# Top 50 Hardware Angel Investors in Canada in May 2026

## Jacky Chen
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 6
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Software, Health Care, Information Technology

Jacky is dedicated to angel investment and has built up a portfolio of more than thirty startup companies in Canada and the US. His target investments are the early-stage B2B companies with disruptive technologies and business potential in enterprise software, information technologies, MedTech, and Advanced Manufacturing.Jacky has acquiredconcrete business experiences as a successful founder in the startup ecosystem and an executive of Fortune 500 companies over two decades. His remarkable accomplishments range from building startups from scratch to leading a billion-dollar business with the leverage of 14,000 enterprise channel partners. The unique journey has shaped Jacky's outstanding of investing in early startups.Jacky holds the degrees of Mater's E.E. and MBA, and he graduated from CEIBS and The Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania.

## Daniel Debow
- Type: Angel
- Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Relevant deals: 4
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Software, Artificial Intelligence, Enterprise Software

Daniel is the Vice President of Product (Demand) at Shopify. He previously worked as an SVP at Salesforce.com, where he drives marketing for Salesforce Work.com, a sales performance management solution that helps Facebook, LinkedIn, Spotify, and other innovative companies align, motivate, and drive the performance of their sales teams. Prior tojoining Salesforce, Daniel was co-founder and co-CEO of Rypple, a social performance management platform acquired by Salesforce in 2012. Prior to Rypple, Daniel was on the founding team of Workbrain, which provided workforce management solutions to Wal-Mart, Citibank, and other large enterprises. Workbrain grew to $100 million in annual revenues before being acquired by Infor in 2007.A sought after speaker on how social media is changing the workplace, Daniel is a contributor to Fortune.com and the Huffington Post. He’s been widely quoted in Wired, the Financial Times, the Economist and Bloomberg Businessweek. Daniel holds a JD/MBA from the University of Toronto and an LLM in Law, Science and Technology from Stanford University.

## Jean-François Grenon
- Type: Angel
- Location: Paris, Ile-de-France, France
- Relevant deals: 4
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Angel
- Focus: Software, Machine Learning, Computer

Jean François Grenon brings more than 25 years of expertise in the telecom and wireless space. Prior to forming Vectrad Networks and then NTF-Capital in 2003, Jean-François was Chairman and CEO of Innova Corporation, a company he led folllowing its listing on the NASDAQ.Jean-François graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal andholds a Harvard Business School MBA.He sits on the board of several innovation driven corporations including Inter-Mobile S.A.S, a NexTFund portfolio company.

## Scott Banister
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 4
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Angel
- Focus: Software, Internet, Mobile

Scott is an American entrepreneur and angel investor. He is best known as a co-founder of IronPort and an early advisor and board member at PayPal.Scott Banister started his career as a pioneer in the email business. He was Founder and VP of Technology at ListBot, the largest ASP for business email list hosting. ListBot was acquired byMicrosoft. After ListBot, Scott spent his time working with other start-ups as a board member and investor. These start-ups include eVoice, creator of the first email-enabled home voicemail service, which was acquired by AOL in 2001. He served as VP of Ideas at idealab!, where he contributed numerous innovations, including the unique bid-for-placement search engine model that powers Overture. In December 2000, with Scott Weiss, Banister co-founded IronPort, an email appliance provider that was acquired in 2007 by Cisco for US$830 million.Scott Banister is co-founder and Chairman of Other private equity investments include Zappos.com, LiveOps, Facebook, Hi5.com, Tagged.com, iLike, and Causes.com.Banister attended University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, from which he dropped out in 1996 to move to Silicon Valley. He currently lives in Half Moon Bay, California with his wife Cyan.

## Ray Muzyka
- Type: Angel
- Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
- Relevant deals: 3
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Health Care, Software, Information Technology

Originally trained as a medical doctor, Dr. Ray Muzyka cofounded BioWare, a video game development studio focusing on story and character, in the early 1990s. He practiced emergency/family medicine for two years full time, with medicine transitioning to part-time over the following decade as he focused on his role as BioWare’s CEO. BioWare wasacquired by Electronic Arts in 2007, and Dr. Muzyka took on the roles of Senior Vice President at Electronic Arts and General Manager of EA’s BioWare division, which grew over the next five years to span eight development locations worldwide with about 2000 staff (1400 full time). He retired from video games in October 2012, with his third “career chapter” at ThresholdImpact, where he focused on sustainable, profitable impact investing: mentoring and angel investing in information technology, new media, and medical innovations with social entrepreneurs. An active angel investor and entrepreneurial mentor, Dr. Muzyka is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization, the A100, the Ashoka Support Network, and the Board of Governors of the University of Alberta (serving as Chair of the Human Resources Committee and on the Learning and Discovery Committee and as a member of the University of Alberta Advancement Council). He is Chair of the University of Alberta’s entrepreneur Venture Mentoring Service, a venture advisor at iNovia Venture Capital, and a member of the Alberta Research and Innovation Advisory Committee and the Alberta Premier’s Advisory Committee on the Economy. He also serves on a number of private company boards. He previously served on the board of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences from 2001-2008 and was on the Board of Trustees of the Stollery Children’s Health Foundation from 2012-2015. He was inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences’ Hall of Fame in 2011 and received the International Game Developers’ Choice Awards 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr. Muzyka received the inaugural Alumni Innovation Award in 2015 from the University of Alberta. He additionally was named as the 2017 Allard Chair in Business at the MacEwan University’s School of Business and as an Honorary Paul Harris Fellow by Rotary Club International in 2016, in recognition for his philanthropic efforts. Other awards include entry into Canada’s Top 40 under 40 and Ernst and Young’s 2001 Entrepreneur of the Year (IT, Prairies).He obtained his Bachelor of Medical Science from the University of Alberta in 1990, his Doctorate of Medicine from there in 1992, and his MBA from the University of Western Ontario (Ivey School of Business) in 2001.

## Mark Pincus
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 3
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
- Focus: Internet, Software, FinTech

Mark Pincus is the founder and Executive Chairman of the Board of Zynga. He has served as our Chairman from April 2007 to March 2016 and the company's Executive Chairman since March 2016. He previously served as Chief Executive Officer from April 2007 to July 2013 and from April 2015 to March 2016, and as Chief Product Officer from April2007 to April 2014. In 2014, he founded superlabs, a San Francisco-based product lab focused on developing products that connect and empower people, which was acquired by Zynga in 2015. Pincus also founded Zynga.org in 2009, a non-profit organization dedicated to using social games for social good.From 2003 to 2007, Pincus served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Tribe.net, a company he launched and one of the first social networks in the industry. From 1997 to 2000, he served as Chairman of Support.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPRT), a help desk automation software company he founded, and he served as Chief Executive Officer and President from December 1997 to July 1999. From 1996 to 1997, he served as Chief Executive Officer of FreeLoader, Inc., a web-based news company he founded.Pincus also made founding investments in Napster, Twitter, and Facebook.Pincus graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is an angel investor in multiple Silicon Valley startups and regularly gives lectures to aspiring entrepreneurs.

## Christian Sullivan
- Type: Angel
- Location: New York, New York, United States
- Relevant deals: 3
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A
- Focus: Software, Financial Services, Apps

Christian Sullivan is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Republic Labs and an Advisor and Investor at Republic.Christian has invested in over 200 companies including the seed rounds of Cruise, Relativity Space, Yandex, Yubico, Ozon, and was an early check into investment funds Initialized Capital and Polychain. Christian started his careerin sales and trading in Moscow, Russia in the early 90s where he was a partner at United Financial Group which was later sold to Deutsche Bank in 2007.

## Tom Williams
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 3
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
- Focus: Software, Health Care, Financial Services

Tom Williams

## Dean Bakes
- Type: Angel
- Location: New York, New York, United States
- Relevant deals: 3
- Stages: Series A, Seed, Series B
- Focus: E-Commerce, Apps, Delivery

Dean Bakes is the Principal at M3 Ventures and Investor at Foxtrot, Jaanuu, and Rhone. He is also an Advisory Committee of The Vinetta Project. He was the Creative Director at Michael Andrews Bespoke and the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Charles Dean before that.He brings to M3 Ventures a unique combination of investment acumen,relationship building, and unbridled ambition. Dean has developed a firm knowledge and understanding of branded consumer companies as well as a unique perspective as the founder of his own apparel startup

## Greg Rudin
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 3
- Stages: Seed, Series A
- Focus: B2B, Apps, Local

Greg Rudin

## Garry Tan
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
- Focus: Software, SaaS, Mobile

Garry Tan is the incoming President and CEO of Y Combinator. He previously worked at Posterous.com as a Co-Founder. Garry Tan attended Stanford University.

## Kevin Hale
- Type: Angel
- Location: Chicago, Illinois, United States
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Series A
- Focus: Software, E-Commerce, SaaS

Kevin Hale was a partner at Y Combinator. He worked with their portfolio companies on user experience design, product development and customer support. In 2006, he co-founded Wufoo, which was one of the earliest Y Combinator funded startups. The online form builder was later acquired by SurveyMonkey. He attended

## Lee Lau
- Type: Angel
- Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Convertible Note
- Focus: Wearables, Software, Internet of Things

Lee Lau is a Partner and Co-Founder of Alignvest Management Corporation. Mr. Lau co-founded ATI Technologies in 1985 and built the company into one of the world’s largest supplier of graphic chips and add-in boards to the personal computer industry. In addition to managing the company, Mr. Lau was ATI’s largest shareholder, first employee andresponsible for innovation and development of all products. Mr. Lau helped build ATI into a TSX and NASDAQ listed global market leader, with annual sales in excess of $2.2 billion and over 3,000 employees. ATI was sold in 2006 to Advanced Micro Devices for cash and stock consideration of $5.3 billion. Since then, Mr. Lau has managed his family office investing in a variety of alternative asset products. Prior to founding ATI, Mr. Lau held various design engineering positions with Mitel, Motorola and Plessey.Mr. Lau holds a Masters in Engineering and a BASc from the University of Toronto.

## Rob Stevens
- Type: Angel
- Location: Boston, Massachusetts, United States
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed
- Focus: CAD, Solar, Water

Rob Stevens

## Matt Mastracci
- Type: Angel
- Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Angel, Convertible Note
- Focus: Legal, Software, Child Care

Matt lives to pursue challenging technical problems and push the envelope of computing. He served as CTO of DotSpots, and previously worked on building scalable and fast solutions for energy companies, both as desktop and web applications. Along with Ryan Perry, he worked with StumbleUpon to build a newest generation of IE Toolbar prior totheir acquisition by EBay.Matt has a BSc in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Calgary

## Hanif Joshaghani
- Type: Angel
- Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Pre-Seed, Angel, Series A
- Focus: FinTech, Software, Financial Services

Hanif is a serial entrepreneur who has raised $150M USD across the 4 companies he has founded and invested in over a dozen startups.

## Stephen Curry
- Type: Angel
- Location: Oakland, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Series A, Series C, Series B
- Focus: Mobile, E-Commerce, Mobile Apps

Stephen Curry currently works as the Founder and Partner at Unanimous Media. He previously worked at Slyce.io as co-founder. Stephen Curry attended Davidson College in 2006.

## Alexis Ohanian
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
- Focus: Software, Mobile, E-Commerce

Alexis Ohanian, born April 24, 1983, is an entrepreneur and investor in Brooklyn, NY, best known as the co-founder and executive chair of reddit, a platform for online communities to share links and have discussions. While he learned his earliest lessons in leadership and web design from his high school Quake 2 clan and Everquest guild, Alexiscontinued his official studies at the University of Virginia, where he met his future co-founder Steve Huffman during freshman year move-in day. This would lead to the founding of reddit, which he recounted along with many lessons for entrepreneurs, in his national bestseller, Without Their Permission.At UVA, Alexis majored in business and history with a minor in German. Though he had originally planned to become an immigration lawyer, he experienced an epiphany in his junior year (while sitting in a Waffle House) that led him to the realization that he didn't want to practice law. Instead he convinced his best friend Steve to start a company with him.The pair traveled to Cambridge, MA during their senior year spring break to hear Paul Graham give a talk titled "How to Start a Startup." After the lecture, Alexis invited Graham out for a drink so he and Steve could pitch Graham on their business idea. Graham agreed, loved the idea, and suggested they apply to a new seed stage venture firm he'd launched called Y Combinator.
Alexis and Steve's original plan was to build an infrastructure that would allow people to order food from their cell phones. Though the idea was rejected, Alexis and Steve were invited to join the first class of Y Combinator, on the condition that they'd come up with a new concept. The next idea they pitched to Graham would become reddit.com.

## Jon Stevenson
- Type: Angel
- Location: Boston, Massachusetts, United States
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: CAD, Finance, Hardware

Jon Stevenson

## Alex Karakozoff
- Type: Angel
- Location: Montréal, Quebec, Canada
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Software, Task Management, Meeting Software

Alex Karakozoff

## Paul Buchheit
- Type: Angel
- Location: Mountain View, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Angel
- Focus: Software, Health Care, E-Commerce

Paul Buchheit co-founded social network aggregator FriendFeed, along with three other former Google employees. He is also an investor in FriendFeed and participated in a $5 million Series A round in February 2008.He was the 23rd employee at Google, where he created Gmail and implemented many of its innovative features. He developed the originalprototype of Google AdSense, and was responsible for Google's famous "Don't be evil" motto in a meeting.

## Sergio A. Escobar
- Type: Angel
- Location: Montréal, Quebec, Canada
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Series A
- Focus: Software, SaaS, Real Estate

Sergio has a diversified investment portfolio of companies across the United States and Canada ranging from B2B Cloud & SaaS startups (leveraging Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Analytics and Security) to B2C Consumer startups (leveraging Mobile Apps, IoT/Wearables and eCommerce). Sergio has +15 years of experience as a multiple timestech entrepreneur with startups in Aerospace, eCommerce, Manufacturing, AgTech and Financial Technologies. Over the last 8 years, he has been deeply involved in the international entrepreneurial scene (incubators and accelerators) through his involvement in Founder Institute, Techstars Startup Programs, McGill X-1, Startup Chile, Startup Peru, Startup Bootcamp FinTech London, MsB Tunisia, Flat6Labs Tunisia, Kuwait National Fund, World Bank 'Tech Entrepreneurship Program for Innovation in the Caribbean', Krypto Labs in the Middle East and Creative Destruction Lab in Artificial Intelligence. He has been pioneering the Canadian investment scene by launching one of Canada's very first super angel funds: BCFventures.vc

## Bryan Freeman
- Type: Angel
- Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Analytics, Apps, SaaS

Bryan Freeman - Co-Founder @ HitGrab

## Ellen Levy
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Series A
- Focus: Software, Mobile, SaaS

Ellen Levy is the Managing Director of Silicon Valley Connect.

## Peter M. Kern
- Type: Angel
- Location: New York, New York, United States
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Series A, Seed, Series B
- Focus: Travel, Mobile, E-Commerce

Peter M. Kern has been a director of Expedia since completion of the IAC/Expedia Spin-Off.Peter Kern is a Managing Partner of InterMedia Partners, LP, a private equity firm.Prior to joining InterMedia, Mr. Kern was Senior Managing Director and Principal of Alpine Capital LLC.Prior to Alpine Capital, Mr. Kern founded Gemini Associates in1996 and served as President from its inception through its merger with Alpine Capital in 2001.Prior to founding Gemini Associates,Peter Kern was at the Home Shopping Network and Whittle Communications.Since April 2013,Peter Kern has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hemisphere Media Group, Inc., a publicly-traded Spanish-language media company.Mr. Kern also serves on the boards of a number of private companies, including Televicentro of Puerto Rico, LLC, Luxury Retreats International Holdings, Inc. and Cine Latino, Inc.Mr. Kern holds a B.S. degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

## Eliot Durbin
- Type: Angel
- Location: New York, New York, United States
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Angel
- Focus: Software, Open Source, Information Technology

Eliot Durbin is the General Partner of Boldstart Ventures. He is a former co-founder and Managing Partner at Penny Black. He attended Georgetown University and Columbia University.

## Dennis Bennie
- Type: Angel
- Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A
- Focus: Software, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things

Dennis Bennie is a pioneer, entrepreneur and innovator in the Canadian technology industry. Over the past 20 years, Bennie's entrepreneurial management has powered Mission Electronics, Ingram Canada and Delrina. In 1997, he founded the XDL Venture Capital Fund, focusing on information technology opportunities. The $25 million fund hasyielded exceptional returns to date. One of its most noteworthy investments was a 1997 start-up, Delano Technology Corporation (NASD:DTEC). XDL Intervest, a $150 million fund was started in 1999 and is now fully invested. Bennie currently manages an experienced team investing in private equity opportunities as the XDL Capital Group. From 1988 to 1996, Mr. Bennie was CEO of Delrina Corporation, an independent software developer and publisher, which forged the new software categories of electronic forms and PC fax communications. Under Mr. Bennie's leadership, Delrina pioneered the development of PC fax software called WinFax and became a world leader in the communication software market with annual sales revenue exceeding $130 million. Listed on both the Toronto Stock Exchange and NASDAQ, Delrina cultivated a reputation for leadership, growth and profitability, and completed several public offerings. In November 1995, the company was successfully sold to Symantec Corporation for share consideration valued at $560 million. Mr. Bennie entered the world of technology in 1979, when he co-founded Mission Electronics. He drove the expansion of this leading British audio equipment manufacturer to become a dominant force in the high-end stereo market. In 1982 he sold his interest in Mission Electronics and founded Aviva Software, an independent, mass-market software developer. Under his direction, the company expanded its scope to include software distribution and merged with Ingram Micro Inc. in 1986 to become Canada's largest software distributor. Residing in Toronto, Canada, with his wife Laura and three daughters, Dennis is an avid golfer and runner. A member of the World President's Organization, he also regularly serves on various charitable boards including the Toronto Hospital Board.

## Paul Geyer
- Type: Angel
- Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Series A
- Focus: Health Care, Fitness, Medical Device

Paul Geyer, a successful Medtech Entrepreneur and experienced Board member. Over the past 20 years Paul founded and led two companies through their growth phase, in one case to a successful private exit and in the other case through growth as a public company with numerous acquisitions. Both companies have grown to be anchor medical devicecompanies in the Vancouver area, employing more than 350 people.In 1991 he founded Mitroflow International Inc., a tissue heart valve company. Paul grew the company from 9 employees to more than 125 employees in 1999. In 1999 Paul sold Mitroflow to Sulzer Medica, for more than $50 mil. Paul's leadership resulted in Mitroflow growing to more than 200 employees, making it one of the largest medical devices companies in the Vancouver area. In 2001 Paul started Medical Ventures, a new specialty vascular device company where he is currently Chairman of the Board. From its inception to June 2008, Geyer held the position of CEO at Medical Ventures (now Neovasc) and was responsible for raising over $40 million in Equity financing and growing the company’s product portfolio through internal development and the acquisition of 3 other companies. In 2008 Paul began focusing on sharing is expertise to assist other Entrepreneurs to build successful businesses, through his involvement as a mentor or Board member. He also focused on building the local community through his involvement as a Board member of BC technology industry association, along with a number of non-profit community based organizations. Paul is actively engaged as a Philanthropist, as Chairman of the Board of Social Venture Partners Vancouver, involved with Science World, Entrepreneurship at UBC, Project Somos Children’s Village and other organizations.Paul is currently the CEO of LightIntegra Technology Inc., a spin-off from Canadian Blood Services which has developed the ThromboLux technology, used to determine platelet quality for blood transfusions.

## Lance Priebe
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Angel
- Focus: eSports, SaaS, Content Delivery Network

Lance Priebe

## Boris Wertz
- Type: Angel
- Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
- Focus: Mobile, Software, Internet

Boris Wertz is the Founder & General Partner of Version One Ventures. He previously worked at Ether Capital as a Lead Independent director. Boris Wertz attended the WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management.

## Dylan Taylor
- Type: Angel
- Location: Denver, Colorado, United States
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Series A
- Focus: Aerospace, Space Travel, Satellite Communication

Dylan Taylor is a global business leader, commercial astronaut, thought leader and philanthropist. Currently, Dylan serves as Chairman & CEO of Voyager Space, a multi-national space exploration firm focused on building the next generation of space infrastructure for NASA and other global space agencies.Dylan has been recognized by HarvardUniversity, SpaceNews, the BBC, the Financial Times, Pitchbook, CNBC, CNN and others as having played a seminal role in the growth of the private space industry. As an early-stage investor in more than 50 emerging space ventures, including Axiom, Kepler, York, Astrobotic, LeoLabs, Relativity, and Planet, Dylan is widely considered the most active private space investor in the world.Dylan’s technical background, global business experience and unbridled passion for space make him a unique figure within his industry. As a thought leader and futurist, he has written many popular pieces on the future of the space industry for Forbes, FastCompany, Newsweek, SpaceNews, The Space Review, and Space.com. As a speaker, Dylan has keynoted many of the major space conferences around the world and has appeared regularly on Bloomberg, Fox Business, and CNBC.Dylan has extensive global business experience as both a board director and CEO in several industries, including advanced electronics, finance and real estate. He previously served as a Director for UMB Bank, a Fortune 500 company based in Kansas City and as a mutual fund director for the Jackson Funds where he oversaw assets of $8B across 130 distinct funds. He has also served in the roles of CEO, President and Board Director for multinational companies like Prudential PLC, Honeywell, Colliers and Jones Lang LaSalle. Dylan was recognized as a Fortune 1000 CEO with P&L responsibility in excess of $3B and operations encompassing 15,000 employees in over 60 countries. In addition, Dylan has participated in 4 IPOs over the course of his career. Dylan is a leading advocate of space manufacturing and the utilization of in-space resources to further space exploration and settlement. In 2017, he became the first private citizen to manufacture an item in space when the gravity meter he co-designed and commissioned was 3D printed on the International Space Station. The historic item is now housed in the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.Dylan is an explorer of note. On December 11th, 2021 Dylan became just the 606th human to go to space as part of the crew of Blue Origin’s NewShepard Mission 19. Accordingly, Dylan earned his commercial astronaut wings with the FAA and his universal astronaut wings from the Association of Space Explorers.He is also one of only a handful of humans to have descended to the deepest part of the world’s oceans, Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench as part of the Limiting Factor Expedition in July of 2022. In that mission, Dylan descended with pilot Victor Vescovo to a depth in excess of 10,800 meters (35,500 feet) into an area of the Mariana Trench that had never been visited by humans. Dylan is the youngest human to have been to the deepest part of the world’s oceans and crossed the Karman line into Space. Dylan has been a member of the Explorers Club since 2014.Dylan maintains an extensive philanthropic impact on the space industry. In 2017, Dylan founded the nonprofit and social movement, Space for Humanity, which seeks to democratize space exploration and develop solutions to global issues through the scope of human awareness to help solve the world’s most intractable problems. Space for Humanity has successfully sent two citizen astronauts to space via Blue Origin including both the first Mexican-born woman (Katya Echazareta), and first African-born woman (Sara Sabry). Building upon his passion and support for the space industry, Dylan serves as a strategic advisor for both the Archmission and the Human Spaceflight Program and is a co-founding patron of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, which promotes the growth of commercial space activity. Additionally, he is also a leading benefactor to the Brooke Owens Fellowship, Patti Grace Smith Fellowship and Mission: Astro Access.Dylan is the founder and Chairman of Multiverse Media, an integrated global media company focused on science and technology, with an emphasis on space. Multiverse is the parent company of the popular space philosophy website 2211.world as well as the Ad Astra Dinners, a Jeffersonian-style dinner series featuring some of the world’s leading influencers discussing the future of humanity in space. Another subsidiary of Multiverse Media, Multiverse Publishing, publishes books by leading authors including Frank White, Isaac Asimov and Gerard K. O’Neill. Multiverse is also the executive producer of the documentary film, The High Frontier and the forthcoming film, Fortitude. For his influence as a global leader and his commitment to creating a positive impact on the world, Dylan has been honored with numerous personal and professional accolades in recent years. The World Economic Forum recognized Dylan as a Young Global Leader in 2011 and a full member of the World Economic Forum in 2014. That same year he was named a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute. In 2020, Dylan was recognized by the Commercial Spaceflight Federation with their top honor for business and finance, following in the footsteps of 2019’s inaugural winner, the late Paul Allen
and subsequent winners Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.Dylan Taylor earned an MBA in Finance and Strategy from the Booth School of Business at University of Chicago and holds a BS in Engineering from the honors college at the University of Arizona, where he graduated Tau Beta Pi and in 2018 was named Alumnus of the year. He is also a graduate of the Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century program at Harvard University.Dylan and his family reside in Denver, Colorado where he is active locally with Colorado Concern and the Colorado Spaceport. In his spare time, Dylan enjoys hiking, competing in triathlons and spending time outdoors. As a weekend warrior athlete, Dylan has more than 25 top ten finishes and 25 age group wins to his credit, and he regularly interviews world class athletes whom have shown extraordinary resilience as the host of the Legendary Podcast. He is married to legal expert, consultant and author Gabrielle V. Taylor with whom he has two teenage daughters.

## William Tunstall-Pedoe
- Type: Angel
- Location: Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Software

William Tunstall-Pedoe FREng is a British entrepreneur focused on world-changing products powered with Artificial Intelligence and other deep technology. He is based in Cambridge and London UK. He founded the British company Evi (formerly True Knowledge), the AI platform acquired by Amazon and where William, the team and the technology developed byEvi was used to create Alexa. He left in 2016. William is an active angel investor with investments in more than 100 startups. He is a fellow of the Creative Destruction Lab and a full member of Cambridge Angels.

## Mike McCauley
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Series A
- Focus: Software, Consumer Goods, Apps

Mike McCauley was co-founder of BufferBox (acquired by Google), a network of automated package delivery lockers. One year after its founding, BufferBox was awarded the 2012 Velocity Venture Fund, and went through the Y Combinator program in Silicon Valley. Mike is now Product Manager of early stage Google X projects and is based in Silicon Valley.Most recently he co-founded a start-up fund to help early-stage tech firms in the Waterloo Region in 2014. Mike completed a BASc, Mechatronics Engineering from the University of Waterloo in 2011 and is passionate about sharing his expertise as a founder with others.

## Kevin Mahaffey
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Software, SaaS, Enterprise Software

Kevin Patrick Mahaffey is the Founder of Lookout and SNR. He is also the Executive Chairman of Stork Club and an Investor.

## Cheryl Cheng
- Type: Angel
- Location: Menlo Park, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Series A, Seed
- Focus: Education, Email, Content

Cheryl Cheng joined BRV in 2008. She focuses on early stage consumer and mobile big data opportunities. Cheryl also runs BRV’s alumni entrepreneur and Fortune 500 programs to bring experience and resources to the current portfolio. Prior to BlueRun, Cheryl worked at Clorox and The Sharper Image launching new products and driving retail marketingwith partners across Target, Walmart and grocery.Cheryl has a B.A. from Stanford University and an MBA from Kellogg School of Management where she was a Forte Scholar. She is a mentor at Stanford’s Bio-Design for Mobile Health course, a collaboration between Stanford’s School of Medicine and School of Engineering.

## Matt Mullenweg
- Type: Angel
- Location: Houston, Texas, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
- Focus: Software, Mobile, Apps

Matt Mullenweg is the CEO at Automattic Inc. Matt Mullenweg attended the University of Houston.

## Joseph Alsop
- Type: Angel
- Location: Prides Crossing, Massachusetts, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Series A
- Focus: Windows, Software, Data Center

Joseph Alsop is a Venture Partner. He was the founder and until 2009 the CEO of Progress Software Inc., a public company (PRGS) selling application infrastructure technology, including application development tools and the world’s leading imbedded database. He graduated from MIT in 1967 with a BSEE degree. He is investing in and working withcompanies in Massachusetts applying information technology in various areas.

## Nick Romano
- Type: Angel
- Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Convertible Note
- Focus: Software, Embedded Systems, Machine Learning

Nick is a serial entrepreneur, an accomplished CEO, senior Enterprise Technology executive, Outside Director, and Advisor delivering successful outcomes through leadership, integrity, innovation, and empowerment for over 20 years. Prior to Deeplite Nick was cofounder and CEO of several successful Canadian tech companies including Messagepoint,Prinova Software and Prinova Technologies. Nick leverages extensive experience in corporate governance, formulating and executing cross-functional strategic plans, developing go-to-market strategies including product, marketing, and sales. A revenue driven executive focused on growing and scaling companies whether organic or externally funded.Nick earned his Bachelor of Engineering and Management in Mechanical Engineering from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada and was recently honored by McMaster’s Engineering Faculty as being one of their Top 150 Distinguished Alumni for the role they’ve played in shaping Canada and the world.

## Andrew Chen
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
- Focus: Software, Gaming, SaaS

Andrew Chen is a General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, focusing on consumer technology. Previously, he led the the Rider Growth teams at Uber.For the past decade, he’s written about mobile, metrics, and growth at http://andrewchen.co. He is an advisor/investor for tech startups including AngelList, Barkbox, Boba Guys, Dropbox,Front, Gusto, Kiva, Product Hunt, Tinder, Workato and others.Previously, he was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Mohr Davidow Ventures, a Silicon Valley-based firm with $2B under management.He holds a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Washington.

## Matt Gillis
- Type: Angel
- Location: Baltimore, Maryland, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Mobile, Content, Computer

Matt Gillis is the Chief Executive Officer of Clean Creative.

## Brian O’Higgins
- Type: Angel
- Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Software, IT, Hardware

Brian O’Higgins - Executive Fellow @ Mistral Venture Partners

## Lisa Shields
- Type: Angel
- Location: Vancouver, Alberta, Canada
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A
- Focus: Software, Data and Analytics, IT

Lisa Shields is FI.SPAN’s founder and CEO. FI.SPAN is Lisa’s second financial technology startup - she also founded and led Hyperwallet Systems Inc for 15 years; today it is recognized as a leading global payments processor for business to consumer mass payouts. She is a member of the Canadian FinPay Committee, was named the EY RegionalEntrepreneur Of The Year in 2015 and received a Women in Payments Innovation Award in 2016.A firm believer in inclusive commerce, Lisa is always looking for new ways to unite ecosystem participants for the benefit of end users. She also has a personal interest in the underbanked and speaks frequently and passionately on the importance of low-cost, compliant payments.

## Juan Felipe Gonzalez Hidalgo
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Angel
- Focus: Computer, Software, Nanotechnology

With over 30 years in strategic sales management in the telecom and high-tech industries (Artificial Intelligence, software, SaaS, wireless, fibre optic, electronics, communications infrastructure, and industrial markets), Juan Felipe is a Limited Partner at the Montreal-based startup foundry TandemLaunch, an angel investor at several B2BArtificial Intelligence startups, as well as a business mentor at NIU, Andorra Telecom’s startup incubator. Additionally, Juan Felipe is an investor and the Chief Sales Officer at Aerial Technologies, a Canadian AI startup involved in the telecom industry.Previously, he was Senior VP of Global Sales for iBwave where he was a key driver of the company’s growth and ultimately its very successful sale to Corning Inc. in 2015. Prior to joining iBwave, Juan Felipe held executive sales positions at IRphotonics (acquired by Thorlabs Inc.), Averna Technologies (acquired by Tandem Expansion Fund), and EXFO (successful IPO in 2000). Juan Felipe holds a B.Sc., Honors in Chemistry, from Complutense University, Madrid, Spain, and an MBA from the School of Industrial Organization, Madrid, Spain. He has also completed executive programs from Harvard Business School (Boston), York University (Toronto), and McGill University (Montreal). Juan Felipe has lived and worked in Spain, Canada, Singapore, Brazil, Australia, and China; he is fluent in Spanish, English, French, and Portuguese.

## Loi Luu
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A
- Focus: Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Gaming

Loi Luu is a researcher working on cryptocurrencies, smart contract security and distributed consensus algorithms. He is also a regular invited speaker at Bitcoin and Ethereum workshops such as DevCon2, EDCON.Loi believes in the force of the Ethereum and Blockchain technology. Much of his work revolves around this community. He developed Oyente,the first open-source security analyzer for Ethereum smart contracts. Loi also cofounded SmartPool, another open source project which embraces decentralization of mining pools in existing cryptocurrency. He continues to champion decentralisation and trustless properties of the Blockchain with KyberNetwork, taking inspiration and developing value for the community.

## Ajay Agrawal
- Type: Angel
- Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Hardware, Software, Textiles

Ajay Agrawal is the Co-Founder of Sanctuary Cognitive Systems Corporation. He previously worked at Queen's School of Business as a Assistant Professor. Ajay Agrawal attended the University of British Columbia.

## Richard D. Adler
- Type: Angel
- Location: Hudson, Quebec, Canada
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Private Equity, Seed
- Focus: Video, Software, Advertising

Richard D. Adler

## Pierre Donaldson
- Type: Angel
- Location: Montréal, Quebec, Canada
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Post-IPO Debt
- Focus: Software, Task Management, Retail Technology

Pierre Donaldson - Chairman & CEO @ Aheeva

## Marc Altshuller
- Type: Angel
- Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Angel
- Focus: Mobile, Apps, Software

Marc Altshuller is the President and CEO at Varicent. He attended Schulich School of Business - York University.

## Chris Rowen
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco Bay Area, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Autonomous Vehicles, Automotive, Robotics

Chris Rowen is a Co-Founder and the Chief Executive Officer at BabbleLabs.

## Tobyn Sowden
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Design, Gaming, Mobile

Chief Executive Officer @ Red Brick
Founder @ Shift


# About Shizune
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- Updated daily from public funding news
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