Team

Abhith joined Inovia Capital’s Team in January 2023. He has over a decade of Banking, Asset and Wealth Management experience. Before joining Inovia, Abhith was part of RBC Capital Markets, where he was involved in Data Quality and Governance for regulatory reporting. Prior to RBC Capital Markets, he worked at JP Morgan, as part of the Chief Investment Office, focusing on Fixed Income Data Analytics & Modeling.

Abhith holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, and an MBA in Finance with a minor in operations from Manipal institute of Management.

Alessandra joined Inovia Capital in November 2022 as a Marketing and Communications Associate in the Montreal office. She brings a wide array of experience – everything from graphic design and content marketing to event planning.

Alessandra works with the Inovia Investment and Operations teams to promote the brand in the ecosystem and maximize the firm’s communication efforts with founders and partners.

Before joining Inovia, Alessandra supported client marketing at LoyaltyOne, working with AIR MILES Reward Program’s sponsors to help them meet their business objectives. Before that, she led marketing and communications at a fast-growing fintech platform.

Alessandra graduated from Concordia University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts, majoring in graphic design. She has a DESS in Communication-Marketing from HEC Montreal.

Alex joined Inovia Capital’s Venture Team in 2022. Prior to Inovia, Alex held several roles at VC funds across Canada and the United States. She began her career working with early stage startups focused on strategy, operations and finance. 

Alex is graduating with an Honours Bachelor’s of Math in Financial Analysis and Risk Management from the University of Waterloo.

Andrew joined Inovia Capital’s Growth Team in January 2022. Prior to Inovia, Andrew was a management consultant at Monitor Deloitte in Toronto, where he focused on executive-level strategy for clients in the TMT and financial services sectors. Andrew graduated from McGill University with a BComm in Finance and Accounting and served as a Captain of the Men’s Varsity Football Team, where he was awarded Academic All-Canadian status.

Anna joined Inovia Capital’s Growth Team in August 2022. Prior to Inovia, Anna was a Senior Analyst in funds of funds and venture capital at Investissement Québec, where she was involved in the valuation of new investment opportunities across multiple sectors and asset classes.

Anna holds a Master in Finance from IE Business School (Madrid, Spain) and a BComm from Concordia University through which she completed private equity work terms at CDPQ and BDC.

Arianne joined Inovia Capital in August 2020 as Chief of Staff in the Montreal office, with a mandate to support Chris Arsenault in strengthening the venture-capital ecosystem in Quebec. After completing her mandate with Chris, she transitioned to be a full-time member of the investment team.

Prior to joining Inovia, Arianne completed her MBA at Columbia Business School after working for five years in management consulting at EY in Montreal and Toronto. Arianne also completed her undergrad in Engineering at McGill University in 2012.

Camille is a Montreal native. She earned a BA in Urban Planning and a Masters in Library and Information Science. After graduation, she took her research skills to one of Inovia Capital’s LPs — Investissement Quebec. Camille then joined another of the Firm’s LPs, Teralys. Since joining the team, Camille moved into an operations role where she continues to work closely with her deep networks through our LP reporting process.

Charlotte joined Inovia Capital’s Growth team in Montreal in October 2020. For the past three years she had been working at Salesforce’s Strategy team in San Francisco where she supported the Office of the CEO and the Head of Worldwide Sales. Charlotte started out her career at Deloitte Canada as a Consultant in the Strategy & Operations group, where she advised large companies across the financial services, manufacturing and healthcare industries.

Charlotte grew up in Northern Italy and moved to Montreal to attend McGill University, where she graduated with Honors with a Bachelor of Commerce.

Chris Arsenault has more than 25 years of operating and investing experience, and through his vision, has become a key pillar of today’s maturing Canadian tech ecosystem. Chris played an important role in supporting many of Inovia Capital’s most valuable companies, including Lightspeed, Luxury Retreats, Sonder, and AppDirect, where he currently serves as a board member and a coach to the founders. Through his decades of leadership and relationship building, Chris has developed an outstanding track record of identifying high potential companies early on, maximizing deal value, supporting management teams as they scale, and managing paths to exit. Notable exits that generated substantial shareholder value include the 2019 IPO of Lightspeed (LSPD), Luxury Retreats, Well.ca, Localmind, Routehappy, Airborne Entertainment and SIT.

