TORONTO — OMERS Ventures, the VC arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, has laid off several employees from its U.S. investment team, including Michael Yang, senior managing partner at the firm.

Yang’s layoff marks the fourth departure from the firm’s Bay Area team since last month. Three employees have also left the operations team, leaving just a dozen employees total at OMERS Ventures, down from 19 in June. The layoffs are part of a shift away from U.S. investing to focus more on Canada, according to a source with direct knowledge of the layoffs, as well as communications viewed by The Logic. 

Saar Pikar, managing director of growth equity at OMERS will now also lead the venture capital team. Laura Lenz, meanwhile, is being promoted from partner to managing director.

The early-stage VC firm opened its Palo Alto, Calif. office in 2019, as it angled to grow its portfolio of tech investments. The firm tapped Yang, who then had over 12 years of experience investing in the Bay Area, to lead the division before promoting him to head of all venture capital in August 2023. Yang’s last day was Monday. News of his departure was first reported by BetaKit.

OMERS Ventures head of marketing Amanda Ashford told The Logic the firm is maintaining its presence in Silicon Valley. “While we will be increasing our focus on the Canadian market, we will be continuing to pursue selective opportunities in the U.S. through direct investments and strategic partnerships,” she said in an emailed statement sent on behalf of the firm. “We have several investors located at our offices in New York and Palo Alto.” Half of the firm’s investment team is based in the Bay Area, down from two-thirds last month, its website shows. 

“As the first Canadian pension plan to invest directly in early-stage technology, with years of leadership in this space, we are confident that this evolution of our strategy allows us to channel our resources where we can deliver the greatest value to portfolio companies and our members,” said Ashford.

Scaling back from the U.S., and Silicon Valley in particular, follows years of sluggish investment activity in the tech sector. Many of Canada’s big pension funds joined the pandemic-era tech buying frenzy. In the years since, high interest rates, inflation and global economic uncertainty have sent many startup valuations cratering from record highs. Investors have been sitting on their cash, waiting for conditions to improve, while tech firms have laid off hundreds of thousands of workers.

Like many VC firms, OMERS Ventures has slowed the pace of its investments. The firm participated in six deals in 2024 and 11 the year prior, PitchBook data shows, down from 29 in 2022 and 22 in 2021. The firm has yet to launch its fifth fund, which it initially planned to do in 2023.

In September, OMERS pulled the venture capital division—which had previously operated at arm’s length from the pension fund—into a newly formed Private Capital group. 

The smaller U.S. presence follows a retreat from Europe. In September 2023, OMERS Ventures closed its London office just four years after it opened. The move was meant to narrow its focus on North America. 

OMERS isn’t the only Canadian pension fund to retreat from the tech epicentre as startup investments lose their lustre. In May, CPP Investments, Canada’s largest pension fund manager, announced it will close its San Francisco office by the end of this year.

Six months into 2025, Canada’s eight largest pension funds had participated in just six venture capital deals worth a combined US$900 million, down from 73 investments worth US$23.3 billion in all of 2021. The pensions’ contributions to other VC funds have also fallen sharply, from 35 commitments in 2022 to nine in 2024, and just two as of mid-2025. 

Pension funds, meanwhile, are facing more pressure from local entrepreneurs and political leaders to invest more in Canada and bolster the economy amid strained U.S. relations. In December, for instance, Ottawa proposed $1 billion in new funding for the Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative, including more enticing terms for pension funds and other institutional investors to participate in the fund-matching program. With the new government in place, however, it’s unclear if that plan will proceed.