StandUp Ventures

StandUp Ventures backs seed-stage Canadian technology companies led or co-led by women, with a requirement that at least one woman holds a C-level position and an equitable share of ownership. Michelle McBane founded and manages it, spinning out of MaRS Discovery District where she had been senior investment director, and raised $21.5 million for the first fund between 2017 and 2019 — in an environment, as the Globe and Mail described it, where women venture capitalists were scarce and women-led startups struggled to raise. The second fund passed its original $30-million target. The firm invests across Canada, mainly in enterprise software, digital health and clean tech. McBane appeared on TechTO's Founders & Funding in April 2021 alongside Stephany Lapierre of Tealbook — one of StandUp's portfolio companies — for the show's format of putting a founder and the investor who backed them on stage together to tell the story of the raise from both sides.