Chris co-founded Inovia Capital in 2007 and leveraged his entrepreneurial instincts to not only shape the culture of the Firm but also its vision and path forward, which led to the Inovia platform and the inception of Inovia Capital’s growth funds. Chris currently serves as a director on the boards of AppDirect, Poka, Life House, Super, Talent.com and Groupe Dynamite; he previously served on several boards, including  Lightspeed (until its IPO), Luxury Retreats (acquired by Airbnb in 2017), Reflex Photonics (acquired by Smiths Interconnect in 2019), and Well.ca (acquired by McKesson in 2017). Chris is also a board member of the Montreal Heart Institute Foundation, Forum AI Québec (part of the Quebec Supercluster for Artificial Intelligence), and he is also a proud Charter Member of Silicon Valley based The C100.

Deborah brings a strong international/multi-sector industry background — she started her career as a marketing manager in the music industry in both Europe and USA, and has spent eight years at Essilor, the worldwide manufacturing leader of ophthalmic lenses, as Communication Manager and Executive Assistant.

Now in London, Deborah moved to the finance sector before joining Inovia Capital in November 2018 as EA and London Office Manager. Deborah is an avid traveller and is passionate about art.

As Executive Assistant and HR Admin, Delia supports investment and corporate operations within the Montreal office. Acting as liaison, Delia is the proven sounding board in most of our global operations. She spent the majority of her career in program management and operations within the non-profit and small business sector and has worked, lived and travelled in different parts of Canada, Europe and Asia.

Delia has a degree in translation from Laurentian University and a certificate in non-profit management through the Schulich School of Business at York University.

Dennis Kavelman joined Inovia Capital in 2018 to launch Growth Fund I with Chris Arsenault and Patrick Pichette and leads the Firm’s value creation strategy. Leveraging both the venture team’s insights and the growth team’s know-how, Dennis has been invaluable in overseeing dealflow management and crystalizing the investment team’s processes with the ultimate objective of maximizing impact and value to entrepreneurs. Thanks to his operational background, Dennis is well-recognized within the Canadian tech ecosystem for providing unique perspectives on managing operational hurdles and growing pains.

Before joining Inovia, Dennis was an experienced technology executive and investor. After beginning his career at KPMG, Dennis joined startup RIM in 1995;  as CFO and COO, he helped RIM create the global smartphone industry as it grew to over 14,000 employees by his departure in 2010. During his tenure at RIM, he managed the scaling of a global software, hardware and services business while overseeing all financing activities, including the IPO and over $1.8B in equity raises. Following RIM, Dennis became a prolific angel investor and joined D2L, a global education platform company, as its COO. Dennis currently sits on the boards of AlayaCare, Symend, WorkJam, Vidyard and BenchSci.

Diana joined Inovia in May 2022 as an Executive Assistant in the KW office. Before this, she worked with the Google Accelerator team, where she helped establish the Canadian Google for Startups Accelerator programs. It was there that she discovered her passion for the world of startups.

Before breaking into the tech industry, Diana spent many years spearheading successful events at the renowned Langdon Hall Country House Hotel & Spa. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Honours Communication Studies from Wilfrid Laurier University and a graduate certificate in Event Management from Niagara College.

Etienne is an Investment Associate in the Venture team, based in the Montreal office. In his role, Etienne participates in investment sourcing activities, due diligence efforts, and post-investment support to portfolio companies.

Before joining Inovia in 2022, Etienne was a Growth Equity Investment Analyst at CDPQ, the second-largest pension fund in Canada, where he focused on investment opportunities from Series C to pre-IPO, mainly in the sector of B2B SaaS. Prior to CDPQ, he worked in Strategy Consulting at Roland Berger, supporting large-scale organizations and Private Equity investors in their strategic planning and commercial due diligence efforts. Etienne holds a Bachelor of Business Administration & Finance from HEC Montreal, and graduated with Honors.

Fiorella brings her expertise in financial reporting, internal controls and efficiency-driven workflows with a vision to Inovia Capital.

Prior to joining Inovia, she was a Senior Associate at PwC Canada where she managed mandates for clients in the financial services industry, including the largest financial institutions and asset management firms worldwide.

