AQC Capital
AQC Capital, also known as Anges Québec Capital, is a Montréal venture capital fund that co-invests alongside angel investors in pre-seed and seed Québec startups across all sectors. It manages more than C$160 million (about US$120 million). As of 2026, its one tracked water bet is Oneka Technologies, a wave-powered desalination company.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
AQC Capital is the investment arm of Anges Québec, the largest angel investor network in Canada, and that parentage is the whole personality of the fund. Where most venture funds write a cheque and take a board seat, AQC backs companies shoulder to shoulder with its angels, the experienced operators of the Anges Québec network who put their own money in first. The fund follows them in, which is an unusual structure for a venture capital firm and a useful filter, because a startup that cannot convince a room of operators to risk their own savings rarely clears the institutional cheque either.
Started in 2012 with backing from the Québec government and run today by managing partner Serge Beauchemin, AQC Capital is deliberately sector-agnostic, the opposite of a water-only fund. It writes small first cheques, in the C$200,000 to C$750,000 range, into pre-seed and seed companies (the earliest and riskiest stages, before a startup has much revenue to show), and it does it almost exclusively in Québec. Across two funds it manages more than C$160 million, about US$120 million, with roughly half of that reserved for brand new companies.
AQC Capital earns its spot in my water database for one reason, and that reason is Oneka Technologies, the one water company AQC has backed that I track, a company it has returned to across three rounds. Oneka builds buoys that bob on ocean waves and turn that motion into fresh drinking water, desalination with no grid electricity behind it. It is the kind of bet a sector-agnostic fund makes when an exceptional local team happens to be solving a water problem, rather than the output of a standing water thesis. For a newcomer reading this page, that is the honest version: AQC Capital is a Québec generalist with one notable water credit, not a dedicated water investor.
Water Commitment Score
Compiled from official filings, third-party records, and direct intelligence from investors and founders, in Leviathan · recomputed monthly · as of Jun 2026.
How they invest
Portfolio · 1 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What does AQC Capital invest in?
- AQC Capital invests in pre-seed and seed stage technology startups based in Québec, across all sectors rather than a single theme. It co-invests alongside angel investors from the Anges Québec network, writing first cheques of roughly C$200,000 to C$750,000 into companies aiming at global markets.
- Is AQC Capital a water investor?
- AQC Capital is a generalist Québec venture fund, not a dedicated water investor. In (don't) Waste Water's database it has one water-related portfolio company, Oneka Technologies, a wave-powered desalination startup. Its water exposure is occasional, a single notable bet rather than a standing water thesis.
- Who runs AQC Capital?
- AQC Capital is led by managing partner Serge Beauchemin, a Québec entrepreneur who sold his first company, 3-Soft, in 2005 before turning to investing. He works with general partners Stéphane Caron and Kalthoum Bouacida, plus a small team of directors and analysts based in Montréal.
- Where is AQC Capital based?
- AQC Capital is based in Montréal, Québec, Canada, with offices at Place Ville-Marie. It is the venture capital arm of Anges Québec, the largest angel investor network in Canada, and invests almost exclusively in startups located in the province of Québec.
- Is AQC Capital the same as Anges Québec?
- AQC Capital, short for Anges Québec Capital, is the professionally managed venture fund tied to Anges Québec, the angel network. The network is the community of individual angel investors, while AQC Capital is the pooled fund that co-invests alongside them in the same deals.