Panache Ventures has some exciting updates on the market and our team.
2024 has marked a rebound in the venture landscape. And this shows in our results - fund performance is currently tracking in the top quartile of North American funds (source: Carta).
The last several months have been some of the busiest since the inception of Panache Ventures in 2018. We've made 12 new pre-seed and seed stage investments so far this year, and are seeing portfolio companies like Certn, Kora, and Fispan emerging from the 'venture winter' stronger than ever. Late-stage financing is picking up, with companies such as Relay Financial and CoLab Software leading the way.
Team Updates
We're celebrating the contributions of Chris Neumann and the promotion of Sarah Willson.
After almost 3 years at Panache Ventures, Chris Neumann is departing at the end of the year to explore new opportunities. Chris will share more about his next adventure in 2025, but for the time being, he remains hard at work at Panache until the end of the year.
He joins an exceptional group of Panache alumni who have started new companies and funds. We look forward to supporting Chris in his new endeavor, as he remains a close friend of the firm.
Sarah Willson has been promoted to Principal in Toronto. Sarah joined us as an analyst 3 years ago and has quickly become an industry star. She is deeply engaged in the venture community and has directly sourced and facilitated many recent investments. Sarah is an ex-operator and has been a mentor to founders across the country.
More than 20% of our investments across two funds are in BC and we will continue to invest in the BC tech ecosystem. Our Vancouver-based Analyst, Melaniia Volkodav, has been making a big impact in the local ecosystem since joining Panache from CDL Vancouver. She will be working closely with Managing Partner Patrick Lor to support and invest in BC technology entrepreneurs.
2025: It’s Time to Play Offense
Panache believes that the market has bottomed, and plans on investing $49 million of its committed capital into early-stage Canadian companies over the next two years. While macro risks remain, we are seeing renewed confidence in the tech sector.
To support this, we’re continuing our mission to be the most data-driven VC in early-stage tech. Our data team is led by Associate Domenic Del Vecchio, and is supported by two analysts with programming and data science experience.
We’ll have more exciting news soon. For now, back to work - we’ve got deals to close!