Deep Tech · VC Firm

i4 Capital

Quebec City deep tech seed fund (CA$40M+ first close, CA$60M target) with quantum exposure that is adjacent only: Femtum's mid-IR fiber lasers serve silicon photonics and semiconductor fab, with quantum as one end market. Twice co-invested in Femtum alongside quantum-dedicated Quantacet (seed Jan 2024, CA$16M Series A Mar 2026). No pure quantum position.

Active Quebec City, CanadaFounded 2021

Investment thesis

Quebec City deep tech seed fund (offices inside INO, Canada's national optics institute, plus Espace CDPQ in Montreal) running a CA$40M+ first close toward a CA$60M target, winner of the Quebec Seed Fund Competition.

Leads or co-leads first institutional rounds across Industry 4.0, IT, advanced technologies (materials, photonics, microelectronics, quantum listed) and cleantech; ~20 planned positions, 10 disclosed.

Quantum exposure is adjacent, not direct: backed Femtum (mid-IR fiber lasers for silicon photonics and semiconductor fab) at seed (Jan 2024, co-led with ELAS) and in its CA$16M oversubscribed Series A (Mar 2026, BDC Capital-led), both times alongside quantum-dedicated Quantacet.

Institutional Québec LP base (Investissement Québec, Fonds de solidarité FTQ, Teralys, Fondaction, Fonds Eurêka) with a Eurêka pre-seed channel for public-research spin-outs.

Anti-thesis

The patterns that trigger a fast no with this fund.

  1. No pure quantum deal in ten disclosed positions; quantum is one word in a four-sector generalist thesis, and the only bridge is a laser-tooling supplier whose primary market is semiconductors, not quantum
  2. Final close never announced: the fund may still be at CA$40M against its CA$60M target three years after first close, which constrains reserves
  3. One of the two original co-managers (Tim Tokarsky) no longer appears on the team page, with no public explanation
  4. A founder selling a quantum-native story will be evaluated through an industrial-manufacturing lens here

Notable quantum portfolio

Full portfolio
Femtum

Frequent co-investors

  • Quantacet
  • BDC Capital
  • Boreal Ventures
  • ELAS Technology Investment
  • Hamamatsu Ventures
  • Fonds de solidarité FTQ
  • Fonds Impulsion