What stage does Cognition Fund invest at?

Cognition Fund invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed stages.

Where is Cognition Fund located?

Cognition Fund is headquartered in Kitchener, CA.

Who does Cognition Fund co-invest with?

Cognition Fund most often shares deals with Angel Forum, Swan Venture Fund, WUTIF Capital, among 4 tracked co-investors.

Cognition Fund

Venture capital

Kitchener · Pre-Seed–Seed · 3 people tracked

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Find your way into Cognition Fund

496 people in our graph share verified history with the Cognition Fund team — schools, employers, funds. One of them is your warm intro.

Kerry Killeenunlockedknows Mark Pecen · together at University of Pennsylvania (overlapped)

×3knows the team · via University of Pennsylvania

×2knows the team · via MKS

knows the team · via The RSA (The royal society for arts, manufactures and commerce)

knows the team · via University of Waterloo

knows the team · via Caltech

✨ Fox Verdict

Investment thesis

Cognition Fund aims to generate strong returns by actively matching intellectual property and product development expertise with deal flow in technology innovation. It invests pre-seed and seed capital to support the commercialization of technologies across areas such as engineering, cleantech, quantum computing, photonics, artificial intelligence, automotive and robotics research, computer science, mathematics, and advanced manufacturing.

Invests inAdvanced Manufacturing AI & Machine Learning Biotech Cleantech Deep Tech Hardware Quantum Computing Robotics SaaS Canada

Source: firm website, verified Aug 3, 2026.

Stage

Pre-Seed–Seed

Kitchener, ON, CA

Instruments

Equity

Founded

2020

Tracked investments

Team · 3 people

from public directories

Mark Pecen· General Partner· Antibes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Francein

Mark Pecen is a senior technology executive with over 35 years in information and communications technology, currently serving as Technical Committee Chair at ETSI and Vice Chair of EigenQ, Inc., a quantum technology and cybersecurity firm. He holds more than 100 patents in wireless communication and networking, and led research and standardization efforts on cellular technologies including GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, and 4G-LTE across roles at Motorola and BlackBerry. Pecen co-founded and chaired ETSI's Technical Committee on Quantum Safe Cryptography, has served on over 20 governance and advisory boards including the University of Waterloo's Institute for Quantum Computing, and is a general partner in a Canadian venture fund.

Paul Bridger· Managing Partner· Tampa, Florida, United Statesin

Paul Bridger is co-founder and CEO of Cognition Fund, a venture capital firm focused on early-stage deep technology companies. He holds a Ph.D. from Caltech and has spent two decades investing in and operating global technology companies. He is also co-founder at Open Quantum Design.

p•••@cognitionfund.careveal

Randall Howard· General Partner· Waterloo, Ontario, Canadain 𝕏

Randall Howard is a General Partner at Adrenaline Fund and co-founder of Verdexus, a transatlantic strategic advisory firm that works with early and mid-stage technology companies in Canada and Europe. He previously founded and served as CEO of MKS, a provider of application lifecycle management solutions, which was acquired by Parametric Technology Corporation in 2011 for $304 million. Howard holds board and director positions with Innovation Guelph, Centre Wellington Community Foundation, and Roseneath Theatre, and focuses his investment activities on software-based B2B ventures in mobile, web, and enterprise technology sectors.

r•••@cognitionfund.careveal

What they invest in

from 1 of 3 portfolio companies

Advanced Manufacturing ×1Defense Tech ×1Energy ×1Hardware ×1IoT ×1Semiconductors ×1

HQs:Canada×1

Investments · 3 tracked

founders shown can be your intro path

HTuO Bioscienceshtuobio.com in 𝕏

Vancouver-based computational drug discovery company using physics-based molecular simulation to target hard-to-drug proteins.

Co-investorsAngel Forum Swan Venture Fund WUTIF Capital York Angel Investors Inc.Axial VC

Nominal Controlsnominalcontrols.com

Nominal Controls manufactures solid-state DC contactors for switching high-power loads in industrial and energy applications.

Advanced ManufacturingDefense TechEnergyHardwareIoTSemiconductorsNorth America, CA

Mike Zhang(Director & Lead Engineer)

Board Paul Bridger(Technology Director)in

Other

Tracked investments with no reachable website or further public details — typically companies that wound down, renamed, or were absorbed.

ForeQast Routing

Frequently asked questions

What stage does Cognition Fund invest at?: Cognition Fund invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed stages.
What sectors does Cognition Fund focus on?: Cognition Fund focuses on Advanced Manufacturing, AI & Machine Learning, Biotech, Cleantech, Deep Tech, Hardware, Quantum Computing, Robotics, SaaS.
Where is Cognition Fund located?: Cognition Fund is headquartered in Kitchener, CA.
Who does Cognition Fund co-invest with?: Cognition Fund most often shares deals with Angel Forum, Swan Venture Fund, WUTIF Capital, among 4 tracked co-investors.

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