She graduated with distinction with a Bachelor of Commerce and a Graduate Diploma in Accounting from McGill University and holds the designation of CPA, Auditor. A world citizen, she is fluent in English, French and Spanish. She enjoys travelling, dragon boating, and now calls Montreal home.

Françoise Brougher is a senior executive and board director with decades of experience in technology, engineering, finance, operations, and sales. Throughout her career, she has specialized in both strategic and operational roles, helping to scale organizations from dozens to thousands and creating marketing, sales, and services models for new innovative technologies. She has extensive expertise in building end-to-end go-to-market functions and corporate strategy: Sales, Marketing, Biz Dev, Corp Dev Customer Success and driving Corporate Strategy.

Françoise most recently served as Chief Operating Officer at Pinterest, where she grew revenue, increased the advertiser base, expanded operations to 20 countries, and helped take the company public. Prior to joining Pinterest in 2018, she was the Global Business Lead at Square where she built and ran go-to-market functions, including sales, marketing, account management, business intelligence, customer success, and business development, and assisted with Square’s IPO.

Françoise previously worked at Google for eight years, most recently as Vice President of Global Sales and Operations. She was formerly Vice President of Business Operations in the late 2000s during a time of exponential growth for the company. Prior to joining Google, she was Vice President of the Business Strategy Group at Charles Schwab.

Françoise currently serves on the board of Sodexo, a French multinational food services and facilities management company operating in over 70 countries, and is a member of their Compensation and Nomination Committees. She also serves as a member of the board of Velocity Global, a private international Professional Employment Organization, and an advisor at both The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Venture Growth Fund and Inovia Capital.

Françoise earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Masters in Engineering from Institut Catholique d’Arts et Metiers in France. Originally from Marseille, France, she came to the United States in her mid-twenties. She lives in Silicon Valley with her husband and three children.

Gabi joined Inovia Capital’s Venture Team in January 2023.  Before Inovia, Gabi was in New York at Rock Health, an early stage investment and advisory firm focused on digital health. 

Gabi graduated from Stanford University with a BS in Science, Technology and Society and received an Honors award for her thesis on the use of virtual reality for pediatric pain management.

Hugues has over 10 years of experience in technology, finance and entrepreneurship. He joined Inovia as an Analyst in November 2015 and quickly rose through the ranks to become a Partner on the growth investment team where he focuses on enterprise software opportunities. During his six year tenure at the firm, he worked with 15 portfolio companies — including AlayaCare, AppDirect, Bench, Lightspeed, Top Hat, WorkJam, WorkFusion and Rewind — helping them raise $2B+ across 25 transactions and driving great exits to date.

Hugues also developed Inovia’s LP co-investment program — enabling Inovia LPs to deploy about $800M across the portfolio. Prior to Inovia, he collaborated with startups in CFO and advisor roles after having worked at BMO.

Hugues graduated with an MSc. in Accounting & Finance from The London School of Economics in 2012 and with a BBA in Economics & Finance from HEC Montreal in 2011.

Isabelle joined Inovia Capital in March 2021. She has over 20 years of experience in marketing and communications, with a deep focus on developing data, digital and CRM strategies for global brands. At Inovia, Isabelle works with the Investments and Operations teams to promote the brand in the community and maximize communication efforts with founders and partners.

Before joining Inovia, Isabelle spent over 13 years at Cossette where she was overseeing the development of marketing activities for B2B and B2C clients from several industries. She also spent a few years at LoyaltyOne working with AIR MILES Reward Program’s sponsors to leverage the program to meet their business objectives.

Isabelle graduated with a Bachelor degree in Communications from University of Montréal and a DESS in Communication-Marketing from HEC.

Jill joined Inovia Capital in 2019, and heads up the operations duties in the Firm’s Toronto office. Jill brings more than 15 years experience, providing administrative support. Jill ran her own personal and corporate concierge service company for 9+ years. Prior to that, Jill honed her research skills as a reference librarian in the area of employment benefits for an international consulting firm.

