The Women and Nonbinary (W) Impact (I) Network (N) for Venture Capital (VC) is a national collaborative of organizations working to provide services, programming, events, and dedicated resources to women and non-binary entrepreneurs and gender lens investors across Canada who are working towards becoming investment ready and increasing the pool of investors driven to invest in these ventures.
*The “W” in our acronym encompasses and includes all women, including non-binary/genderqueer individuals.
Our Mission
WIN-VC Canada is dedicated to gender diversity, gender-lens investing, and women-led businesses.
Our mission is twofold. We aim to uplift women entrepreneurs championing social or environmental impact, and to embolden investors committed to impacting systemic change. We embrace all dimensions of womanhood, including Indigenous women, those in remote areas, BIPOC women, newcomers, LGBTQ2+ individuals, Two-Spirit and genderqueer individuals, and those with disabilities.
We operate within economic sectors like food and agriculture, community real estate, cleantech, and healthcare, tapping into the collective expertise, experiences, and networks of our partners.
Our ultimate objective is to catalyze the growth of women-led enterprises, shattering gender-related barriers and unequivocally demonstrating the investment potential of venture capital. We aspire to drive progress through empowerment, inclusion, and meaningful capital deployment.
We are more than a collective. We are a movement driving transformative change. Join us as we champion innovation, equity, and economic evolution.
What We Offer
WIN-VC is offering a diverse selection of up-and-coming programming and resources to support women and non-binary entrepreneurs and investors.
The programming will span between 2023-2025, and includes regional and multi-regional investor education and entrepreneur accelerator programs. Regional programming for both investors and entrepreneurs will span from Atlantic Canada, Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, Yukon, and British Columbia.
Our mandate also includes generating knowledge and research assets for the ecosystem in order to drive greater awareness of barriers and solutions to greater gender inclusion in VC and entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneur Accelerator Programs
Inclusive support services for women entrepreneurs to become investment ready and understand the investing ecosystem with mentorship for entrepreneurs.
Networking Events
Both in-person and online. In-person events take place across Canada in six (6) provinces and territories.
Investor Inclusive Programs
Collaboration and co-creation with investors. Topics include: power and privilege, rethinking the workplace, inclusive investment practices, and investor pitches.
Impact Challenge Programming
Investors and entrepreneurs are brought together to build collaboration, co-design inclusive investing approaches, and participate in entrepreneur pitches. Each program culminates in a guaranteed investment from the investors, who pre-commit pooled capital for each challenge.
Project Development & Evaluation
Creating and distributing shared learnings and informed practices and contributing to building practitioner capacity.
National-level Research
Extending capacity-building across the ecosystem, and using insights to inform policy on broader system inequities. We provide case studies, community design principles, knowledge products, and reports on systemic barriers in venture capital, funding roadmap, and gender-lens investing.
Interested in our programming?
Facing obstacles in the VC ecosystem? Curious about entering the world of early-stage investments?
Fill in our intake form and join our network of women and non-binary entrepreneurs and investors.
Got questions? Shoot us an email at info@svx.ca.
Partners
WIN-VC is steered by impact-aligned organizations with a shared commitment to supporting gender diversity, gender-lens investing, and women-led businesses.
Funded By
WIN-VC acknowledges the support of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) Canada. ISED has awarded funding for WIN-VC that will make the venture capital environment more inclusive for women by transforming traditional investment processes, processes and knowledge into respectful and meaningful approaches that value equity and impact with a focus on diverse women and non-binary entrepreneurs and SMEs including Black communities, Indigenous peoples, racialized populations, persons with a disability, 2SLGBTQ2+ and new Canadians.
Get in touch with our team
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