ONE9

ONE9 Research

Overview

ONE9 is Canada's first national security technology investment and innovation platform. Glenn Cowan founded it in 2013 while serving as an Assaulter Officer in Joint Task Force 2 (JTF2), Canada's tier-one special operations unit. In April 2025 Kensington Capital Partners Limited acquired ONE9's venture capital business. ONE9 is now Kensington's security and defence investment platform, with institutional backing from AGF Capital Partners (AGF Management Limited is Kensington's majority owner). Kensington plans to keep the ONE9 brand and to keep running a hybrid strategy of direct investments in emerging technology companies and commitments to venture funds in the sector. The firm's own website, one9.vc, redirects to one9.ca.

Investment Thesis

ONE9 says it is not a traditional VC. It describes its partners as national security end-users who invest in founders, companies and capabilities vital to security and prosperity. The stated mission is outsized returns for investors while solving national security challenges through innovation. The thesis has three legs: geopolitical instability is driving a long-term rise in security technology spending as governments meet 2%+ defence targets; government procurement is shifting toward speed and flexibility, which favours agile startups; and dual-use technology (AI and data infrastructure, cybersecurity, robotics, communications) widens the addressable market beyond defence. The site says the strategy is diversified and primarily oriented toward commercially driven and dual-use technologies, with selective investment in companies whose primary focus is defence.

Investment Themes

The website lists eight themes: advanced manufacturing, aerospace, autonomous systems and robotics, big data / AI / machine learning, critical infrastructure protection, cybersecurity, IoT / connectivity / communications, and quantum computing.

Stage Focus and Check Size

The site says it balances conviction with diversification across stage, geography and theme but names no stage or check size. The visible portfolio looks early-stage to growth. A third-party directory lists focus areas of GovTech and defense, cybersecurity, space and aerospace, and robotics and automation. Stage and check size are not disclosed on any ONE9 or Kensington page I read, so they are left blank.

Lead Tendency

Not stated. Kensington was the lead investor in ONE9's Special Mission Fund and co-invested with ONE9 in Tomahawk Robotics and Strider Technologies. Glenn Cowan holds board observer seats at Tomahawk Robotics, Strider and Hidden Level and a board seat at Ventus Respiratory Technologies, which points to involved minority positions. Lead tendency is recorded as unknown.

Fund History and Recent Activity

ONE9 Venture Partners launched Special Mission Fund I in March 2022, targeting $50M, with Shopify co-founder Daniel Weinand as General Partner and Kensington as anchor. Press coverage in 2025 says the fund is fully deployed. The Kensington acquisition did not include that fund or ONE9's legacy investments, which stay with the vendors. Future ONE9 funds and direct deals happen inside Kensington. In July 2026 Kensington named Saar Pikar, formerly head of ventures and growth at OMERS, as President with oversight of the venture and growth business including ONE9. A Kensington fund backed the seed round of Dominion Dynamics, an Ottawa Arctic-defence company housed by ONE9 Capability Labs, which closed a C$139M Series A in 2026 according to The Icebreaker. No other recent dated deals were found.

Portfolio Highlights

The website lists seven companies:

• North Vector Dynamics: counter-uncrewed aerial systems
• Stirling X: data collection and analysis for critical infrastructure
• Slingshot Aerospace: AI, data and insights for space training, planning and operations
• goTenna: tactical communications (reported acquired by Forterra in 2025)
• Hidden Level: scalable drone detection
• Tomahawk Robotics: command and control for unmanned systems (exit; sold to AeroVironment in 2023)
• Strider Technologies: protecting intellectual property from state-sponsored theft

Capability Labs

ONE9 Capability Labs is the services and venture studio arm. Its four lines of operation are venture studio (building companies against validated end-user demand), innovation as a service for public-sector buyers, operationalizing capabilities (testing and deployment) and support to startups on defence procurement. Kensington holds a minority stake with an option on the rest. ONE9 also co-founded CANDIN, Canada's defence investor network, and Sapujjijiit, an Inuit-majority-owned Arctic defence company.

Team

• Glenn Cowan: founder and managing director, retired JTF2 squadron commander
• Wes Blackwell: managing director for EU/US, former US and UK naval aviator, founded Booz Allen Ventures, based in Portugal
• Win Bear: managing director on Kensington's venture team, 15 years at Silicon Valley Bank
• Michael M. Smith: director, former Canadian Forces legal officer
• Matthew Lombardi: former partner at TELUS Global Ventures, co-founder of The Icebreaker
• George Hoyem: Investment Committee, 15 years as EVP of Investments at In-Q-Tel
• Davin Michaelis: former US Army special operations, based in Warsaw
• Daniel Weinand: Shopify co-founder, GP of Special Mission Fund I
• Saar Pikar: President of Kensington
• Governance and advisors: Tom Kennedy (Kensington founder, Investment Committee chair), Ash Lawrence (head of AGF Capital Partners), Gen (ret.) Rick Hillier, Peter MacKay

Decision Process

Kensington's Investment Committee, chaired by Tom Kennedy, governs the platform. The deal team sources through military, intelligence and allied-government networks and validates technology through Capability Labs before investing.

Founder Preferences

Founders building dual-use technology validated by national security end-users, with commercial overlap beyond defence. Operator and veteran backgrounds are valued but not stated as required.

Geographic Focus

Canada first, with an Ottawa base, a Toronto-based parent and forward presence in Europe (Portugal, Poland, NATO eastern flank) and the US. The portfolio includes US companies (Slingshot, goTenna, Strider, Tomahawk), so the mandate is not Canada-only.

Gaps

Stage, check size, current fund size and a clear fund status are undisclosed. Kensington's AUM (about $2.6B in the 2025 release) is not ONE9's and is not recorded as such.