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TELUS Ventures
Founded in 2001 and anchored within TELUS Communications, TELUS Ventures operates as the strategic corporate venture capital arm of the $30-billion-plus...
TELUS Ventures
Founded in 2001 and anchored within TELUS Communications, TELUS Ventures operates as the strategic corporate venture capital arm of the $30-billion-plus Canadian telecom. Rich Osborn shaped the group from inception alongside a lean team split across Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal. Unlike independent VCs, the firm's capital comes directly from the parent company's balance sheet, which means it does not raise external funds, does not report AUM, and measures success partly by the commercial traction portfolio companies find inside TELUS's own operating units. The group writes equity checks across seed through growth stages, typically targeting rounds from Series A onward. Its portfolio leans heavily into technology that touches connectivity, data, and customer platforms: confirmed positions include League (digital health platform), Humi (Canadian HR software), and Mojio (connected-car telematics). It has also backed ag-tech plays like Farmers Edge and ASI (autonomous spraying) to feed TELUS's standalone agriculture division. Geographically, while overwhelmingly Canadian, the firm has done select deals in the U.S. and Israel, particularly in cybersecurity and cloud infrastructure. Team size and total deployed capital remain undisclosed. TELUS Ventures does publish occasional impact numbers: it has backed more than 90 portfolio companies since launch and reports over $4 billion in cumulative portfolio enterprise value. In May 2024, the firm participated in a $35 million Series C for Toronto-based digital health company Cliniconex, extending a multi-year thesis around automated patient engagement (per BetaKit, May 2024). The firm's investment committee is tightly coupled to TELUS's corporate strategy group, making it functionally a hybrid of VC and business development. Structurally, TELUS Ventures is unusual among corporate VCs because of how deeply it is woven into the parent's operating fabric. Several of its largest exits — including the 2019 sale of mobile-marketing firm Amobee to Tremor International and the public listing of Hootsuite (in which it was an early investor) — generated returns that flowed not to outside LPs but straight back to TELUS's own P&L. The venture arm, in effect, operates as an R&D-financing and innovation-scouting function dressed in a VC governance structure.
General information
Firm type
Corporate Venture Capital
Year founded
2001
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
Canada
City
Vancouver
Corporate office
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Additional offices
Toronto, Canada · Montreal, Canada
Principals
Rich Osborn
Managing Partner
Terry Doyle
Partner
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at TELUS Ventures?
Rich Osborn is the Managing Partner and has led the group since its founding in 2001. He works alongside a small partnership team that includes Terry Doyle. The investment committee operates within TELUS's corporate strategy framework, meaning final approvals often involve senior executives from the parent telecom company.
Is TELUS Ventures a typical venture capital firm or something else?
It is a corporate venture capital arm, not an independent fund. Capital comes from TELUS Corporation's balance sheet rather than from external limited partners. This structure gives it a dual mandate: achieve venture-scale financial returns while identifying technologies that can be integrated into TELUS's core business lines — from telecom and health to agriculture and customer experience.
Does TELUS Ventures disclose its AUM or fund size?
No. Because it deploys balance-sheet capital rather than raised funds, TELUS Ventures does not report assets under management. The firm has publicly noted backing more than 90 companies and supporting over $4 billion in cumulative portfolio enterprise value, but its actual deployed capital pool remains undisclosed.
What is TELUS Ventures' relationship with TELUS Agriculture?
TELUS Ventures has been a primary vehicle for building out TELUS's agriculture division. It made early investments in companies like Farmers Edge (digital agronomy) and autonomous-spraying technology firm ASI, both of which later became foundational to TELUS Agriculture's product suite. The venture arm effectively scouted and financed ag-tech capabilities that TELUS later scaled through its own operating unit.
Does TELUS Ventures invest outside Canada?
Yes, though Canada remains its core geography. The firm has selectively backed companies in the United States and Israel, particularly in sectors like cybersecurity and cloud infrastructure where Canadian deal flow alone is insufficient to access best-in-class technologies. Most of its portfolio, however, is concentrated in Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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