintain disciplined capital deployment despite frothy valuations. But Jacobs remains optimistic about the fund’s approach.
“It’s worked and it continues to work—and we’re always competing against the top funds.”
Why CPP Investments Backed Radical Ventures:
Canada’s AI edge: Canada has world-class STEM talent, generous research funding, market proximity, and a favourable visa regime.
AI as an economic driver: CPP Investments saw artificial intelligence as a key enabler of long-term productivity and growth.
Filling a capital gap: Canada lacked the growth-stage capital Radical wanted to provide.
Founders with exceptional access: Radical’s leadership is deeply embedded in Canada’s top AI institutions and talent networks.
Attention to scale: Radical’s Velocity program and AI Masterclass offer differentiated, hands-on support to founders.
Strategic knowledge partner: Radical has become a trusted thought partner to CPP Investments, providing deep insight into emerging technologies, market trends, and the evolving AI landscape.
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