Read more about how we’re thinking and where we’re investing here.
Recent Posts
Crypto / Blockchain, Portfolio
You might have seen in the tech press today that our portfolio company Dapper Labs, the company behind the world’s first and most successful consumer blockchain product, CryptoKitties, has raised US$15M in a Series A2 round of funding led by Venrock, with participation by Google Ventures and Samsung NEXT. When we originally invested in Cryptokitties […]
Data / AI / ML
When Angela and I were pitching our newest fund to investors, we started using the term “smart SaaS” to describe the kind of SaaS companies we like to invest in. Before the SaaS explosion, software and data were only “on premise.” Then, SaaS came along and moved everything to the cloud, boosting efficiency and collaboration […]
Version One
We are very happy to announce the launch of Version One Ventures III with $45M USD ($57M CAD) in commitments. With Fund III, we’re doubling down on all that has worked in our previous funds – our strategy, geography, investment thesis and philosophy. It’s an exciting time to be launching a new fund as our […]
Crypto / Blockchain
Every new technology platform has been built around a specific new capability. The Internet connected people and data at scale (“connecting everyone, everything”). Marketplaces, social platforms, and search all leveraged this capability. The next platform, mobile, was about “always on, everywhere.” Mobile helped spark new products that leveraged these capabilities, with messaging and ride sharing […]
Portfolio
It’s the beginning of October. Fall is underway, and it’s time to summarize all the key news and announcements from last quarter. And we have a lot of exciting things to share in the coming months, so stay tuned! Announcements and Accolades Headout announced their $10M Series A, led by Nexus Venture Partners and V1. If […]
Entrepreneurship
A few weeks ago I shared some important leadership lessons from Stewart Butterfield, including investing in your own growth to make sure that the founder scales as fast as the company. Growing with your start-up can be a very tough undertaking for a founder. It requires reinventing yourself dramatically in very little time. When you […]
Entrepreneurship
One of the most important decisions for a founder of an early stage company is deciding who should be on the cap table. We’ve written about doing your due diligence on investors and funds to make sure you find the right partners for the journey. Lately, we have seen more founders grappling with the question of […]
Version One
The beginning of September is an important time for me as it marks my “VC anniversary.” Five years ago, I was hired as an analyst at Version One and now it’s an absolute privilege to be joining Boris as a General Partner. I’m so grateful for everyone’s congratulatory wishes and kind words last week. These […]
Version One
When I started Version One over six years ago, I started it as a single GP firm with no defined plan to ever add a partner and build a “franchise.” So it is with tremendous happiness that I can announce today that Version One now consists of two General Partners with Angela joining me in […]
Entrepreneurship
Last week, I had the pleasure of sitting down for an intimate fireside chat with Slack’s Stewart Butterfield as he was honoured with C100’s Icon of Canadian Entrepreneurship (ICE) award. This award is presented yearly to a Canadian who has played a historic role in technology and innovation, as well as demonstrated a commitment to giving […]
Health / Biology
Our first investment in healthcare was five years ago in Figure 1, a platform for viewing and discussing real-world medical cases with healthcare professionals. This investment shaped our original thesis in the category. Figure 1 plays outside the healthcare care system; it’s permissionless innovation, like Yammer or Slack in the enterprise. As we wrote in our Digital […]
Crypto / Blockchain
I’ve always thought that the concept of a decentralized prediction market like Augur or Gnosis is one of the most interesting and crypto-native ideas. Just imagine creating millions of small markets around any potential outcome in the world…from sports to elections, weather and stock prices. So it was great to see Augur go live a […]
Entrepreneurship
The predominant narrative among Silicon Valley start-ups has been: don’t open a second office until you have reached 100+ employees. Yes, there are tremendous advantages when everybody works out of one headquarters. However, the pressure of sky-high housing costs, salaries and competition for suitable candidates is causing start-ups and investors to rethink their approach to […]
Version One
VC is an apprenticeship industry. When I joined Version One five years ago, I would have never guessed that I would be where I am today. So much of who I am today has to do with the fact that Boris spent a ton of time teaching and mentoring me, despite our different locations. From […]
Version One
Last week, Boris and I were in Toronto for our quarterly offsite. I suggested the CN Tower EdgeWalk as a good break from discussing all things Version One related. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the EdgeWalk, it is an attraction where participants in suits and harnesses circle the exposed top of the […]
Marketplaces / Social / Collaboration / Network Effects, Entrepreneurship
Here’s a question that we have been getting a lot lately: Do you still invest in marketplaces? The answer is YES! We love their network effects and continue to invest in them. In a tweetstorm last week, our friend Andrew Chen listed the 20 best links he’s seen on marketplaces and included us on the […]
Version One
We’re excited to announce that our new and refreshed website is live! This update was designed to make the experience of our site better with a stronger sense of who we are, what we do, and why we do it. In addition, we aimed to re-surface evergreen content so we spent some extra time revamping […]
Portfolio
Happy Canada Day and Fourth of July to our friends and colleagues on both sides of the border. We hope everyone is having a great start to summer. Here’s a quick recap of the key activities, news coverage and announcements that occurred in Q2. Keep in mind that these are just the things that have […]
Entrepreneurship
In the early days of a start-up, almost all decisions in the company are driven by the judgment calls of the founding team. During this stage, there’s a limited set of experiences to draw from and no playbook. Most of the situations and questions are occurring for the first time, and founders need to quickly […]
Data / AI / ML
A few weeks ago, I attended Rev, a summit for data science leaders and practitioners organized by Domino. I have previously shared blog posts on the key takeaways from last year’s event (which was one of the best data science conferences I’d been to), including how to define a data scientist and the differences between data science and data […]