BlackRock, the New York-based investment giant, and HarbourVest Partners, a Boston fund-of-funds, are the lead investors in the “continuity” fund; others include Hollyport Capital, Kensington Capital Partners and Northleaf Capital Partners. Inovia has earmarked the money for seven Canadian and two U.S. scale-ups. (The Logic)

Talking point: The fund will take “partial or full interest” in the nine target portfolio companies, building on its traditional early-stage focus and its more recent foray into growth-stage deals. Inovia can use the new capital to build up bigger equity stakes in its early bets like Vidyard, and in breakout firms like Clearco and AppDirect, which have raised large sums from giant asset managers like SoftBank or the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and JP Morgan Chase, respectively. That could translate to a greater share of the upside when the companies sell out or go public. In April, Toronto’s Georgian Partners closed its first “alignment” fund, also to make follow-on investments in portfolio companies. That $1-billion vehicle is reportedly targeted at just four firms, including Top Hat—also on the Inovia Continuity Fund’s list.