At the beginning of 1998, Celtic House portfolio consisted of at least twenty-two investee firms, one of which - CrossKeys Networks (a communications software firm) - had already completed an initial public offering.^{Endnote 45}

As part of its 1997 decision to commit $100 million to venture financing, Ontario Teachers determined to partner with Newbridge and other financial institutions and investors on specific affiliated spin-off projects, including those of Celtic House. In general, the pension fund's Merchant Banking Group (see Pension Funds and Middle Market Investing) receives potential deals and conducts due diligence independently on each before deciding to participate. Currently, Ontario Teachers has a stake in as many as five Newbridge- related venture co-investments.^{Endnote 46}

(2) Indirect pension participation

Prior to the emergence of labour-sponsored funds, venture capital institutions known as "private independents" tended to dominate the market, in part because of their ability to attract pension money. Conversely, private independent supply was quite negatively affected by events at the end of the 1980s.

A major Canadian private independent with a long-term relationship with pension funds is Ventures West Management (headquartered in Vancouver). Established in 1968, this institution manages $290 million in venture capital pools, $220 million of which is targeted to young knowledge-based and technology-intensive firms in such sectors as biotechnology, communications, computer software and systems, electronics, energy and environmental products, industrial goods and medical technology. Ventures West has been responsible for bringing some of the country's most successful new commercial enterprises from start-up to public offering, such as Ballard Power Systems and StressGen Biotechnologies.

Among Canadian venture capital institutions, Ventures West applies a remarkably early focus to growth- oriented high technology SMEs. Over 80 percent of its past and current universe of investee firms reflect early stage transactions, the lion's share of which are seeding projects and start-ups. This focus is also indicated in Ventures West's financing range of $300,000 to $5 million. Indeed, with the support of pension assets, Ventures West recently initiated two first-ever pools with seed financing mandates in Canada (see From Acorns to Trees).

Over its history, Ventures West has collaborated in limited partnerships with approximately 100 pension funds. Consequently, it felt their absence in recent years, despite having other supply sources. This situation changed in 1993 with the participation of British Columbia's OCIO in the institution's $20 million British Columbia Technology Investment Fund. More recently, OCIO was partnered with OMERS and Ontario Teachers PPB contributions to the 1997 capitalization of the sixth pool established by Ventures West with a mandate for early stage investment, totaling nearly $56 million. As is usual in limited partnerships, these pension funds may also co-invest with Ventures West on specific deals as the portfolio evolves.^{Endnote 47}