On the TechTO stage ×2
Stadium Live Studios and Maple VC
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Watch on YouTube ↗First seen on the TechTO stage in 2021. Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about Andre ↗
In their words
There were no Canadian investors on any of those companies that I just listed at the earliest stages. And that was strange to me, because if you look at unicorns coming out of any other city or any other country, you will most likely see a local VC on their cap table.
What if there was a fund that was sort of secretly waving the Canadian flag, thanks to the name of the fund, Maple VC — but it was ironically not based in Canada. It was based in Silicon Valley.
It's pretty simple. I'm betting on Canadians. They're just not all in Canada. Half of my companies happen to be in Canada and half outside.
More from TechTO ×3
Around the web ×1
Quick answers
What does Maple VC invest in?
Seed-stage companies with Canadian founders, regardless of where the company sits. Charoo runs it from San Francisco on the argument that the most ambitious Canadian founders leave, and that a fund following them catches companies a Canada-only fund never sees.
Why did he start it?
He noticed the pattern in his own resume. Both Uber and Hired, the two companies he joined early, had Canadian founders — and when he listed the Canadian-founded unicorns, no Canadian investor appeared on any of their early cap tables.
How did he raise the first fund?
From his employer. The Hired founders asked him not to leave for venture and instead funded the thesis: four of them put in $50,000 each, the board and others followed, and the $1.2 million fund made nine investments, six of which reached Series A or beyond.