Cross Border Impact Ventures raises $58M USD toward women's health fund

Toronto-based Cross-Border Impact Ventures (CBIV) has secured $58 million USD ($81 million CAD) in a first close for its second fund, which backs companies improving health outcomes for women and children. The firm is targeting $125 million USD in total, with a goal of closing by the second half of 2027.

Limited partners include German national development bank KfW, the Skoll Foundation, Capricorn Investment Group, Ceniarth, Equality Fund, RockCreek Group, and Wire Group, plus unnamed family offices and high-net-worth investors. KfW returns as a concessionary capital investor, allowing other LPs to earn higher returns and providing downside protection.

CBIV will write Series A and Series B cheques of $2 million to $5 million USD into roughly a dozen biotech, medical device, and diagnostics companies with global commercial potential. It targets ventures with a "good line of sight to commercialization and regulatory approval," said managing partner Annie Thériault.

Fund I, launched in 2021 and now mostly deployed, backed 11 companies worldwide. It logged one exit in France's Sonio, a fetal ultrasound software firm acquired by Samsung Medison for a reported $92 million USD.

CBIV has yet to invest in a Canadian company and hopes to change that with Fund II. The partners say a sparse early-stage landscape for medtech — and women's health diagnostics and devices in particular — has made deals hard to find where they invest.

Studies point to a persistent women's health funding gap, and a recent Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association report showed life sciences funding dropped 39% year-over-year last quarter. Still, Thériault is optimistic about investor interest: fundraising remains a slog, she said, but "those that deeply care about women's health are twice as motivated." She added, "We're seeing less in Canada than in the US or in Europe, but I'm hopeful that the tide might turn here in the coming years."