Jules joined Inovia Capital’s Growth Team in London in 2021. He has a unique blend of strategic and operational experience gained from his time on the Strategy Team at women’s athletic wear company, Athleta, and the Product & Operations Consulting Team at PriceWaterhouseCoopers. In the past, Jules has volunteered his time and helped small businesses with their financial planning, and supported an organization focused on delivering essential supplies to high risk populations.

Jules holds a BA in business administration & finance and a minor in physics from the University of Richmond.

Karam has over 15 years of experience in technology, and specializes in enterprise software and emerging technologies. He joined Inovia Capital as an Associate in January 2010 while completing his final semester of his MBA, and quickly rose through the ranks to become a Partner.

Karam currently serves as a director or observer on the boards of: Clearpath, Fellow, Swyft, Vital and Vidyard, and led or co-led our investments in Chango (acquired by Rubicon Project for $122M), BufferBox (acquired by Google), and Well.ca (acquired by McKesson Canada). Prior to Inovia Capital, Karam served as a subject matter expert at RBC on cross enterprise software architecture initiatives.

Karam holds an MBA from Ivey Business School and a Bachelor of Math and Computer Science in Bioinformatics.

Karim is an attorney with over 18 years of experience, specialised in mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, financings, restructurings and general corporate and commercial matters. At Inovia Capital, Karim works with the investment teams on the various transactions and is responsible for all legal matters. Before joining Inovia, Karim was Vice-President of Legal Affairs at LASIK MD Vision (Canada’s leading vision correction provider), after having spent 10 years in private practice. Karim graduated with a BBA from HEC Montreal and an LL.B. from University of Montreal.

Kate Whelan is the Manager, Talent on Inovia Capital’s Platform Team, based in Toronto. Kate joins Inovia from the start-up community, previously working in Talent Acquisition roles at Ritual and Lunchbox. Before working in-house, Kate honed her sought-after relationship building skills as an agency recruiter and talent consultant, finding particular success in Canada’s Emerging Cannabis industry.

Throughout Kate’s university career, she worked as an Equestrian trainer and broker. She graduated from McMaster University with a BA in Communications and a diploma in Human Resources Management.

Katrina joined Inovia in July 2020. Prior to Inovia, Katrina was working in a technology start-up in Montreal where she wore many hats ranging from HR to basic accounting and payroll. Before joining the tech world, Katrina was Office Manager in a multi-pad hockey complex, where she also managed a customer service team. Her passions are baking/cooking and competitive sports, her favourite being volleyball!

Kelly joined Inovia Capital’s Venture team, December 2020 in the Montreal office.  Prior to Inovia, Kelly worked at Roland Berger in management consulting. During her time there, she assisted large enterprises in crafting their corporate growth strategies and conducting due diligence work, across various industries – including TMT, consumer goods, retail and travel.

Kelly graduated from McGill University with Honours in Finance and Marketing. She is passionate about sustainability and enjoys sailing in her free time.

Kory joined Inovia in March 2022, as VP of Platform Tech and will be based primarily in our KW office. He spends his time working with portfolio company executive leadership teams on the product and engineering side, working on product and tech due diligence, and working with Partners on technical investment theses.

Prior to Inovia, Kory was the Chief of Staff of Engineering for Google Canada. As such, he was part of the Google Canada leadership team driving strategy, operations and Canada community engagement across its engineering sites. Prior to being Chief of Staff, Kory led Developer Relations for Google in Canada and Eastern USA. Prior to Google, Kory created startup investing/acceleration programs at Communitech and Wilfrid Laurier University.

Kory has HBA from Wilfrid Laurier University with a Double Major in English and Philosophy (and almost a minor in Latin). He is an Academic Gold Medal winner for highest average in the Faculty of Arts graduating class of 2010 and holds an MA in Philosophy from Queen’s University.

Krista joined the Inovia Capital team in July 2021. Prior to Inovia, Krista lived in Abu Dhabi, working for one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, leading the Talent and HR charge for the fund’s VC, PE, Real Estate, Infrastructure and Hedge Funds businesses. Pre-Abu Dhabi, she lived and worked in Paris for a management consulting firm.

Krista’s career has spanned a wide variety of HR/Talent areas, including leadership development, organizational design, change management, and executive coaching She has led or contributed to projects in North America, Brazil, France, Germany, Spain, Japan, China and, most recently, the United Arab Emirates. She studied Political Science and holds a D.E.A. (Master’s equivalent) from the Universite de Paris, and a Bachelor’s degree from Laurentian University.

