Panache V2: Bigger Investments, Supercharged Support, and a Nationwide Community of Founders.

Today, we are proud to announce the next steps in our quest to build Canada’s next billion-dollar venture capital firm. Panache Ventures is acquiring San Francisco-based Commonwealth Ventures to help our portfolio companies reach their growth targets even faster. We are also announcing the launch of Panache Ventures Fund II, targeting 75+ companies with initial investments of up to $1M.

Our mission is to back the most ambitious founders and support them in building industry-defining companies. Through this acquisition, our entire portfolio will benefit from Commonwealth’s proven Silicon Valley fundraising and growth programs.

We’ve interviewed thousands of Canadian founders over the last five years, and know that they have the talent and drive to create huge successes — but one key area needed improvement: mindset. These programs shift founder mindsets and allow them to compete on the world stage.

As part of the acquisition, Chris Neumann, Commonwealth’s Founder and CEO, will join Panache as our new Vancouver/San Francisco Partner, where he will lead our founder growth and fundraising platform. Chris’ addition to the team makes Panache the only pre-seed fund with partners in Canada’s four largest cities.

But we’re not stopping there. We’re also excited to announce two more team members as part of our impact initiative:

• Scott Loong, formerly founder of Covera.ai, an InsurTech startup that used technology to automate insurance renewal shopping. Prior to that, he was a principal and entrepreneur in residence at one of Canada’s pioneering FinTech venture funds. Scott is a business lawyer, advises regulators on issues of innovation and is a mentor at Concordia’s District 3 and Creative Destruction Labs.
• Roxanne Leduc, a former management consultant and marketing director with Bell and Car2Go, will lead our community development initiatives out of our Montreal office.

As VCs, we provide capital and guidance to entrepreneurs in order to generate returns for our LPs. Our first fund, 500 Startups Canada, is currently amongst the top 10% of venture funds in North America, and Panache Ventures I is already a top-quartile fund, with 93 companies in the portfolio thus far.

We have been able to achieve these results because the Canadian startup technology ecosystem is filled with incredibly talented entrepreneurs, enlightened mentors, and prescient investors. Your support has been key to our success, and has motivated us to set our sights even higher.

We’ll have more to share about these initiatives in the coming months. For now, we’re excited to welcome Chris, Scott and Roxanne to the team!