---
title: "Intrepid Growth Closes $525M Fund I — $25M Over Target, Not AUM"
description: "Ex-CPPIB CEO Mark Machin’s Intrepid Growth Partners closed Fund I at $525 million — $25 million above a $500 million target. Toronto/London AI growth vehicle. Nine investments already. Temasek and Abu Dhabi Investment Council named."
date: 2026-09-14T00:00:00.000Z
source: https://venturecapitaltracker.com/2026-intrepid-growth-525m-fund-i
---

# Intrepid Growth Closes $525M Fund I — $25M Over Target, Not AUM

> Ex-CPPIB CEO Mark Machin’s Intrepid Growth Partners closed Fund I at $525 million — $25 million above a $500 million target. Toronto/London AI growth vehicle. Nine investments already. Temasek and Abu Dhabi Investment Council named.

**Intrepid Growth Partners** closed **Fund I at $525 million** — **$25 million over** a **$500 million** target — as it announced the close the week of **September 14, 2026**. Toronto and London. AI growth, not seed. The number that will get copied wrong is treating **$525 million** as firm AUM; it is **this vehicle**. There is ** Last verified **September 14, 2026**. Source: [The Globe and Mail](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-ai-financier-intrepid-growth-co-led-by-ex-cppib-ceo-mark-machin-raises/).

## Five-minute decision

| If you need… | Verdict |
| ----------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| What happened | **Fund closed.** $525M Fund I. $25M over target. |
| Mandate | Growth. Founding note: typically **$10M+ ARR**, Canada/UK companies scaling to the U.S. |
| Check size | **Up to $50M** per company (Globe). Launch copy was **$30–50M** initial. |
| Tracker next step | Do **not** expect a directory profile. Compare size to [Swish III $250M](/2026-swish-ventures-250m-fund-iii) and [TrueBridge Secondaries II $508M](/2026-truebridge-secondaries-ii-508m), not to [a16z Growth $8.5B](/2026-a16z-8-5b-growth-fund). |

**Investigate further when:** you are a Canada/UK AI company past **$10M ARR** that wants a lead-sized growth check.

**Wait or pass when:** you need a seed check, or you treat Beacon’s **~$200M** revenue claim as a Tracker-verified mark.

## What closed

| Field | Detail |
| -------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Firm | Intrepid Growth Partners — Toronto + London. Founded 2023. |
| Partners | Mark Machin (ex-CPPIB CEO), Mark Shulgan (ex-CPPIB/OMERS growth), Ajay Agrawal (Rotman / Creative Destruction Lab) |
| Vehicle | Fund I · **$525M** · **$25M** over **$500M** target |
| LP mix (Machin) | Asia + Middle East **30%**; Europe (incl. **British Business Bank**) **15%**; U.S. **10%**; rest Canada |
| Named LPs | **Temasek**, **Abu Dhabi Investment Council**, four other SWFs unnamed; CIBC, Scotiabank, HarbourVest Canada, Northleaf, Telus, EDC, BDC |
| Already invested | **Nine** companies, **four** in Canada |
| Named Canadian names | StackAdapt, Beacon Software, CoLab Software, Blue J Legal — **|
| Advisers named | Richard Sutton, Harley Finkelstein, Sir Mike Wigston |

Beacon co-founder Nilam Ganenthiran told the Globe Intrepid joined a **$225 million** growth round **this year** as a late joiner, has **no board seat**, and that Beacon has bought **45** businesses and is approaching **$200 million** in annual revenue. Those are **founder claims** in the Globe piece, not Beacon filings retrieved here.

## Intrepid $525M vs Swish $250M vs a16z Growth $8.5B

| | Intrepid I | [Swish III](/2026-swish-ventures-250m-fund-iii) | [a16z Growth](/2026-a16z-8-5b-growth-fund) |
| ------------ | ----------------------- | ----------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------ |
| What printed | **$525M** vehicle | **$250M** vehicle (**$800M is AUM**) | **$8.5B** Growth book |
| Stage | Growth / AI application | Early | Growth |
| Geography | Canada + UK → U.S. | Global / Casspi network | Global |

## What is not proven

- Audited AUM. Do **not** add Fund I to undeclared prior vehicles.
- Whether Temasek or ADIC are largest tickets — Globe named them, not cheque sizes.
- Portfolio marks for StackAdapt, CoLab, or Blue J.
- [Cohere](/startup/cohere) **$2–3B talks** in the same Globe package are a **separate** company story, not an Intrepid deal.

### Sources

1. [Globe and Mail — $525M close](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-ai-financier-intrepid-growth-co-led-by-ex-cppib-ceo-mark-machin-raises/)
2. [Intrepid founding statement](https://insights.intrepidgp.com/p/founding-statement)
3. [Globe — $500M target launch](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-ex-cppib-ceo-mark-machin-teams-with-former-pension-executive-to-launch/)

**By:** [Venture Capital Tracker](https://venturecapitaltracker.com/editorial-policy)
**Last updated:** September 14, 2026

**Editorial note:** AI tools assisted with research, structure, or drafting. Venture Capital Tracker retains human editorial responsibility for factual accuracy, relevance, and source quality before publication.