Kristopher is a CPA, CA and is responsible for managing the administrative functions of Inovia Capital and the Financial Reporting process. Prior to Inovia, Kristopher worked at Manulife Financial in Canadian Division Finance in both Corporate and Fund Financial Reporting, and at Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton in Assurance. Kristopher is also a course Facilitator and Grader with CPA Quebec’s Professional Education Program and Concordia University’s CPA Program.

A seasoned Executive Assistant, Leslie joined Inovia in May 2019 after spending six years in sports management / sports marketing, and six years in land use planning and development. Leslie has a proven ability to effectively communicate and collaborate with personnel at all levels of organizations, including internal and external stakeholders. Commended as a trustworthy and loyal confidant with a caring and supportive nature, Leslie strives to make every day a seamless one for cohorts and clients.

Magaly has over 25 years of experience as an accomplished entrepreneur, operator and investor. Before joining Inovia Capital, she was Chief Operating Officer and investor at PasswordBox (Acquired by Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC)) and VP WW Sales and investor at Hostopia.com (Acquired by Deluxe Corporation (NYSE:DLX)), investor and board member at Anomalous Networks Inc. (acquired by TANGO (NSDAQ:TNGO)).

Magaly’s advice is regularly sought-after by local entrepreneurs, and she currently serves as a director on the boards of Busbud, TrackTik, and Rewind. Moreover, Magaly has taken an important role as MILA’s board member and Audit Committee and will help define the province’s AI strategy for years to come. Her strong personal brand, operational background and strong leadership have enabled her to play a central role in the firm’s Quebec strategy. Magaly is also a Board Member of the CVCA & D&I committee (Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association).

Manpreet joined Inovia as a Venture Analyst in January 2023. Before joining Inovia, Manpreet completed an MSc from the Oxford Internet Institute and an MBA from Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. 

Manpreet previously worked at Garmin Canada designing next generation fitness wearable devices and was involved in multilateral policy making, most recently with the OECD’s Youth Advisory Board, where she focused on the future of work, digital connectivity, and emerging technologies.

Manpreet completed her undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering with a Biomedical Engineering minor from the University of Calgary as a Schulich Leader.

Meryl joined Inovia in January 2022 and advises companies across the growth and venture portfolios on their M&A strategy, transaction execution and post-merger implementation efforts. Meryl brings six years of M&A and advisory experience, and has worked in both New York and Toronto. Over the last two and a half years, Meryl worked at Rogers Communications on their Corporate Development team, covering media, sports and telecommunications acquisitions.

Prior to Rogers, Meryl worked in the advisory practice at PwC. Meryl is a proud University of Waterloo alumni and has spent time advocating and supporting various DE&I initiatives. Most recently, she launched a remote year-long mentoring program that helped connect 800+ Rogers staff across Canada.

Mia Morisset joined Inovia Capital in September 2018 in the Montreal office, with a mandate to identify late stage investment opportunities in Quebec and more broadly in North America. She is focused on opportunities in B2B SaaS productivity software/future of work (AlayaCare, Talent.com, BenchSci, Workjam, AppDirect) and consumer/tech-enabled platforms in travel & hospitality (Hopper, Super, Lifehouse).

Prior to Inovia, Mia worked at PSP Investments in the Private Equity Direct team and at Roland Berger in management consulting. Mia graduated from McGill University in 2013 with a Bachelor in Commerce.

Michael McGraw joined Inovia Capital in February 2018, with a mandate to open Inovia’s London office with Patrick Pichette and since joining, has been actively involved in the Firm’s investments in Lightspeed, Forward, Zwift and Neo4j.

Prior to joining Inovia, Michael worked for the Funds and Technology team at CDPQ, where he was a board member/observer at Lightspeed, Hopper and Felix & Paul Studios. He gained operating experience through a secondment as a Project Manager at Hopper, a travel tech startup that has raised $600M. Prior to joining CDPQ, Michael was an investment analyst at PSP Investments.

