Announcing Ripple Ventures Fund III and Team Promotions
Today marks a significant moment in Ripple Ventures’ journey as we announce not just one, but two major milestones that reflect our continued growth and commitment to backing the next generation of visionary founders transforming legacy industries.
- Announcing Ripple Ventures Fund III, which we’ve been actively deploying since late 2022, was anchored by the Royal Bank of Canada and the Government of Canada’s renewed Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative (“VCCI”) through BDC Capital.
- We’ve promoted Naz to Senior Associate and Katie to Associate.
Announcing Ripple Ventures Fund III
Since late 2022, we have been actively investing through Ripple Ventures Fund III, and we’re excited to share that this fund has already backed 20 amazing companies. Anchored by the Royal Bank of Canada and the Government of Canada’s renewed Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative (“VCCI”) through BDC Capital, Fund III supports founders at the earliest stages building software to transform legacy industries.
We’ve stayed true to our roots, particularly backing companies at what we call “the true pre-seed stage”, from inception to their first dollars of revenue. Ripple primarily leads pre-seed investments with a $250K to $750K check and our Fellow Fund strategy invests in student/recent grad founders with $50K to $100K. In many cases, Ripple was there to back founders while incorporation documents were being formed. Our focus continues to be investing in the next generation of systems of record, workflow automation tools, and transitory software that enables the adoption of frontier technologies.
Some companies we’ve backed in Fund III include:
- Centro (centrocommerce.com), (Toronto), AI inventory operations platform for commerce businesses.
- Cimba (cimba.ai), (Seattle), Hyper-contextualized LLM-based AI assistants to mitigate business operation risks.
- Sabba (hisabba.com), (Toronto), AI healthcare billing automation.
- Artemis (artemisdata.io), (Vancouver), Platform that helps orchestrate data pipelines and build data tools.
- Waive the Wait (waivethewait.com), (Toronto), Integrating AI technology to enhance clinic efficiency.
- Scalestack AI (scalestack.ai), (New York), GTM data platform to help enterprises prioritize actions and execute sales plays.
- Asepha AI (asepha.ai), (Toronto), Helps healthcare professionals make faster clinical decisions using AI.
- Net Now (netnow.io), (Toronto), Trade credit platform for construction.
- Tuuli (trytuuli.com), (Toronto), Platform to measure, reduce, and monitor embodied and operational carbon emissions of assets.
- Zealot (joinzealot.com), (Seattle), Provides tools for brands to onboard, engage, reward, and analyze ambassador activities with efficiency.
- Canarie (https://canarie.ai/), (New York), Automates the interpretation and application of regulations to company documents, enhancing regulatory compliance management.
- Page (https://with.page/), (Waterloo, Ottawa), Leverages AI to provide real-time insights into government activities.
- Hyper (callhyper.com), (Toronto), Automating phone calls with voice AI for 311, 911, and more.
- Stealth, (Vancouver, San Francisco), B2B partnerships activation platform.
- Levr (levr.ai), (Vancouver, San Francisco), Transforms the way businesses access capital and manage loans.
- One Chart (https://onechart.ai/), (Toronto, Waterloo), Automates medical charting and documentation using AI.
- Katalyze AI (katalyzeai.com), (Toronto), AI-powered optimization platform for biomanufacturing.
- Theo AI (theoai.ai), (San Francisco, Seattle, New York), Creating the world’s first legal outcome prediction engine.
- And a few more to be announced soon…
In line with our commitment to fostering inclusive growth, we’ve also launched the new RippleX Founder Fellowship Program (check out our latest batch here). This program was designed to continue supporting underrepresented student and recent graduate founders with a focused set of workshops, cohorts, and mentorship. Each year, we run two batches that take up to 10 companies building software transforming legacy industries, and provide these founders with specific mentorship to help them close their first dollars of revenue and funding. The RippleX program is complemented by our Fellow Fund, which invests $50–100K into these same founders, ensuring that we’re not just supporting them with advice but also with the capital needed to bring their visions to life.
We’ve just had our most active quarter in Fund III and are continuing to build our portfolio. In this fund alone, we will be adding another 10–15 new investments. Founders, to get in touch you can reach us here.
Announcing Promotions at Ripple (Naz to Senior Associate and Katie to Associate)
We are also very excited to announce the promotion of Naz to Senior Associate and welcome Katie to our team full-time as an Associate. We are very grateful to have met Naz and Katie through the RippleX Fellowship years ago where they joined our community of passionate student founders and aspiring VCs and quickly stood out to us as people who had lots of hustle and a deep passion for startups and venture. Their dedication and relentless drive have set them apart and become integral to the success and growth of Ripple Ventures. We couldn’t be prouder to see them thrive and continue to make a lasting impact on our team and the broader startup ecosystem.
Naz’s Promotion to Senior Associate
Naz’s journey with Ripple Ventures began three and a half years ago through the RippleX Fellowship, which led her to an Analyst Intern position while she was finishing school, to her being promoted to Associate when she joined us full-time in June 2022, and now again, promoted to Senior Associate. From the very start, she has been a force to be reckoned with — always asking the right questions and finding ways to improve every day. Her passion for community building, coaching founders, and helping companies graduate to the next stages have been instrumental in Ripple’s journey.
Naz has been a cornerstone in driving high-quality deal flow and building our VC network and corporate development platform. She has also played a crucial role in closing deals from start to finish, showcasing her deep understanding of the venture process. Her work ensures that our founders have access to the best downstream investors and strategic partners. She has also played a pivotal role in scaling the RippleX Fellowship, acting as a close mentor to many founders in our program. Naz’s ability to identify the best founders and discover many of our current portfolio companies has significantly contributed to her growth with the fund. Her promotion to Senior Associate is a testament to her contributions to Ripple, and we couldn’t be more excited to see her continue to grow as she takes on this new role.
Katie’s Promotion to Associate
Katie also joined our team through the RippleX Fellowship, and over the past two and a half years, she has proven herself to be the glue of the Ripple Ventures team. From scaling our sourcing engine to leading the operations of the RippleX Fellowship, and building our internal operations and AI platform, Katie has stepped up to take it all on. Katie also started as one of our Analyst Interns where she started working with us after the RippleX Fellowship program.
We’ve selfishly been waiting a long time for Katie to join our team full-time, and are very happy to have her 100% now. She has already been firing on all cylinders, finding great deals and building out our community via events and platform initiatives with Naz. Katie has particularly been instrumental in finding and fostering relationships with young builders for the RippleX Fellowship, and the Fellow Fund, ensuring that we continue to invest in the brightest minds building the next unicorn. She has also helped us close many of our deals end-to-end, and we are very proud of Katie for her accomplishments and for joining us full-time with her promotion.
Looking Ahead
Ripple Ventures wouldn’t be where we are today without our LPs, the amazing founders we’ve backed, and the hard work, dedication, and vision of people like Naz and Katie. We’re incredibly proud to announce the new fund and to see Naz and Katie step into their new roles as we embark on this next chapter with Fund III. Together, we’re building a venture franchise that not only supports the most visionary founders but also creates lasting change across the industry.
Now, back to work!
Get in touch
Website:
Founders get in touch here:
https://airtable.com/app7YM1KIxjnuyEAD/shrG0Gd8qTTb0Uko9
Interested in learning more about the fund? Reach out directly:
- Matt Cohen: matt@rippleventures.com
- Dominic Lau: dom@rippleventures.com
