Bluesky Equities

Patient capital for entrepreneurs is how this Calgary investment company frames its work. It is privately owned and aims for absolute returns, meaning it is not tied to a benchmark and can place money in public markets, private markets or both, wherever its research points.

An unconstrained mandate

According to its site, the firm pursues long-term returns by allocating capital according to its expectations of risk and return. Its process combines macroeconomic analysis with detailed fundamental research. Its emphasis falls on alternatives such as venture, buyouts, hedge funds and property, and the firm also runs a number of global equity strategies for long-term capital growth. Beyond those, it holds positions in commodities, digital assets, managed futures, credit and volatility strategies. It invests directly and also alongside outside fund managers.

One of Canada's busiest early-stage investors

Few Canadian early-stage investors hold as many positions, by the firm's own account: more than seventy non-controlling stakes. Its approach to these holdings is passive, and it concentrates on business-to-business software as a service companies with a global reach. On the private equity side it is selective about the lower middle market, entering either through a fund structure or directly as a minority owner.

Roots in oil and gas

The chairman has spent most of a long career in the upstream oil and gas industry and helped form two energy companies in the 1970s. The firm still oversees producing oil and gas assets, and its private investments team covers both public and private opportunities. The family behind the firm also runs a charitable foundation focused on Alberta, and the firm's investment team monitors that foundation's portfolio.

Ties to the entrepreneurial community

The leadership is closely involved in Alberta's start-up scene. The chief executive has been active for many years in the local angel investment community, and won the 2019 title of Canadian Angel Investor of the Year from the national angel investors' body, and a technology investor award from Start Alberta. The chief executive also chairs an advisory council at the Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking at the University of Calgary, created in 2017 as a meeting point for student entrepreneurship, faculty-led innovation and a growing community of innovative thinkers.

Bluesky Equities is a privately owned investment management company based in Calgary, Alberta. It aims for absolute returns rather than tracking a benchmark, and it places capital in both public and private markets.

What Bluesky Equities does

• Early-stage investing: takes non-controlling stakes in young companies, with a portfolio of more than seventy such holdings.
• Software focus: a passive approach centred on global business-to-business SaaS companies.
• Private equity: selective investment in lower middle market firms, either through a fund or directly as a minority owner.
• Alternative assets: holdings in venture capital, hedge funds, real estate, commodities, digital assets, managed futures and credit.

Customers and markets

Entrepreneurs and fund managers. The firm invests directly and also alongside other fund managers. Its process combines macroeconomic analysis with fundamental research.

Key facts

• Based in: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
• Ownership: privately owned
• Chairman: H. Douglas Hunter, with a background in the upstream oil and gas industry
• Leadership: Derrick Hunter is President and CEO and named Canadian Angel Investor of the Year in 2019