Michael graduated from McGill University in 2014 with a BBA and is a CFA charterholder. In his free time, he is actively involved as a Steering Committee member for the Bahir Dar Specialty Eye Center project as well as a LGBTQ+ mentor in the Start Proud program.

Natalie joined Inovia Capital as Office Manager in November 2020. Prior to Inovia, Natalie was involved in the implementation of a shared service center in the Montreal area. During her tenure she held various roles in the Accounts Payable department. Having strong organizational and people skills contributed to her success in that role. Natalie also devotes time as a dining room attendant at a senior’s residence; an item on her bucket list. She is passionate about people and enjoys trying new recipes, which of course are shared.

Natasha joined Inovia Capital’s legal team in March 2021. Prior to Inovia, Natasha worked as a corporate associate, at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt, advising emerging and growth-stage companies operating in the technology sector as well as venture capital and private equity funds investing in the technology sector. Natasha holds a Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University and a combined J.D. and LL.B from Universite de Montreal.

Noah joined Inovia’s Toronto Venture team in 2022. Prior to Inovia, he worked in TMT Investment Banking at National Bank Financial, where he assisted Canadian companies execute Growth Equity and IPO transactions.

Noah holds a Bachelor of Commerce (with distinction) from the Haskayne School of Business.

Pascale joined Inovia Capital in November 2022 as a Vice President in the Montreal office. Prior to Inovia, Pascale worked in Private Equity as a Senior Associate at CDPQ and was a board observer for various companies. Before CDPQ, Pascale started her career in Investment Banking at CIBC, advising large enterprises on M&A transactions and equity and debt financings.

Pascale graduated with honours from McGill University in 2015 with a Bachelor in Commerce.

Patrick is a strategic finance leader with extensive and broad experience in finance, operations and strategy. Through his 20+ year career, he has worked with a broad range of companies, connecting with C-Suite executives, Board of Directors and entrepreneurs alike. Specialized in capital markets solutions, he supported the growth of mid-sized and large corporations through debt and equity financing needs, IPOs and mergers and acquisition transactions.

He joined Inovia in March 2022 as Chief Financial Officer, with a mandate to write the next chapter of Inovia’s story by focusing on the firm’s finance and operations, while also building a dedicated fundraising and investor relations function to further fuel the firm’s growth.

Prior to joining Inovia, Patrick was Vice-President Corporate Strategy and Investor Relations at Bombardier. Before stepping into this role, he participated in numerous transactions while in investment banking and corporate finance across CIBC World Markets, RBC Capital Markets and KPMG Corporate Finance.

Patrick is a CPA, CA and holds the CFA designation. He graduated with a BBA in Professional Accounting and a D.E.S.S.C.P. from HEC Montreal in 1997-1998.

Patrick Pichette is a seasoned financial and operational expert with over 30 years of experience. He has led world-class companies such as Google, Twitter, McKinsey, Sprint Canada and Bell Canada to break through the complexities of hyper-growth and digital transformations

As CFO of Google from 2008 to 2015, Patrick played a key role in driving the company’s growth strategy and supported the creation of the Alphabet structure. He was part of Google’s executive committee, overseeing the company’s extensive corporate M&A agenda, which included nearly 150 acquisitions, such as Nest and Motorola. Patrick sat on the board of Twitter between 2017 and 2022, served as Chair of the Board in 2020-2021 and co-led the company’s sale to Elon Musk for $44B in October 2022. 

Currently, Patrick sits on the board of Lightspeed POS Inc as Lead Independent Director and serves as an independent investor, advisor, and board member to many startups and innovation networks around the world, including Neo4j (Sweden), Zwift (US/UK), Hopper and Wealthsimple (Canada), and Creative Destruction Labs.

A dedicated environmentalist, Patrick actively supports the Kenauk Project (Kenauk.com and institutkenauk.org). He holds an MA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from Oxford, where he attended as a Rhodes Scholar, and a BBA from UQAM.

Prem joined Inovia’s Venture Team in July 2022 as their first VP Discovery Program to lead the ramp up of Inovia’s already very successful fund investment program. His work aims to position Inovia as a preferred investment partner for those investee fund managers and select companies in their underlying portfolios.

