StandUp Ventures adds Meredith Powell to team, receives fresh funding to support growth

StandUp
Ventures is
a
venture
capital
fund
investing
in
pre-seed
and
seed
stage
technology
companies
across
Canada
and
the
US,
launched
by
Toronto-based
Michelle
McBane
in
2017.
It
was
created
with
a
simple
premise:
there
is
an
untapped
competitive
advantage
in
backing
women-founded
and
women-led
companies.

“The
concept
of
StandUp
was
to
show
you
can
achieve
better
rates
of
return
investing
with
a
gender
lens,
because
you’re
getting
a
broader
population
to
the
table,”
says
McBane
“There’s
not
enough
capital
going
to
women-led
ventures,
which
is
fundamentally
an
issue,
but
also
we
believe
diverse
leadership
will
build
more
diverse
teams.”

StandUp
is
thrilled
to
announce
a
new
addition
to
their
leadership
team:
VC-veteran
Meredith
Powell
who
most
recently
served
seven
years
with
a
top
tier
Seattle-based
fund.
As
an
exited
serial
entrepreneur
and
previous
Global
CMO
at
Microsoft
for
Startups,
she
shares
a
deep
passion
for
builders
and
a
drive
to
dig
deep,
roll
up
her
sleeves,
and
do
the
work.

Powell
says,
“Standup
Ventures
has
a
reputation
for
setting
a
high
bar,
for
deep
integrity,
and
for
using
their
unique
approach
to
fund
the
most
ambitious
founders
in
Canada
and
the
US.
I’ve
long
been
inspired
by
what
they
are
building
and
could
not
be
more
excited
to
join
the
team
for
this
next
phase
of
growth.”

Katheleen
Eva,
who
joined
StandUp
as
the
fund’s
first
full-time
investment
analyst
4
years
ago,
has
been
promoted
to
Senior
Associate.

“I’m
proud
to
be
exactly
the
kind
of
partner
I
would
have
wanted
as
a
young,
ambitious
founder
who
aimed
to
change
the
world.” 
shares
Montreal-based
Eva.

With
these
additions,
StandUp
now
boasts
feet
on
the
ground
in
Canada’s
largest
tech
hubs
— Vancouver,
Toronto,
and
Montreal.
The
team
also
newly
has
closed
three
as-yet
unannounced
deals,
one
in
each
of
these
cities.

StandUp
has
expanded
their
opportunity
geography
to
include
the
fund’s
first
ever
US-based
seed
stage
investment
into
Florida-based
Max
Retail.
Max
Retail
recently
closed
a $15m
usd
Series
A where
StandUp
once
again
participated,
co-investing
with
leading
funds
Nosara
Capital,
Artemis
Fund,
ReThink
Impact
and
M13.

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. 

Since
mid-2022,
StandUp
Ventures
has
been
deploying
capital
out
of
Fund
2,
of
which
four
of
the
funded
companies
already
have
raised
12x
the
initial
invested
capital
in
follow-on
commitments.
The
team
successfully
secured VCCI
Inclusive
Capital
funding on
July
30th
to
support
the
growth
of
Standup’s
returns-focused
franchise
strategy.