Simple Ventures, a Toronto-based venture studio, has raised $15 million from a group of corporate backers and high-profile entrepreneurs, including Wealtsimple’s Michael Katchen and Knix founder Joanna Griffiths. The firm is using the capital to build startups from scratch, as it tries to counter Canada’s shrinking pool of entrepreneurs.

Other investors include TD Innovation Partners, Sun Life and Sobeys. Individual investors—including Shopify president Harley Finkelstein and veteran entrepreneurs and investors Joe Canavan and Sam Duboc—also joined the round, part of a backer group whose companies represent more than $750 billion in combined market capitalization. 

The firm is aiming to raise more money by the end of the year, to close the fund with $18 million to $20 million total.

Unlike a traditional venture capital firm that invests only in established startups, Simple Ventures creates new companies in-house, from testing early ideas to hiring CEOs and employees and taking products to market. It provides seed capital and operational support, positioning itself as both builder and backer. “We create companies that otherwise wouldn’t exist,” said CEO Rachel Zimmer, who co-founded Simple Ventures with Katchen last year.

Zimmer said the venture studio model is meant to turn out viable companies efficiently at a time when fewer people are starting businesses in Canada. A 2023 study from BDC found that Canada had 100,000 fewer entrepreneurs than it did 20 years earlier, despite adding 10 million people to the population.

With the new fund, Zimmer is urging Canadian talent abroad to come back and help revive the country’s shrinking startup scene. “We have both the capital and the network here to give entrepreneurs the very best chance of success and stack cards in their favour,” she said.

Simple Ventures has built and launched three companies since early 2024: Alma Care, a postnatal care company in Toronto; Harvest, which helps small businesses collect debts they’re owed; and Zero Collective, a luxury handbag rental service. The firm has “a lot” more companies in the pipeline, said Zimmer, with two currently operating in stealth mode.

Simple Ventures is aiming to build at least 25 companies by 2030, she said. “We’ve created 100 jobs to date since launching the fund,” said Zimmer, “and we think that it’s just the tip of the iceberg.”