Prior to joining Inovia, Prem wore numerous hats on the investing side of the Canadian tech ecosystem. He worked with N49P as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Afore Capital as a Venture Product Partner while also actively angel investing and consulting. As an operator, Prem led business-side efforts at Y Combinator backed Whirlscape and helped launch an angel network associated with the University of Waterloo.

Prem graduated from the University of Waterloo with a Bachelor’s in Mechatronics Engineering, Option in Management Science and Minor in Economics. In his free time, Prem enjoys regular fitness training, playing poker (which he used to do competitively), and spending time with friends and family.

Raif is a partner at Inovia with over 25 years of tech operating and investing experience. Previously, he served as Head of the EMEA Finance Leadership team at Google from 2011–2018 and as Global CFO at Deliveroo from 2018–2019. Prior to joining Google in 2005, Raif held roles at Reuters Venture Capital in Silicon Valley and at Capital One in Virginia. Between 2013 and 2020, Raif served on the Tate Art Galleries Finance & Operations and Audit Committees. Raif holds a BA in Mathematics from Oxford University, an MSc from UMIST and an MBA from INSEAD.

Rania joined Inovia Capital’s Growth team as an analyst in February 2022. Prior to that, Rania worked as a consultant in Accenture’s Banking Strategy practice where she advised financial institutions as well as large enterprises from other industries on the strategy, planning and execution of their transformations.

Rania holds a Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from Polytechnique Montréal and was the president of the school’s Finance Club.

Scott has been with Inovia Capital since January 2017 and brings more than 30+ years of operating and financial advisory expertise to the Firm. He leads Inovia’s Corporate Development Practice and advises portfolio companies on how to proactively manage their path to maximizing valuation —either through M&A or IPO. Scott leverages his expertise and extensive personal network with top acquirers to work with management teams on creating optionality well before an exit takes place as well as to create best practices for portfolio companies involved in Buy Side M&A. During transactions, Scott takes a hands-on approach and assists the company with all facets of their process to ensure valuation is optimized. Prior to joining Inovia, Scott was the Founder and Managing Director of Pagemill Partners, a top tier mid-market investment bank based in Palo Alto which was acquired by Duff & Phelps.

Over the years, Scott had built a strong relationship with Inovia and advised many portfolio companies on exit strategies, including the $122M acquisition of Chango by Rubicon Project (7x MOIC). Over his highly successful 15-year tenure at Pagemill Partners, the firm completed 250+ transactions primarily on the sell side in software, communications, internet, media and hardware. Prior to founding Pagemill Partners, Scott was the chairman and CEO of Savoir Technology Group, a company he grew from $50M to $1B in revenue run rate, at which point the business was acquired by Avnet Inc. It is through his experience as an operator that he developed a unique approach to Corporate Development, which he is now thrilled to share with the Inovia community.

Shawn co-founded Inovia Capital in 2007 with Chris, after spending 20 years as a successful founder, inventor, angel investor and global executive. He is passionate about coaching entrepreneurs through their personal journey, and is actively involved in developing effective governance across the Inovia portfolio and community. 

Shawn provides insights and best-practices earned through decades of experience running his own companies and dozens of board appointments. Currently Shawn serves as a director on the boards including Certn, Top Hat and Bench. 

Shawn is a champion for good governance, including authoring the great board commitment, speaking regularly and supporting the ICD/CVCA Private Capital Governance Program. Former board appointments include Drivewyze (exited 2019), Tugboat Logic (acquired by OneTrust), WorkFusion (exited 2021), and Solium (TSX:SUM), where he served on the HR & Governance and Risk & Compliance committees. The Calgary-based firm was acquired by Morgan Stanley for over C$1Bn in 2019. 

Shawn believes in cultivating community initiatives. Shawn has contributed broadly to the startup community including as founding Chair of the Alberta 100 Tech Entrepreneurs (“A100”), instrumental in the establishment of AccelerateAB and the AccelerateFunds, and past Chair of the Venture Capital Association of Alberta and Banff Venture Forum. His dedication to community service includes being a long time associate of Creative Destruction Lab, and member of Dean Meddings’ advisory board at the Cumming School of Medicine. 

Shawn mentors founders through CETAC-WEST and Venture Mentoring Services. An accomplished coach, he works also closely with leadership teams at Inovia portfolio companies, and advises other investors. 

