StandUp Ventures

Looks like the cat's out of the bag - I've joined the incredible team at StandUp Ventures ✨ It's been a whirlwind few months now. We've already got some exciting new investments closed (details on these soon ;) and more still in the hopper. Why am I so thrilled to join the fund? Well, StandUp’s Fund 1 and Fund 2 ($56.5M AUM) have invested in 44 exceptional founders to date across 28 software ventures. Their inaugural $21M fund of 16 investments now boasts a collective valuation of nearly $1.2B — an impressive 4.5x increase from initial entry prices, having raised over 50x their initial investment in follow-on capital. Two of Canada’s largest Series Bs last year (Arteria AI and Odaia) were in this portfolio. Additionally, over half of the companies in this fund progressed from seed to Series B and beyond, significantly outperforming the industry benchmark of 1 in 6. But also... we're deeply values aligned around supporting equity in innovation. This team has demonstrated the highest integrity, empathy and intelligence not only internally but also very much with supporting portfolio companies, in diligence, and in engaging with new founders. The way Standup shows up in the tech ecosystem is so authentic and needed. Their leadership blew me away when Michelle first launched in 2017 and still amazes me today. Personally, I quietly made my first angel investment well over a decade ago now. It's no coincidence my own portfolio is filled with ambitious, creative women founders. Earlier in my career when I was an entrepreneur, I never once met a woman or non-binary investor of any kind. It feels so important to play even a small role in making sure this changes for founders today. Big love shout-out to Michelle Lucas Katheleen Jessica Jillian for the warm team welcome & for trusting me to uphold the Standup Way - it's an honour to work alongside you. Also a very special thanks for the steadfast support of my 7-year colleagues at Seattle's Voyager Capital where I cut my teeth in early stage institutional VC, learning from proven long-time leaders in the space Bill Diane Erik James Austin Jennifer Lesly Randall. LASTLY 👉 👉 To all innovators in my network who see this, if you are (or know) a super cool US or Canadian female founded/co-founded venture looking to connect with pre-seed & seed stage investors, hit me up! 👊 ❤️

Almost 9M Canadians reported a mental health disorder last year, with mood disorders increasing 20% in just one year (more than 1 in 5 people) How is this getting worse so quickly? An alarming % of these individuals report not having their needs fully met - particularly when it comes to accessing therapy (a key component of effective mental health treatment). For years medical research has demonstrated what drives remissions for individuals who are suffering, and yet digital mental healthcare solutions haven't been designed in a way that aligns with this understanding. Offering an all-in-one virtual mental health treatment option that provides Canadians with a single access point for effective, affordable, and immediate mental health care, Cognito Health was built to drive outcomes (vs. just abate symptoms), offering folks a chance to actually get better. The platform combines the critical ingredients of cognitive behavioural therapy and medication with an integrated care team, all for an affordable, easy-to-cancel, monthly subscription that costs less than a single traditional counselling session. By addressing a pain point trifecta of efficacy, access, and cost, Cognito Health offers a solution to a segment of the Canadian market that was previously unable to access care, opening up the market, and delivering support to millions who need it. We're incredibly humbled to announce our investment in Cognito Health's $2M Seed round, alongside friends at Garage Capital, Spring Impact Capital, Graphite Ventures and Simplex Ventures, led by mental health advocates Armon Arani, Dr. Marlene Muller, and Dr. Francois Muller. It's not every day that we have an opportunity to invest in businesses with a large economic opportunity, as well a large and equally important opportunity to tangibly impact the future of Canadian mental health. Kudos to the team for their incredible passion and resiliency - we're so excited to be on this journey together. Cognito Health is live in British Colombia and launching in Ontario later this month. If you or someone you know needs support: https://www.getcognito.ca/ #mentalhealth #fundingnews #startups #venturecapital https://lnkd.in/er5q-asV

How can I get my startup funded by a VC? For founders, this journey can be a daunting one if not done correctly. That's why I tapped the mind of Lucas Perlman. He routine invests in early stage startups at the Seed Stage as part of StandUp Ventures. Lucas shared what makes certain startups a VC-fundable business, as well as what VCs look for when making an investment decision, especially at the Seed Stage. Here's some of the top tips from a Seed Stage VC: 🎯 Showcase Your Product Market Fit: the bet at this stage is that you have a working product that an identifiable cohort of customers are buying. Can you articulate this group and attract many more of them? 📊 Metrics Become Key: as you get bigger, it’s not enough to have a bold vision, but metrics that prove your traction. Measure key metrics like: NRR, Gross Margin, CAC and Growth (YoY). 🏆 Dominate a Vertical/Niche: prove that your product is a clear market leader in the industry that you are selling to. If it’s not clearly better than the rest, selling it becomes much harder (think switching costs for your customer). 🔍 Focus, Focus, Focus: at this stage, resources are still scarce. While having a big vision is needed, you need to walk before you run. Identify a critical set of milestones and focus on achieving those. Adding too many new products or customer types can dilute your resources. 💰 Strong Financials: bookkeeping is not enough at this stage. You need to show a strong financial projection and backed by accurate financials, as well as a clear understanding of your unit economics. Shameless plug: fractional CFOs work great at this stage 🤓 It was great to catch up with Lucas and I look forward to hearing about more trends in VC investing at the early stage! Until then, happy scaling! 🚀