About Relay Ventures
Relay Ventures is a venture capital firm founded in 2008. It is primarily based out of Toronto, Canada. As of Dec 2024, Relay Ventures has invested in 104 companies. It primarily invests in Series A round in Canada based startups. Its investments are spread across a wide range of sectors from Enterprise Applications to High Tech and HealthTech. Most recently it participated in the $***** Series C round of 7shifts Overall, Relay Ventures portfolio has seen 2 unicorns, 3 IPOs and 49 acquisitions including key companies like ecobee, Angel List and Paymentus. A lot of funds co-invest with Relay Ventures, with names like BDC sharing a substantial percentage of its portfolio. Relay Ventures has team of 19 people including 3 partners.Key Metrics
Team Members
Portfolio Count
Portfolio Sectors
Portfolio Locations
Rounds of Entry
Series A, Seed & 6 more
Portfolio Unicorns
Portfolio Soonicorns
Relay Ventures' List of Top Investments
Relay Ventures has a portfolio of 104 companies, including 2 unicorns. Their most notable investments are in Robinland and Easy.Their portfolio spans across Canada, United States, United Kingdom and 3 more locations. They have invested in Enterprise Applications, High Tech, HealthTech and 26 other sectors, across stages such as Series A, Seed and 6 more. Here is the list of top investments by Relay Ventures:1. ecobee
Manufacturer of smart thermostats, sensors, cameras, and security system bundles. The company provides smart thermostats with accessories, air filter subscriptions, and power extender kits. It offers smart sensors for rooms, doors, and windows. The company also manufactures wired smart doorbell cameras and smart cameras with voice control. In addition, the business provides home security bundles and smart security subscriptions.
Key facts about ecobee
- Founded Year: 2007
- Location: Toronto (Canada)
- Stage: Acquired
- Total Funding till date: $155M
- Employee Count: 537 as on May 31, 2026
- Investors: MaRS Discovery District, Export Development Canada and 14 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series C, May 31, 2018, $*****
- Highlight: Acquired
2. Angel List
Provider of fund management software and services for venture capital. It offers tools for raising capital, deal closing, and portfolio management. The company delivers solutions for special purpose vehicles and scout programs. Digital subscription services replace paperwork with flexible workflows. Full-service offerings remove friction from fund management for venture funds and syndicates.
Key facts about Angel List
- Founded Year: 2010
- Location: San Francisco (United States)
- Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Series B
- Total Funding till date: $100M
- Employee Count: 518 as on Jan 05, 2026
- Investors: Google Ventures, Tiger Global Management and 31 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series B, Mar 09, 2022, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
3. Paymentus
Provider of a platform for intelligent billing and payment solutions. The platform offers various engagement channels and payment options to meet customer preferences. It provides tools for accounts receivable, accounts payable, and expense management. The platform delivers digital billing capabilities, accelerated payments, and simplified operations for billers and consumers.
Key facts about Paymentus
- Founded Year: 2004
- Location: Atlanta (United States)
- Annual Revenue: $1.2B as on Dec 31, 2025
- Stage: Public
- Total Funding till date: $23.6M
- Employee Count: 945 as on May 31, 2026
- Investors: Accel-KKR, Relay Ventures and 2 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series B, Sep 15, 2011, $*****
- Highlight: Public
4. Phunware
Provider of analytics and data management software. It offers a multiscreen mobile marketing automation platform that provides mobile advertising, content management, alerts and notifications, analytics, and BI solution. It also provides an end to end advertising platform for both advertisers and publishers to deliver relevant and targeted advertising at scale.
Key facts about Phunware
- Founded Year: 2009
- Location: Austin (United States)
- Annual Revenue: $2.55M as on Dec 31, 2025
- Stage: Public
- Total Funding till date: $118M
- Employee Count: 71 as on May 31, 2026
- Investors: Narra Venture Capital, Wild Basin Investments and 22 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Post IPO, Jul 22, 2020, $*****
- Highlight: Public
5. Varicent
Provider of incentive compensation management solutions for enterprises. It provides incentive compensation management and sales performance management solutions for finance, sales, human resources, and IT departments. The solutions include incentive management, performance management, and others. The enterprises can set territories and quotas for sales teams and design complex compensation plans based on various factors. It offers embedded AI and GenAI assistants that help analyze data, optimize plans, and uncover revenue opportunities.
Key facts about Varicent
- Founded Year: 2003
- Location: Toronto (Canada)
- Stage: Acquired
- Total Funding till date: $49M
- Employee Count: 653 as on Mar 31, 2026
- Investors: Royal Bank of Canada, Industry Ventures and 6 Others
- Latest Funding Round: PE, Jul 16, 2024, $*****
- Highlight: Acquired
Relay Ventures' Year-on-Year Investment Trends
Relay Ventures has invested in 104 companies over the last 23 years, with an average of 2 new investments annually in the last 10 years. Its most recent first time investment was in ALT Sports Data and most recent follow-on round was in 7shifts.Year | No. of Investments | ||
|---|---|---|---|
1st Round | Follow-on | Total | |
2026 (YTD) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2025 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2024 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
2023 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
2022 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2021 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
2020 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2019 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
2018 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
2017 | 5 | 4 | 9 |
Relay Ventures' Investments by Stage
Relay Ventures has made 27 investments in Series A stage with an average round size of $7.16M, 23 investments in Seed stage with an average round size of $2.88M and 7 investments in Series B stage with an average round size of $10.3M.Stage of entry | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Series A | 27 |
Seed | 23 |
Series B | 7 |
Series C | 4 |
PE | 1 |
Others | 3 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Relay Ventures' Investments by Sector
Relay Ventures has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the Enterprise Applications, High Tech, Consumer, Vertical SaaS and Enterprise Infrastructure. Notably, it has invested in 88 Tech companies, 72 Enterprise (B2B) companies, 60 Software companies and at least 33 companies focusing on Saas.Sector | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Enterprise Applications | 35 |
High Tech | 13 |
Consumer | 10 |
Vertical SaaS | 10 |
Enterprise Infrastructure | 8 |
Others | 78 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Relay Ventures' Investments by Geography
Relay Ventures has made most investments in Canada (35), followed by United States where it has made 27 investments.Country | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Canada | 35 |
United States | 27 |
Israel | 1 |
Italy | 1 |
United Kingdom | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Relay Ventures' recent investments
Relay Ventures has not made any investment in 2026 so far.Here are the most recent investments by Relay Ventures:
Filter this listDate | Company | Location | Round Details | Round Amount | Co-Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dec 01, 2024 | Canada | Series C | 4067 | ||
Feb 06, 2024 | United States | Series A | 2607 | [+2] | |
Dec 13, 2023 | Canada | Seed | 4136 | - | |
Oct 31, 2023 | Canada | Series A | 7648 | [+4] | |
Feb 13, 2023 | Canada | Series B | 6818 | [+3] |
Unicorns in Relay Ventures' Portfolio
Relay Ventures has 2 unicorns in its portfolio - Prove and Angel List. The most recent unicorn in their portfolio is Prove. It became a unicorn in 2023, 6 years after Relay Ventures first invested in it.Here is a list of unicorns in Relay Ventures' portfolio:
Tracxn Score | Company | Short Description | Founded year | Sector | Location | Company Stage | First Investment/ Acquisition Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
64 | Provider of digital identity verification and authentication solutions across various industries | 2008 | New York City | Series F | ekhsalx | ||
76 | Provider of fund management software and services for venture capital | 2010 | San Francisco | Series B | uepruzv |
IPOs and Publicly Listed companies in Relay Ventures' Portfolio
3 of Relay Ventures' portfolio companies have become public. Paymentus got listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), in May 2021 at marketcap of $2.43B and Phunware got listed on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) at marketcap of $84.9M.Here are Relay Ventures' portfolio companies that went public:
Company | IPO Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
May 26, 2021 | Aug 10, 2007 | Series A | 7086 | |
Nov 14, 2018 | - | - | 6217 | |
Jan 21, 1998 | - | - | 3998 |
Acquired companies in Relay Ventures' Portfolio
49 companies from Relay Ventures' portfolio have been acquired. The most recent acquisition was Tynker in Jun 2025 by CodeHS for $*****.Here are Relay Ventures' portfolio companies that got acquired most recently:
Company | Acquisition Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Jun 09, 2025 | May 31, 2016 | Series A | 7258 | |
Dec 09, 2024 | Feb 13, 2023 | Series B | 8807 | |
May 09, 2024 | Apr 23, 2008 | Series B | 4257 | |
May 23, 2023 | Jul 28, 2022 | Seed | 3819 | |
Apr 12, 2022 | Aug 20, 2013 | Seed | 6715 |
Team profile of Relay Ventures
Relay Ventures has a team of 19 members including 3 Partners and 2 Principals located in Canada. Relay Ventures' team sits on the board of 3 companies.Here is a list of top team members in Relay Ventures:
Name | Designation | Location | Board Memberships | Contact Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Partner | - | - | ||
Partner | Toronto | |||
Partner | Canada | |||
Principal | Canada | - | - | |
Principal | Toronto |
Co-investors of Relay Ventures
Over the past 23 years, 387 investors have co-invested in Relay Ventures's portfolio companies. This includes funds and angels.
- Invested before Relay Ventures: BlackBerry Partners Fund, Relay Ventures and 80 others have invested in rounds before Relay Ventures. There are 4 companies where BlackBerry Partners Fund has invested before Relay Ventures and 2 companies where Relay Ventures has invested before Relay Ventures.
- Top Co-investors of Relay Ventures: 149 investors entered a company along with Relay Ventures. These include investors like BDC (3 companies).
- Invested after Relay Ventures: A total of 156 investors have invested in Relay Ventures's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include BDC (4 companies), Export Development Canada (3 companies) and Alexa Fund (3 companies).
Recent News related to Relay Ventures
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Plug and Play Invests in Veecle to Bring Software-Defined-Cars to AutomakersMedium•Nov 28, 2023•Plug and Play Tech Center, Veecle, Relay Ventures, F-LOG Ventures and 1 other
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The Easy Company Raises $14.2M Seed Funding to Launch World’s First Social Web3 WalletNFTgators•Jan 10, 2023•Easy, Lobby Capital, Relay Ventures, 6MV and 6 others
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Horace Dediu Joins Relay Ventures as Partner and Chief Market StrategistBusiness Wire•Sep 23, 2021•Relay Ventures
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