Laura Lenz

Partner

OMERS Ventures

Based in Toronto, Laura is a Partner leading the fund’s investment activity in Canada at OMERS Ventures. Laura has over 15 years of venture investing experience, including prior roles as a Partner with Generation Ventures, an Investment Director with MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund, and a Principal with EdgeStone Capital Partners. Laura started her career with BMO Nesbitt Burns as an investment banker focused on media and technology companies and extended her public market acumen into private equity investing for the firm with roles in Toronto and New York City. Throughout her career, Laura has focused on understanding and investing in Canadian emerging technology companies. As an active investor, Laura benefits from a wider aperture and applies a critical lens to metrics, team, financials, and strategy to ensure that a portfolio company is well positioned for the next stage of growth. With discipline, Laura strives to achieve alignment at the Board level, with company leadership, and with other VC stakeholders and investors.

Laura was previously responsible for sourcing, evaluating, and managing previous portfolio companies including: RapidMind (sold to Intel), Rypple (sold to Salesforce), Varicent (sold to IBM), SurfEasy (sold to Symantec), Jibestream (sold to Inpixon), and Keyfactor (exited to Insight).

Laura is an HBA graduate from Ivey Business School (Dean’s Honor List) and completed a General Management Program at Harvard. Laura is a founder and previous co-chair of the Canadian Pediatric Stroke Support Association. She is an enthusiastic martial artist, holding black belts in Karate and Tae Kwon Do.

Schedule


thursday – 04:10pm Scale Up

Time Icon 20 mins

Location Icon St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts - Bluma Appel Theatre

Raising Capital in 2023: A VC Perspective

Canadian market is often overlooked when it comes to fundraising, yet the talent we have to offer is outstanding. Join us in a discussion with three venture capitalists actively investing in Canada to learn about the state of the market and what founders can do to raise capital in these uncertain times.