Written by Michael Yang, Managing Partner, OMERS Ventures

Today, Clearcover announced a $200M Series D financing led by Eldridge, with a host of new investors joining the syndicate. We doubled down on our investment in Clearcover as we couldn’t be happier with the company’s progress and momentum. After all, it was only 16 months ago that we led Clearcover’s prior $50M round of financing. Back then, Clearcover was a merry band of 100 or so employees, selling personal auto insurance in 4 states, having just stood up an owned & operated carrier business.

But within three months of our investment…

Written by Jennifer Janson, Director, Communications, OMERS Ventures

We’re in a pretty unique position at OV in that we get to speak to dozens of different businesses, serving different markets, in different regions, every week. Like the rest of the world, we have been reflecting on this last tumultuous year as we look back on lockdowns, geopolitical upheaval, and a world waking up to inequality.

Without question, the most interesting and unique insights have come from the companies we back. They gave us moments of pause, levity and hope. …

Written by Alyssa Spagnolo, Associate, OMERS Ventures

It’s been a year since most of the world started working remotely. Working in tech, our jobs afford us the privilege to do most of our work behind computer screens, in the safety of our homes. Even so, there has been a learning curve for most organizations as we all transitioned to a completely remote world.

Early on in the pandemic, our team at OMERS Ventures wanted to explore how our counterparts were dealing with the prospect of making investments in such a new and uncharted landscape. So much of our work previously…

Written by Laura Lenz, Partner, OMERS Ventures

I’m not sure you’ve noticed, but something incredible is happening in Canada. For an ecosystem that is still comparatively nascent compared with our neighbours to the south, the story we are seeing unfold shows that venture backed companies are achieving scale and sizeable exits at a velocity unseen ever before in our market.

Historically Canada has been strong at producing companies at the Seed and Series A stage, but we have lacked the funding infrastructure to support growth stage businesses driving towards $1B+ exits. And by growth stage, I mean companies at the…

This past year many people who’ve had the privilege of never having to think about race woke up to the importance of educating themselves about structural racism and responsible allyship. This is not the first time conversations about equity have crossed into the mainstream of course, but there are signs that the messages about listening to hear and learn, not simply to respond; about the damage that performative allyship does, are taking hold.

In thinking about how to mark this month in an authentic way we thought it would be useful to share some of the resources that our own…

Written by Jennifer Janson, Director, Communications, OMERS Ventures

Whenever I see PR people jumping in to criticize a company’s handling of a crisis, I tend to give the company in question the benefit of the doubt. I’ve been on the receiving end too often, where there were nuances to the situation that simply couldn’t be shared for one reason or another. As company outsiders, we never have the full story. And in my experience, strong communicators will always do the best they can with what they have to work with in the moment.

So, it was very on brand when…

Hosted by OMERS Ventures Principal, Chrissy Farr.

This has been a year like no other for the healthcare space. One overlooked pandemic outcome has been the countless number of delayed surgical procedures which have had a material impact on people with musculoskeletal-based immobility and pain. We wanted to know what impact of things like delays in elective surgeries on the musculoskeletal (or MSK) space and what can we expect in 2021. We brought together two experts in the space to discuss the impact of this last year on the care delivery ecosystem and most important, on patients themselves.

OMERS Ventures…

Written by Casey Rovinelli, OMERS Ventures Growth Director

At a bar in the Atlanta airport one fine day several years ago, a growth marketing expert (who will remain nameless) said something I’ll never forget.

As fate would have it, we were both heading back to Toronto after speaking at a marketing conference. After some idle chit-chat — talk of the conference, the industry, mutual acquaintances — he said, “You know, I don’t really care about this growth marketing stuff. I’m not even really good at it, but this seems to be the way the industry is going, so it’s what…