The Business Development Bank of Canada’s investment arm will invest in seed and Series A funding rounds through the Deep Tech Venture Fund. BDC aims to invest in 15 to 20 startups in a range of verticals, including quantum sciences, electronics, AI, advanced materials and robotics. The average deal size will be about $5 million. (The Logic, BetaKit)

Talking point: This is BDC’s second recent play in deep-tech funding. In February, the Crown corporation invested in Montreal-based Boreal Ventures, a $26-million fund focused on deep tech. Thomas Park, who’s leading the new fund for BDC, told The Globe and Mail the initiative was developed through discussions with more than 60 startups, funds and academics in Canada. Those stakeholders wanted to make sure deep tech had financial support to commercialize and scale within Canada as the sector grows, he said, rather than risk having foreign companies and investors capture that value, instead. The fund will work with portfolio companies to help them with government procurement processes. It also has a longer investment timeline (12 years) than most VC funds (about 10 years), to account for the slower path to commercialization for deep-tech innovations.