A new Atlantic Canadian investment group is hoping to close its first fund this month, and make its first investment at about the same time.

TLT East Ventures is the brainchild of Michael Brown, a New Brunswick-born investment banker whose career has included a stint as a mentor with TechStars in New York. He is now working on an initial fund of between $1 million and $3 million to provide pre-seed financing to Atlantic Canadian companies.

“I’d really like to shift the narrative and say we have to invest in local innovation, doubling down, even tripling down, on Atlantic Canada,” said Brown in an interview. “We’re working on building a diversified portfolio across 10 to 20 companies. . . .  I want to create another Clearwater Seafood, another Secunda Marine, and create the jobs of tomorrow.”

Brown, who divides his time between New Brunswick and Toronto, said he has received commitments worth $1.5 million, though not all of them are cast in stone. He is looking for more investors willing and able to put up a minimum of $50,000 each.

New Brunswick investors are eligible for the province’s Small Business Investor Tax Credit, which offers a tax credit worth 50 percent of commitments of up to $250,000. The fund is looking for investors from around the region, though only New Brunswick residents can receive the tax credit. It also has a “crowdfunding exemption”, which means it could attract investors from other parts of Canada. [Interested investors can contact Brown here.]

TLT East will target companies across Atlantic Canada in a range of sectors. It drew up a list of about 100 startups, and narrowed it down to 35 that it considers worthy investment targets. It is continuing to narrow the list further, and has already identified its first investment target.

Brown – who should not be confused with LongShot Capital Partner Michael Brown, the former CEO of Halifax-based Swept Janitorial Software – is already discussing plans for his second fund. He hopes his second fund will raise $50 million and target companies needing Series A and B rounds rather than pre-seed.

The TLT East leadership team features a who’s who of New Brunswick innovation talent, including: Gerry Pond, Co-Founder of East Valley Ventures; Marc Savoie, Entrepreneur-in-Residence at East Valley Ventures; Kathryn Lockhart, CEO of Propel ICT; Adrienne Oldford, Executive Director of The McKenna Institute; and Dr. Hanif Chatur, Co-Founder of eVisitNB.

When asked why he didn’t just work within the existing structure of Saint John-based East Valley Ventures, Brown said EVV is a group of angels who decide individually whether to back each company under consideration. A fund, however, has more power to support companies, and founders only have to deal with a single investor.

With a background in investment banking, Brown stands out from other investors in that he advocates so strongly for exits through public listings rather than corporate takeovers. In discussing startups, it doesn’t take long for him to bring up initial public offerings, or reverse takeovers by publicly listed shell companies. He prefers that model to founders selling their companies to larger corporations.

His reasons are twofold: first, a public listing gives a company the flexibility to raise more capital as it becomes a large corporation; and second, the economic benefits to Atlantic Canada are maximized when corporate headquarters remain in the region.

“I’m biased toward public companies – I’m an investment banker,” he said. “It’s up to the founders, but a few that I’ve talked to have expressed a keen interest. If we can take even one or two public, it’s a good exit. It’s also a good way for the headquarters to be in Atlantic Canada. We need to focus on the longevity of value that comes from the headquarters remaining in Atlantic Canada.”