CIBC Innovation Banking Finances Graphite Ventures Through Series A Rounds

CIBC Innovation Banking on Tuesday (Feb. 22) provided financing solutions, including a capital call line of credit, to seed-stage investment firm Graphite Ventures through to the rights for Series A rounds.

According to a joint press release, the capital call facility will allow Graphite to make investments in portfolio companies prior to calling capital from the fund’s limited partners. Graphite will continue to support capital investments in early-stage companies across Canada, enabling them to scale globally.

“The team behind Graphite has demonstrated an effective investment strategy over the years and CIBC is proud to support them with their future portfolio investments,” Rob Rosen, managing director at CIBC Innovation Banking’s Toronto office, said in the release.

“They have consistently supported early-stage companies to help them get to Series A and beyond, and we’re excited to see how they continue to help fuel Ontario’s thriving innovation ecosystem of start-ups,” Rosen said.

The fund’s focus is on B2B Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), digital health, property technology, FinTech and hardware businesses. Graphite has closed eight investments and raised $77 million of capital, with a $100 million target by the end of the year.

“CIBC Innovation Banking is a valued ecosystem partner and they have supported many of our portfolio companies by providing competitive banking solutions,” said Aaron Bast, general partner at Graphite Ventures.

“Our CIBC capital call facility will help us deploy capital efficiently in our investments, which is integral to the operations of our fund,” Bast continued. “We look forward to continuing to work with CIBC as we scale Graphite Ventures, and the portfolio companies we support.”

Earlier this month, CIBC Innovation Banking provided $100 million as a credit facility to payments super app Expensify to help the company grow and add more products.

Related: Expensify Lands $100M Credit Facility From CIBC Innovation Banking

Expensify provides free corporate cards, expense tracking, next-day reimbursement and related services, such as invoicing, bill pay and travel booking to 10 million members, and integrates with every major accounting software and several human resources (HR), tax, practice management and travel platforms.