Alex McIsaac here!

Today, I’m proud to introduce the new Northside Ventures website and our refreshed branding that reflects the lessons learned from thousands of founder conversations over the last two years since I launched the fund in 2023.

Our Mission & Ethos

Northside’s mission is to back exceptional Canadian founders building software and AI infrastructure for the global stage. Before day one.

We believe there’s no such thing as too early. Whether you’re raising or simply thinking through what to build, we’re always open to a conversation. Investing time and energy into the ecosystem well before capital is involved is how we build trust, and it’s core to how we operate.

Our ethos is simple: we invest in founders before ideas because great companies start with exceptional people. Ideas evolve, markets shift, but the founder is constant.

I launched Northside to build the kind of early-stage venture firm I wish existed when I was a founder — one that backs people before ideas, shows up early in the journey and acts as a true thought partner during ideation, exploration, and customer discovery, often before fundraising becomes part of the conversation.

A Different Kind of Early-Stage VC

We take an institutional angel approach to early stage investing that combines the speed, empathy, and agility of an angel investor with the structure, discipline, and networks of an institutional fund.

We write meaningful cheques ($100–500k) in a founder’s first round of capital often when nothing exists other than a founding team and an idea, maybe a product, maybe some early users.

Our ultimate goal is to be the highest value-for-dollar cheque on the cap table. We do this by supporting our founders initially as a sounding board through the customer discovery phase, helping to chart a path from –1 to 0, with the goal of finding the ideal customer profile, making introductions through our customer network to help secure first revenue and meet early milestones.

When it comes time to raise the next round, we help founders develop a deck and fundraising strategy and open up our investor network of follow on capital across Canada and the US. We have over a dozen lead seed and series A venture funds as LPs and hundreds more in our network.

A Community That Moves Together

Northside has grown into much more than a fund. Over the past two years, we’ve hosted and participated in countless dinners, off-sites, and candid conversations with builders at every stage — from pre-idea to growth — in Toronto, Waterloo, Montreal, Vancouver, San Francisco, New York, and beyond.

Our network includes 50+ pre-seed and seed-stage founders I’ve backed over the past five years — many now at the growth stage including Clutch, Float, Pine, Ledn, Moonvalley, Boardy, Veritree, Datacurve and many more — alongside over 50 experienced angel LPs from companies like Google, Uber, Deel, Affirm and many more. A significant number of our founders are also LPs in the fund themselves and write angel checks, paying it forward within the community.

The new community page offers a window into that network. These aren’t just portfolio logos — they’re relationships we’ve built deeply and strengthened over time. At Northside, we believe the compounding value of community is one of our greatest strengths.

What We Look For in a Founder

We invest in wildly ambitious, high-agency Canadian founders whether they live in the US, Canada or internationally. We are especially excited when we see founders with a combination of the following characteristics:

• Wildly ambitious — the founder can articulate a version of the future we believe in and explain with conviction how their solution solves a massive problem felt by many;
• Experience or unique insight— the founder has experienced a point of greatness or witnessed first hand a deep problem that gives them a unique insight or edge over other founders; and
• Intense urgency — the founder has high intellectual velocity and a sense of urgency to build, learn, iterate quickly to realize their vision.

Where We Are Investing

We are generalist investors with a focus on software-centric businesses accelerated by long-term market tailwinds . We tend to focus on three core areas of investment:

• Software & Vertical AI— modern tools for outdated industries, often built around underutilized, domain-specific data;
• AI Infrastructure & Developer Tools — platforms that make it easier for non-AI-native companies to adopt and scale AI; and
• Frontier Technologies — bold, technical solutions tackling foundational challenges in areas like energy, automation, and logistics.

You can see my latest post on Tech Trends I Observed in Q1 2025 here.

Why Canadians, and Why Now

We focus on Canadian founders because we believe the next generation of world-changing companies will be built by those with a Canadian connection. Canada consistently produces world-class technical talent, and our universities, research labs, and startup communities have launched some of the most influential founders in AI, infrastructure, and software. Canadian founders are world class when it comes to:

• Depth in technical training — Canadian founders are shaped by top-tier engineering, computer science, and AI research programs known for producing globally competitive talent;
• Track record of breakout builders — Canada has consistently produced founders who’ve gone on to build iconic companies across categories, from foundational infrastructure to fintech and SaaS; and
• Foundational AI strength — Canadian researchers and engineers have played a central role in building the core infrastructure behind today’s most important AI and computing platforms.

What sets us apart is our ability to identify and support these founders at the ideation stage. Our network and data-driven sourcing strategies give us visibility before a product or round exists.

Looking Ahead

Our new site is a clearer reflection of who we are, what we believe, and how we work with founders. It captures the values, thesis, and community behind Northside — and the kind of firm we’re committed to building for the long term.

If you’re a wildly ambitious founder building with incredible velocity and haven’t raised your first round of capital, we want to hear from you!

Meet us on the Northside!

— Alex