On the TechTO stage ×1
First seen on the TechTO stage in 2018. Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about Matt ↗
In their words
I found that I was disconnected to what was actually being done on a day-to-day basis. I didn't feel like I was really building anything while I was at the bank.
I wrote the first cheque into that company because I really wanted to understand how companies became public, what happened to get them there.
More from TechTO ×1
Around the web ×1
Quick answers
Who is Matt Cohen?
The founder and managing partner of Ripple Ventures, a Toronto early-stage venture firm he started in 2018. He invests at the pre-seed and inception stage in B2B software, and hosts the Tank Talk podcast.
How did Matt Cohen get into venture capital?
Through the bank and then out of it. He joined RBC's trading desk as a co-op student in 2005, covered global hedge funds, and moved to New York through the 2008 crisis. Back in Toronto in 2012 he wrote the first cheque into Turnstyle Solutions — later acquired by Yelp — and helped it raise $35,000 cheques from 75 investors. He then joined Street Context to build its US enterprise sales, investing on the side under the Ripple Ventures name until it became full-time (TechTO FintechTO, November 2018).
What does Ripple Ventures invest in?
Inception-stage companies — pre-incorporation, pre-product or pre-traction — with cheques of $250,000 to $1 million USD, usually leading or co-leading. Its stated focus spans B2B SaaS, developer software, climate software and AI, from offices in Toronto and Vancouver.