Author: vortexf

insight

My Journey to Partner at Inovia

Growing up in Quebec and spending many summers on the West Coast as a kid, I’ve always been drawn towards new ideas. What wasn’t obvious to me at the time is how much Canadian culture has shaped that mindset — from Denis Villeneuve’s world of dreams and Leonard Cohen’s poetry to Drake, fresh bagels and…

View insight
insight

Now Trading on Nasdaq as (SOND), Sonder Continues Its Mission of Revolutionizing the Hospitality Industry

We want to extend our warm and heartfelt congratulations to Francis, Martin, Sanjay, Shruti, Doug, Phil, Andrew, and the whole team at Sonder, not only for being a great Inovia portfolio company but for continuing to lead the next generation in hospitality experiences, and for their successful merger with Gores Metropoulos II, Inc., a special purpose…

View insight
insight

Back in Business: How ResQ is Helping the Rapidly Rebounding Restaurant Industry

Emerging from COVID, we’re craving the kind of in-person contact that we’ve missed during lockdown. After more than a year of cooking at home and eating takeout meals, people are eager to come together and break bread in their favourite restaurants. This is great news for restaurant owners hard hit by the pandemic and will…

View insight
insight

Distinction or Extinction: Why It’s Game Time for Main Street

eCommerce has been cannibalizing Main Street’s sales for years, and thanks to the pandemic, that trend has exploded and doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. By 2025, US eCommerce sales are projected to reach $563B which is estimated to translate to over 5B packages being shipped to consumers! Although many companies have already cashed in on this…

View insight
insight

Rethinking last-mile logistics as the eCommerce boom continues

Everybody has experienced the pain of slow and unreliable deliveries at least once; the present you didn’t get on time, a special occasion outfit that encountered shipping delays or some purchase you’d forgotten about that arrived weeks later. Despite fierce growth in eCommerce sales, the delivery infrastructure built around it has more or less been…

View insight
insight

Growth Fund II: Meeting the Demand for Value-Added Partnerships

Helping founders with the talent, capital and mentorship they need to scale globally Today, the Inovia team is proud to announce the closing of our US$450M second growth-stage fund, Inovia Growth Fund II, which builds on the success of our full-stack, operator-led model. This second fund signals our continued commitment to developing the tech ecosystem…

View insight
insight

Why theBoardlist Matters to Us, and to You

A letter to our founders TLDR: theBoardlist.com is a resource you’ll want to use to improve your business. Contact us to start a conversation. Reflecting on recent growth at Inovia (we’re now at 32 FTEs!), it amazes me how much we’ve changed as we’ve grown. Beyond becoming a full stack capital partner, to support our founders’ success…

View insight
insight

Welcoming Rosie Chopra as Inovia Executive in Residence

Rosie is no stranger to the Inovia family — in fact, Antoine introduced her to Inovia many years ago, and in no-time she informally started advising early-stage SaaS startups in our portfolio on monetization & pricing, product strategy, and business operations. She also became an LP in our most recent fund. Today we’re excited to formally announce that…

View insight
insight

Certn: building the network for international identity management

The conversation around remote teams has received a lot of attention in the past year, but at Inovia it’s a trend we’ve observed and discussed for a long time. Distributed talent networks are mutually beneficial to employees and employers alike; individuals get to choose from a wide pool of companies while companies stand to benefit…

View insight
insight

Augmenting cloud platforms to increase control and security

Ecommerce continues to move at warp speed across nearly every category of the economy. New trends amongst online merchants are emerging, creating incredible investment opportunities, capable of impacting millions of businesses across the globe. Over the last decade, investments in the ecommerce industry have largely focused on the development of centralized platforms designed to democratize…

View insight