The firm
Philosophy
We invest with a clear view, and we hold it with patience.
Corvian Capital Partners is a private investment firm based in Calgary. We take on a small number of partnerships at a time, so that each one receives real attention — from the first conversation through to long-term stewardship.
We are not trying to be everywhere. We invest where we have a considered view, structure our involvement so incentives are aligned, and let time and compounding do the work they are best at.
Because we invest our own capital alongside our partners’ and run no fund clock, nothing on our side forces a sale in a difficult year. That single structural fact shapes most of what follows on this page.
At a glance
- Base
- Calgary, Alberta
- Structure
- Privately held, privately funded
- Mandates
- Discretionary, co-investment, overlay
- Markets
- Private markets, with public holdings where they fit
- Geography
- Western Canada and North America
- Horizon
- Long-term, no fixed exit date
Principles
Conviction over consensus
We invest where we have a clear, considered view, not where the crowd is.
In practice
We pass on most of what we see, including things that later do well. Being wrong by omission is cheaper than being wrong with capital.
Alignment with partners
Our interests are structured to sit alongside those we invest with.
In practice
We commit our own capital to every position we ask a partner to hold, on the same terms.
Patience as an edge
We hold for the long term and let compounding do the work.
In practice
No fund clock and no redemption calendar, so nothing on our side forces a sale in a difficult year.
What we look for
Four things we test before capital moves.
A business we can understand
If we cannot explain how it makes money in a paragraph, we pass — however good the numbers look.
A reason to be the owner
Something durable that is hard to copy: a position, an asset, a relationship, or genuine know-how.
People we want to back
Operators who are candid about what is working and, more importantly, about what is not.
Terms that survive a bad year
Structures that do not depend on everything going right to leave both sides whole.