Female co-founded BKR Capital secures CA $20M first close to address funding gap for black founders — TFN

Toronto-based BKR Capital (previously Black Innovation Capital) has secured a CA$20 million (roughly US$14.5 million) first shut for its second fund, Black Innovation Fund II, because it appears to scale its investments in Black-led know-how startups. The fund is focusing on a complete dimension of CA$50 million.

The spherical drew backing from a mixture of institutional and impact-focused buyers, together with Royal Bank of Canada, Boann Social Affect Fund, Cap Finance Social Finance Fund, Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), and Export Development Canada (EDC).

The elevate comes at a time when funding gaps for Black founders stay stark.

The elevate comes at a time when funding gaps for Black founders stay stark. In 2025, Black-led startups received simply 0.15% of whole enterprise capital deployed in Canada, highlighting the structural imbalance BKR is aiming to deal with.

Addressing the funding hole for black communities

Based in 2021 by Isaac Olowolafe and Lise Birikundavyi, BKR Capital invests in high-growth know-how corporations led by founders from the Black neighborhood.

BKR Capital invests throughout sectors, together with fintech, cybersecurity (Protexxa), enterprise software program, and AI. The agency says its first fund is already monitoring as a top-quartile fund for its classic, in keeping with Carta benchmarks. That debut fund backed 15 corporations, together with cybersecurity agency Protexxa, which has since expanded operations throughout 9 international locations.

With Fund II, BKR has already begun deploying capital, making its first funding and evaluating further offers. In keeping with the agency, almost 90% of offers involving Black founders are concentrated on the pre-seed and seed levels, pointing to a rising however nonetheless underfunded pipeline.

BKR goals to step in early and help corporations as they scale into international markets.

Most of the startups it backs are constructing with worldwide enlargement in thoughts from day one, focusing on areas together with Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean.