I am so pleased to announce the formal launch of Pender Ventures and the official close of our latest fund! It has been quite the journey for me personally. From working at big banks to venture investing and fundraising – and a couple of start-ups along the way – I knew that I love working with passionate entrepreneurs and great teams of committed people. While working on a board with David Barr, President & CEO of PenderFund Capital Management (PCM), I learned that team diversity was a fundamental part of his DNA and that we shared the same investment philosophy. So, when we discussed doing a fund together, all the pieces fell into place. Launching a fund, even from within an existing organization, is like a start-up in many ways. I can’t think of a better platform than Pender from which to help entrepreneurs in their own journey from start-up to exit. I would like to thank David and Kelly Edmison (founder and Chair of PCM) for inviting me to join the Pender family and supporting me in building out Pender Ventures.
Who We Are
Pender Ventures is the umbrella private technology investing arm of PCM. PCM is a diversified asset manager with approximately $1.5B in AUM, with investments across private and public equities and publicly traded credit. Pender Ventures includes private investments from across a few of our existing funds as well as our latest fund, the Pender Technology Inflection Fund I LP (PTIF). It’s a mouthful (we’ll work on that for fund II!) and an overused term, but we wanted something that described our focus on the company stage – inflection – rather than the financing stage. We define inflection stage as a turning point for companies when early results indicate product-market fit, when scaling the business becomes the next challenge. We endeavour to help companies with this next phase of their evolution: scaling their workforce, scaling the business and operations, and positioning in their market.
The Team
Maria Pacella, Managing Partner. Starting my career with the exit stage first – in M&A investing banking – I always approach things by having the end-goal and bigger picture in mind. Having been on both sides of the table, I aim to bring that understanding to the way we invest and help all our portfolio of companies grow.
David Barr, General Partner, PTIF. As one of the most prolific public technology investors in Canada and a venture capital investor before that, he understands both private and public capital markets. The core of PCM’s investment philosophy is developing a deep understanding of a business and then forming an investment thesis – regardless if a business is private or public.
Rolf Dekleer, Vice President. Rolf’s long tenure as a venture capital investor in “hard tech” means he understands truly revolutionary technologies striving to solve large-scale world problems. Rolf works hard at bringing the value of networks and connections to entrepreneurs, investors and talent. Rolf’s main focus is The Working Opportunity Fund.
Tony Rautava, Associate. Tony is our steadfast problem solver. He always ensures we understand the pros and cons of our decisions and the potential impact on all stakeholders. Tony is knowledgeable on all the nuts and bolts of the operation and administration of the funds, and has the best viewpoint across of all of our investments.
Kenndal McArdle, Principal. Kenndal seeks to deeply understand the technology and product of a business and its potential applications. He has a wider perspective on capital as well from having worked on the public investing side of PCM. Either a great personality trait and/or training from his NHL days, he takes his team player mindset to all the portfolio companies he works with. Kenndal’s main focus is PTIF.
And the newest member to join our team is Kristina Bergman:
Kristina Bergman, Partner. Kristina has been on “three sides” of the table – she started her career on the product management and product marketing path while working at large technology companies, has founded several companies and has also been a venture capital investor. She is actively involved with the Female Founders Alliance (Seattle) as a mentor and investor. Returning to her native BC, Kristina will bring fantastic cross border experience and network. Did I say how excited I am to have her on board?!
Venture Partners. We are fortunate to have a group of advisors that we have had the privilege of getting to know over the years. From operators to subject matter experts, they are at the ready to help our portfolio companies. They exemplify the power of a network and the importance of start-up ecosystems.
What We Invest In
PTIF targets “fundamental technology” B2B companies. We define fundamental technologies as technologies, and/or the application of those technologies, that provide solutions that allow organizations to make better decisions to increase revenue, decrease costs or both. We focus on the following themes:
- Data-centric solutions
- Health-tech
- Industrial digital transformations
We invest anywhere in North America, although we find a lot of great opportunities right here in Canada. Given our understanding of the capital lifecycle of a company, we know sometimes it makes sense for early investors to be able to exit along the way or for founders to monetize some of their value during the course of building the company. As such, we are open to both primary and secondary investments into companies.
Why Us
Diversity. We practice what we preach. Our diverse team comes from different backgrounds and experiences, which all contribute to diversity of thought and better investment decision making.
Pender Platform. Most funds are standalone entities. Being part of a larger asset manager means we can bring to bear the power of all that expertise and network across the entire lifecycle of a business – from private to public, from equity to debt, from start-up to exit.
If you are an entrepreneur or looking to join a great team, please reach out!
See our website and media links for more information and how to connect with us:
