Staircase Ventures Closes Oversubscribed $50M Fund II with BDC Capital and University of Alberta
TL;DR
Toronto-based Staircase Ventures has closed an oversubscribed $50 million CAD Fund II — exceeding its $40M target — with new institutional backers BDC Capital, the University of Alberta endowment, and InBC Investment Corp joining alongside returning LPs RBC and Northleaf Capital Partners. Founder and sole GP Janet Bannister has built one of Canada's strongest early-stage track records, with Fund I generating a net annual IRR of over 50% — placing it in the top 10% of North American funds from its vintage. Fund II doubles down on pre-seed and seed investing in Canadian AI-leveraging startups, with Bannister's unusual model sharing 20% of her personal carry with founders and advisors.
Key Takeaways
50%+ net IRR from Fund I is the headline, but the model is the real story. Bannister's carry-sharing arrangement — where founders and advisors collectively share 20% of her investment gains — is essentially unheard of in institutional VC. It creates a genuine alignment dynamic that changes how founders in the portfolio interact with each other and with the fund. It's not a marketing gimmick; it's a structural innovation that affects deal flow, referral networks, and portfolio cohesion.
Closing $50M in Canada in 2026 is genuinely impressive. RBC published data showing 2025 was one of the worst VC fundraising years in Canada since 2016. Against that backdrop, Staircase not only hit its target but exceeded it, closing in under four months from first close. The institutional backers — BDC Capital, University of Alberta, InBC — don't write small checks into unproven funds; their participation is a vote of confidence in both the model and the manager.
All-AI portfolio thesis is both focused and risky. Bannister states that every company in her portfolio uses AI — roughly half with LLMs at the core. This is either a prescient lens on where early-stage value creation is happening, or an over-concentration risk if AI startup valuations compress. Given that Fund I's 50%+ IRR was achieved before this explicit AI-first lens was formalized, the deliberate deepening in Fund II is a forward bet worth watching.
BDC Capital is a signal, not just capital. The Business Development Bank of Canada is one of the most active Canadian fund-of-funds investors and its LP participation effectively signals institutional endorsement for the firm's strategy. BDC is selective — they deploy across Canada's most serious fund managers — and backing Staircase validates Bannister's position at the front of the Canadian seed ecosystem.
Fund Overview
Fund Name: Staircase Ventures Fund II
Fund Size: $50 million CAD (oversubscribed; target was $40M)
Stage: Pre-seed and seed
Check Size: $1–$2.5 million initial; 40% reserves for follow-on
Geography: Canada
Focus: Canadian tech startups with early signs of product-market fit; AI-first and AI-leveraging companies
Key LPs: BDC Capital, University of Alberta endowment, InBC Investment Corp (BC government), RBC, Northleaf Capital Partners, Mike Wessinger (PointClickCare co-founder), Craig Miller (former Shopify CPO)
Why This Fund Matters
Canada produces world-class technical talent — largely because of institutions like the University of Waterloo, University of Toronto, and the Mila AI research institute in Montreal — but has historically struggled to retain that talent through a thin early-stage investment ecosystem. Staircase's model is explicitly designed to change that dynamic: Bannister's fund writes the first institutional check, provides founders with executive coaching, health and financial support, and then shares in the upside in a way that makes staying in Canada a better economic decision for ambitious founders.
The Fund II LP base tells a structural story about the Canadian VC ecosystem growing up. BDC Capital serves as a multiplier across the Canadian venture landscape, and its LP participation forces accountability on performance in a way that angel syndicates and family offices do not. The University of Alberta endowment and InBC bring a Western Canada perspective that counterbalances the historic concentration of Canadian VC in Toronto and Montreal.
The 40% follow-on reserve is also notable. For a $50M fund writing $1–$2.5M initial checks, Bannister expects to back roughly 12 companies with initial investments, then reserve $20M for follow-ons in the top performers. That's a disciplined construction — not trying to spray capital broadly, but concentrating follow-on conviction in companies that show early evidence of product-market fit. The $32M first close in December 2025 and $50M final close in March 2026 suggests strong LP demand for that strategy.
Fund I's exit profile matters here too: 5 of 12 companies received follow-on financing at higher valuations. That's a 42% step-up rate on early portfolio, which is strong evidence of founder quality and Bannister's ability to identify products with genuine traction at pre-seed and seed stages.
The Team
Janet Bannister is one of Canada's most respected early-stage investors. Before founding Staircase in early 2023, she was Managing Partner at Montreal's Real Ventures and before that spent formative years at eBay — including launching Kijiji, the classified ad platform that became a dominant Canadian consumer brand. Her background combining operational execution (Kijiji), institutional investing (Real Ventures), and now independent GP management gives her a rare three-dimensional perspective on what it takes to build enduring companies from zero. Operating Partner Andrew Tiffin joins from Uber, Clutch, and Shopify, bringing go-to-market and product operations depth that complements Bannister's investment judgment.
Early Portfolio
Staircase's Fund II portfolio includes MedEssist (Toronto, healthtech — the first Fund II investment). Fund I companies include Ultimarii (Calgary, regulatory intelligence AI), Mave (Toronto, proptech), Tengiva (Montreal, textile supply chain), Una Software (AI-powered financial planning), and Biossil (drug development). The portfolio reflects genuine thesis diversity across AI applications rather than clustering in a single hot sector — a sign of investment discipline rather than trend-chasing.
What This Means for Founders
If you are a Canadian founder building an AI-leveraging startup approaching the pre-seed to seed stage, Staircase is structurally one of the most aligned early-stage investors in the country. The carry-sharing model means Bannister's financial success is literally tied to your success in a way that most institutional VCs are not. The wraparound support — executive coaching, health coaches, financial advisers, childcare support — is more relevant than it might appear; early-stage founder failure is frequently driven by personal and operational burnout rather than product-market fit misses.
The institutional LP base also matters for founders thinking about future rounds. Having BDC Capital, Northleaf, and RBC represented in Staircase's LP base means that when you take a Staircase check, you are indirectly building relationships with investors who can support you at later stages. That network effect from a small seed fund is underappreciated.
Fund Momentum Take
Janet Bannister is doing something genuinely rare: building a durable, high-performing seed franchise with a distinctive model in a market (Canadian early-stage) that historically hasn't supported the type of returns that attract top LP capital. The 50%+ net IRR from Fund I is exceptional, but the model — carry sharing, founder support, disciplined follow-on strategy — is what will make this repeatable.
The risk is concentration: a $50M Canadian seed fund with an all-AI portfolio has limited geographic diversification and significant exposure to any macro shift in AI startup valuations or Canadian tech ecosystem sentiment. We've seen Canadian VC fundraising environments swing dramatically in a two-year window. But Bannister has navigated that environment to raise an oversubscribed fund, which is its own proof of concept.
Our bet: Staircase Fund III will be meaningfully larger. As Fund II portfolio companies mature and begin generating exits, the track record will attract a broader LP base and justify a larger vehicle. Watch for Bannister to selectively add partners — the solo-GP model works at $50M, but at $100M+ it requires a team. Who she brings in will be the defining decision for the next phase of Staircase's growth.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes Staircase Ventures' carry-sharing model unique?
Janet Bannister shares 20% of her personal carried interest with founders and advisors across the portfolio. This means founders collectively benefit from the fund's investment gains — aligning their interests with the fund's success and creating a cooperative network effect across the portfolio. This is extremely rare in institutional VC, where carry is typically retained entirely by the GP.
How did Staircase Ventures perform with Fund I?
Fund I delivered a net annual IRR of over 50%, placing it in the top 10% of North American venture funds from the same vintage (2018 Carta data). Five of the 12 Fund I companies have since raised follow-on financing at higher valuations, indicating strong early portfolio performance.
What types of companies does Staircase back?
Staircase focuses on Canadian technology startups showing early signs of product-market fit at pre-seed and seed stages. All portfolio companies leverage AI in their operations or core product — roughly half use large language models as a fundamental technology layer. The fund writes initial checks of $1–$2.5 million and reserves 40% for follow-on investment in top performers.
Who are the key limited partners in Fund II?
New institutional LPs include BDC Capital (Business Development Bank of Canada's investment arm), the University of Alberta endowment, and InBC Investment Corp (BC government's investment vehicle). Returning LPs include RBC, Northleaf Capital Partners, PointClickCare co-founder Mike Wessinger, and former Shopify Chief Product Officer Craig Miller.
How can Canadian founders connect with Staircase Ventures?
Founders can reach Staircase Ventures through staircaseventures.com. The firm focuses exclusively on Canadian founders at the pre-seed and seed stage and prioritizes companies showing early evidence of product-market fit before making investment decisions.
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