GrowthWorks Atlantic Venture Fund Ltd., one of the first venture capital funds in Atlantic Canada, has decided to wind up operations.

The fund has not raised new capital since 2014, and has been reducing its holdings in recent years as its portfolio companies exited, collapsed or found buyers for GrowthWorks’ shares.

Now its board has decided the time has come to wind up the fund entirely. After a shareholders’ meeting this summer, its officers will work to divest the shares it still owns in three remaining companies.

“GW was an early player in the startup ecosystem and worked to grow the sector by backing young founders, participating in various accelerators and attracting capital to the region,” Peter Clark, who has been overseeing the fund, said on Wednesday. “The fund had some solid exits, but not the home run investment that normally can make or break the returns for a venture fund.”

GrowthWorks Atlantic began life as a labour-sponsored fund – a VC fund sponsored by labour unions under federal legislation. However, the federal government scrapped the legislation under which the labour-sponsored funds operated, meaning the funds that were still around had difficulty raising more money.

For the past few years, GrowthWorks Atlantic has tried to recoup money from a few portfolio companies. For example, it sold shares in Fredericton-based Introhive to a new investor in the company, and it received some money from the exit of St. John’s-based Adfinitum Networks Inc. Its earlier, more successful exits include STI Technologies and DHX Media, both of Halifax.

There are now three companies remaining in the portfolio: Halifax-based Azorus, which operates CRM software for universities; Saint John-based Spinzo, whose technology helps venues sell excess tickets;  and St. John’s-based Virtual Marine Technologies, which makes safety training simulators.

Clark said he has been working with the heads of these companies, and they will work to find a way to sell the shares.

However, GrowthWorks does not anticipate distributing proceeds to its own shareholders. Since 2014, it has made three distributions but does not expect to make enough money from the pending sales to distribute money to its own backers.

A statement from GrowthWorks Atlantic said the fund has cut operating costs by half in recent years, but there were still expenses that had to be met.

With markets depressed as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, the board decided it was best to wind up the fund this year rather than continue to accrue costs amid the uncertain prospect of making meaningful returns on the remaining companies.

The fund intends to call a special shareholders’ meeting in July or August in Nova Scotia. Social distancing requirements may make it difficult to bring all interested shareholders together at one time, so the fund is urging shareholders to vote by proxy.

Meanwhile, several GrowthWorks executives are involved in Pelorus Venture Capital, which has taken on the management of the Venture Newfoundland and Labrador fund, a fund backed by the provincial government, BDC Capital and private individuals.