LOI Venture

Help us give some big claps to Amanda and Kelsey for being named “Innovators of the Week” by Avenue Calgary Magazine 📰👏 Don’t know about their startup @lead.with.monark? It’s an AI-powered app that provides customized leadership and educational resources for high-achieving leaders Launched in 2020, they became one of 11 North American startups selected for the Google for startups’ women founders class of 2023 and the team of 14 serves organizations of 50 to 50,000 people across North America 🌎 #leadership #tech #ai #startups

Our friends at Vancouver Entrepreneurs Forum are hosting an event Feb 18th at 5 pm to help you meet your next investor. Here's the details: ABOUT: Whether you're navigating the venture capital, angel, or grant landscape, this event is for you. Investors aren’t just funders—they're strategic partners helping you grow and scale. WHAT TO EXPECT: - Reverse Pitches: Learn about non-dilutive funding, early-stage investments (angel, pre-seed, seed), and later-stage (Series A and beyond). - Direct Networking: After the pitches, meet investors one-on-one and align your vision with their investment priorities. - Whether you're just starting or ready to scale, this event connects you with the right partners to take your venture to the next level. EVENT DETAILS: 📅 Date: Tuesday, February 18th, 2025 🕔 Time: 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm 📍 Location: UBC Robson Square General Admission: $55 Founder Ticket: $25 VEF Members: Free Limited spots, so secure your ticket today 🎟️ Hope to see you there. Thanks to Michelle Sklar for sharing this with our team.

On Feb 12, one of our advisors is hosting an AMA with Bonobos founder, Andy Dunn. If you'd like to participate, email hello@loi.vc to sign-up. Under his leadership, Bonobos pioneered the digitally native vertical brand model and introduced inventory-free guide shops. In 2017, Walmart acquired Bonobos for $310 million. He is also an active angel investor, backing over 100 startups, including Warby Parker, Coinbase, and Hinge. If you'd like to join his AMA hosted by Daniel Dubois, please email hello@loi.vc.

Want to learn more about the startup opportunities in the world of AI? Come to our Feb 12 event in partnership with And-Co Offices. We'll be hosting a startup panel event on the future of AI and how founders are sacling, fundraising and iterating on the top trends. Some of the speakers include: - Amanda Collett from Web Summit - Jonathan Javier💡 from Wonsulting - Sophie Salmon from And-Co Offices - Joel Hansen from LOI Venture RSVP here: https://lu.ma/aqmk1gkv #artificalintelligence #technology #innovation

Congrats to Zach and the Hook Security Co. Team for acquiring Haekka ⚡️ Not only will this move be adding a new dimension to security training, compliance, and learning programs, but it will help them continue their momentum of producing helpful, hilarious - and intelligent - training experiences for enterprises and MSPs. Haekka (which means “elevated” in Icelandic) is a Slack-embedded training platform that offers content *inside* Slack. Over time, you can expect the Hook Team to expand this offering to include numerous other embedded training experiences including Microsoft Teams. Wanna test the product out? Email zach [at] haekka.com

🌼 Blossom wouldn't be here without LOI Venture... 🚨 I've seen a ton of alarming posts and charts about the state of entrepreneurship in Canada (shout out Jake Karls and Mitch Richardson for your great posts), with Jake's words hitting home for me: 🧱 "Early-stage funding is a brick wall. Risk seems to not be rewarded here. Investors want you to come back when your business is already de-risked." 😬 That was my experience too raising Blossom Social's pre-seed and seed round. ⭐️ The one exception? LOI Venture. 🔥 When everyone else in Canada said Blossom was too early - Ryan Holmes and Manny Padda took a chance on backing us - investing in us when Blossom had only 1,000 users and $0 in revenue. 🪦 Without this funding, I'm not sure if Blossom would still be alive. 📈 Now we've grown to over 220,000 users, are on track for $2.4M in revenue this year, and were named one of the Top 25 Apps of 2025 by Apple. 🙏 So rather than lamenting the state of Canadian entrepreneurship, I want to take a moment to give the deepest heartfelt appreciation to two legends who are actually making a difference. Ryan and Manny - thank you for everything you're doing for Canada. 😎 For any early-stage founders out there, Ryan and Manny aren't just investors - they also created the League of Innovators Startup Accelerator to help early-stage founders learn the ropes (for free) led by the incredible Joel Hansen and Rob Ironside. 🙋♂️ If you're an early-stage founder under 30, I highly recommend joining the LOI community. The deadline to apply is this coming Sunday! https://lnkd.in/gmqbbQCW

Did you hear Blossom Social is teaming up with Wealthsimple?! 🤝 If not, they've partnered on a #MyStory contest in Blossom to promote Wealthsimple’s incredible 2% RRSP match offer. For the contest, users on Blossom are encouraged to share their personal and investing stories for a chance to win a Blossom x Wealthsimple prize pack 🎁 #startups #fintech #innovation

*Happening tomorrow* — portfolio founder Maika Isogawa of Webacy will be on stage in Miami! 🌶️🇺🇸 WAGMI Miami – responsible for launching Ethereum, Litecoin, Dash, Factom, and Blockchain Capital from its stages – happens again during Miami Blockchain Week. AND SHES SPEAKING (in front of 10,000 people!) sharing some major alpha on what we’ve been up to at Webacy... 👀 When: January 22-24, 2025 Where: James L Knight Center, Miami Her Session: Friday Jan 24th, 4:15pm See you there! #miami #technology #entrepreneurship

Attention all young entrepreneurs who want to build a startup in 2025: today's your day to apply for LOI Labs Batch 14: https://bit.ly/3Claiak If you know someone chomping at the bit to build something this year —maybe a family friend, student, or even someone you’re mentoring — point them our way. From AI agents to e-commerce, SaaS to fintech. If you’ve got a startup idea, we wanna see you apply: https://bit.ly/3Claiak What’s Labs Batch 14? It’s a free, virtual 12-week program designed for founders under the age of 30 in the earliest stages of their startup ($0-$50K ARR) who are ready to take the next big step toward traction. And it’s our 14th cohort since launching the League of Innovators Startup Accelerator What makes it special? • Workshops, panels & AMAs with high value founders • Pitch coaching, product testing, and investor intros • A Slack community of 1,500+ alumni • 100+ hours of recorded lessons to tap into anytime Most importantly, it’s a chance to join a community of builders who’ve gone on to create $1B+ in enterprise value. It’s not just a program—it’s a launchpad. Applications close Feb 2. Let’s see who’s ready to take the leap.
Apply now: https://bit.ly/3Claiak P.S. Share a note in the comments if you end up applying #startups #entrepreneurship #technology

T-30 minutes. RSVP here (https://lnkd.in/guQvPaje) if you want to watch this year's Labs Showcase Event... Our Founders pitching: - Jenn Orr - Imam Khalid - Daniel Martinez - Ella Farlinger - Serina Ahmad - Christy Lee - Harshit Mulchandani - Ethan Alvizo Our incredible judges: - Alexander (AJ) Case - Simi Sodhi, CPA, CBV - Florence Leung - Rob Ironside And our world-class MCs? - Erin O'Halloran - Kyle Moore See you soon!