Prior to Inovia, Shawn was a pioneer in internet security as CTO, then President, of publicly-traded security powerhouse Rainbow Technologies, overseeing several hundred employees in nearly 20 countries, navigating a dozen M&A transactions and driving a category rollup and realizing a half-billion dollar exit. 

As a founder, he built, then sold the AND Group, the defacto-standard encryption-based eCommerce platform that powered an entire generation of digital sales, and was instrumental in launching CD-ROMs.

As an inventor, he holds the first patent for the USB key, multiple patents in online banking and biometric security, and has published widely on topics of internet security. 

Shawn is an outdoor enthusiast, accomplished public speaker and pilot. You will often find him taking someone for their first helicopter flight, to hike or ski in the Alberta Rockies, or showing up at a business meeting or talking on his bicycle after having flown it half way across the continent. He is committed to lifelong learning, with a Physics degree from the University of Alberta, and post-graduate studies at the University of Calgary and Stanford. But most of all, he is the proud father of two amazing individuals.

Simon was an intern at Inovia in 2021 before joining Inovia Capital’s Venture team full time in January 2022, in the Montreal office. Prior to Inovia, he completed an internship in VC at VU Venture Partners in San Francisco. Simon has also completed internships in wealth management at RBC Dominion Securities and in asset management at Mackenzie Investments.

Simon holds a Bachelor of Business Administration with a major in Finance from HEC Montreal and graduated with Honour mention. Simon passed the CFA Level I exam in 2021.

Steven Woods joined Inovia as Partner and CTO in August 2021. Steven has worked in software development, research and technical leadership for more than 30 years. As co-founder of three software and services companies based in the USA (Quack.com, Kinitos, NeoEdge Networks), he built strong, high-performing teams of product and technical experts based in both Silicon Valley and the Waterloo-Toronto tech corridor.  One of these companies – Quack.com – pioneered the world’s first interactive voice assistant and was acquired by Netscape/America Online in 2000.

Steven joined Google in 2008 in order to return home to Canada and build a world-class engineering and product capability with a uniquely Canadian culture of quality, commitment and innovation. Steven led the growth and leadership development of the Google Canada product and engineering teams from 20 to over 1,300 across a range of impactful products between 2008 and 2021.

In his role at Inovia, Steven brings his years of entrepreneurial and engineering experience, his passion for working with innovators and founders and his extensive network to our portfolio companies. He also plays an important role in evaluating deal flow from a product, technology and talent perspective. Steven has long been an independent investor, advisor and board member to startups, innovation networks and non-profits in the USA and Canada.

Since joining he has led investments in Signal1.AI – a Toronto-based transformative application of AI in improving healthcare outcomes, and RouteThis – a Waterloo-based company supporting service providers improving home networking experiences.

Steven holds a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Saskatchewan and a Masters and PhD in Computer Science (Mathematics) from the University of Waterloo. Among numerous awards, Steven received the prestigious JW Graham Medal in Computing and Innovation from the University of Waterloo in 2010 and was recognized with a Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Saskatchewan in 2021.

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Steven Chung joined Inovia Capital’s Growth Team in July 2021. He has over five years of capital markets experience, having worked in Investment Banking at RBC, where he was involved in financing and M&A advisory for clients in the Software and Technology sectors. Prior to RBC, he worked in Equity Research at Scotiabank, covering Consumer Products and Special Situations.

Steven began his career as an R&D Engineer and Project Manager at a Cleantech startup based in Montreal. He holds a B.Eng in Mechanical Engineering from McGill University.

Taha Mubashir joined Inovia in 2022 as a Principal on the Venture team. Taha has 10 years of finance experience and was recently a Director within PSP’s Direct Private Equity program. At PSP, Taha was responsible for sourcing and executing North American technology transactions. Taha’s key board seat and observer responsibilities included Lytx, Delinea and Collective Health.

Prior to PSP, Taha started his career in investment banking at BMO. Taha holds an HBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business

Tara has been with Inovia Capital since 2009 as part of the operations team. Prior to working at Inovia, she spent eight years as the Director of Sunny Acres Day Camp, a large summer camp, managing staff and overseeing all programming. She graduated from McGill University with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology.