Our mission is simple. We want to put business and property ownership in the hands of more people. We call this ownership-lens investing.
We tackle wealth inequality by investing in solutions that increase access to ownership. Our goal is to build a more inclusive economy where business and property ownership are distributed more broadly.
What will The Ownership Fund invest in?
We will invest in businesses, funds, and other platforms that support a broader distribution of business and property ownership. While the investable universe is broad, our investment themes include:
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We’re interested in platforms that intentionally reduce the barriers to starting new businesses in a scalable way. This could be supporting individual owners in franchise-like concepts, or broad-based ownership in cooperative-like structures. Examples of this that we like are Ownership Fund investee Indiegraf which helps make ownership easier for independent local journalists by providing all the necessary technology to start up a local, for-profit newsletter and Wonderschool, a platform that empowers new and experienced child care providers to run their own child care businesses
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Businesses that provide the advantages of scale to independent “mom and pop” businesses in consolidating industries fit our objectives. Examples of this that we like are CCA Global, an owner-owned co-operative that helps independent flooring stores compete with big box stores and bookshop.org, a platform that helps independent booksellers compete with Amazon.
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Given the scale of business sales that are happening as the baby boomer generation retires, we expect this to be an active area for us. We’d see value in platforms or funds that support the purchase of businesses by entrepreneurs with diverse backgrounds or broad-based employee ownership structures like ESOPs, EOTs or worker-owned cooperatives. We’ve invested in three such structures already: Apis & Heritage Capital Partners, who support business acquisitions by ESOPs, Common Trust, who support business acquisitions by EOTs and New Majority Capital, which supports the acquisition of businesses by women and people of colour.
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The Ownership Fund will look to support the best examples of this growing field. We think this is an incredibly important area - consolidation of residential property is a major threat to democracy - and we’ve seen both good and bad approaches to supporting real estate ownership for those facing barriers. We’ve already invested in Ourboro who co-invests alongside aspiring homeowners to help eliminate the down payment gap faced by many Canadians and Blackstar Stability Distressed Debt Fund, who is recreating the pathway to homeownership for communities underserved by traditional mortgage lenders by purchasing and restructuring predatory home loans.
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We are open to investing in a variety of alternative ownership structures including cooperatives (worker-owned, owner-owned, and platform cooperatives), ESOPs, EOTs, non-profits and community ownership models. In addition, we are able and willing to invest in other creative new structures to help get impactful ideas off the ground.
What will The Ownership Fund look for in an investment opportunity?
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Accessibility of Ownership
We want to increase access to business and property ownership. We look to invest in businesses, funds, and platforms that support a broader distribution of ownership, either by creating new ownership opportunities or by protecting existing independent ownership
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Scalability or Replicability
We are looking for big ideas with high impact potential. While scalable platforms are great, we also recognize that some problems require tailor-made solutions which address regional or industry-based nuances. We will invest in businesses, funds, and platforms catering to a specific region or industry, especially if there is potential for similar platforms to be replicated elsewhere.
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Enduring Ownership
Putting business and property ownership in the hands of more people is great and in our view, keeping it there is even better. We look for enduring solutions and evaluate investment opportunities based on their ability to maintain a broader distribution of ownership over time
What investments have we made?*
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Apis & Heritage Capital Partners is using employee ownership to attack the racial wealth gap by financing the sale of companies with meaningful BIPOC workforces to Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs).
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New Market Funds is a multi-fund impact investment manager focused on investments that benefit communities including supporting community-focused real estate development and co-operative enterprises.
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Indiegraf helps make business ownership more accessible for independent journalists by providing the technology, direct support and capital needed to help launch and run a successful for-profit local newsletter.
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Raven’s mission is to empower Indigenous entrepreneurs and revitalize the Indigenous economy in Canada and the United States by providing the capital and expertise that entrepreneurs need to be successful.
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Ourboro helps unlock homeownership and wealth building opportunities by co-investing alongside aspiring homeowners to eliminate the down payment gap that prevents many Canadians from purchasing a home.
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Blackstar is working to close the wealth gap through home ownership by purchasing and restructuring predatory home loans that have often taken advantage of communities underserved by traditional mortgage lenders.
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Common Trust is working to create a more prosperous and competitive economy by helping business owners design and execute a sale of their business to their employees using Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs).
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New Majority Capital is working to make entrepreneurship more accessible to Women and BIPOC individuals by providing small business acquisition support and non-extractive financing to aspiring business owners.
*These investments have been made either directly by The Ownership Fund or by affiliates such as the Bealight Foundation.
Case studies: why we invested
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
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We invest in all types of businesses, funds, and platforms that help accomplish our mission – which is to increase the accessibility of business or property ownership, for individuals and groups, using innovative and enduring solutions. We are generally industry agnostic but prefer to avoid businesses that have harmful ESG characteristics.
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We are flexible but generally expect to be early stage investors. Where possible, we like to provide catalytic capital that will serve as a bridge for our investees to access traditional sources of capital. Ultimately, our goal is to support platforms with high-impact potential, and quality management teams that we truly believe in.
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We expect cheque size to be $25-100k, although we may make investments outside that range depending on the nature of the opportunity.
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Yes, we will invest alongside others. Alignment with other capital providers will be something that we pay close attention to.
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While we do not look to deploy capital in the form of donations or grants, impact is at the forefront of The Ownership Fund’s objectives. That said, we do not have firm targets and for high-impact investment opportunities we can be more flexible.
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We are flexible and comfortable doing debt, equity, or taking a hybrid approach. We will work with potential investees to efficiently structure an investment, in a manner that best achieves the objectives of all stakeholders.
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While we expect timelines to vary by opportunity, we are motivated to advance transactions in an efficient manner, and not to distract management/partners from focusing on their core activities. Generally, we can move very quickly.
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In most cases, our preference is to be silent investors, leaving management/partners to run the business, fund, or platform. However, our team includes several successful entrepreneurs and investors, so if we can be helpful to our investees, we are happy to be supportive (whether that’s making useful introductions or providing strategic support).
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We are long-term oriented and flexible. We are not motivated to drive an exit, and will be focused on preserving long-term access to ownership.
Working on something interesting?
We’d love to hear from you.
We are looking to support ambitious people who share our belief that broadly distributed ownership is the key to promoting a more inclusive economy. If you are working with a business, fund, or platform that will help increase access to new business or property ownership, or help maintain existing independent ownership, get in touch with us.
ownershipfund@socialcapitalpartners.ca