By Yasmine Kustec, Marketing Manager – Network of Angel Organizations – Ontario   

Toronto’s leading Angel investor network, Maple Leaf Angels (MLA), and CanWIT came together last week to address an alarming reality in today’s technology industries: the shortage of women. The event featured a keynote speech by successful entrepreneur, Krista LaRiviere, pitches from two women-led technology start-ups, and the presence of nearly 50 investors, entrepreneurs, partners and sponsors.

Amika Mobile and Rent Frock Repeat were each awarded 15 minutes to present in front of the highly sought after group of accredited investors. However, before the pitches commenced, the evening highlighted Canada’s declining innovation rates, the role of women and the opportunity the Angel community has to make a tremendous change.

According to Dr. Cindy Gordon, founder of Helix Commerce, co-founder of SalesChoice and past chair of Canadian Women in Technology (CanWIT, a CATA Division), “the number of female computing science engineers is dropping at a catastrophic rate, and since 80% of the purchasing power is still driven through the eyes of women, supporting them in technology is not a women issue, but a business imperative.”

The evening also zeroed in on the following trends:

• Women are less inclined to share their business plans with Venture Capitalist for financing or mentorship; and,
• Women lack the necessary corporate network to move forward with their ideas; much less their business plans.

During her time as a VC, Dr. Cindy Gordon very seldom received business plans from women technology entrepreneurs. “They are just as capable, but the majority of women do not have formal mentors in corporate finance. Women are proven to be strong leaders in business and build stronger collaborative teams – a vital skill for scaling a business successfully,” said Dr. Gordon.

After successfully exiting two companies, Krista LaRiviere decided that she would begin her third raising money and speaking with potential customer before anything else. “Those two things proved to be the success point,” says LaRiviere, as she encouraged entrepreneurs, especially women, to take the plunge by putting themselves in front of potential sources of financing during the start-up phases of their businesses.

Both women concluded that we as a community need to help and encourage women get out of their comfort zones, pursue careers in technology related industries and most importantly, support their businesses.

“Now that I have a daughter, I ask myself: how do we give women great opportunities to express their innovative ideas…” said Krista LaReiviere.

Both start-ups received strong interest from the Angels in the room. 

About CanWIT
Canadian Women in Technology (CanWIT, a Division of CATA Alliance) is a national volunteer organization that encourages young women to consider a career in technology and helps accelerate the careers of women already in the field. Our programs include mentorship initiatives, networking events, professional development and advocacy.
Women represent 47% of the Canadian workforce, but only 30% of the Canadian Technology Sector workforce.
Canada needs more women in technology. Join us and help make that happen.

About MLA
Funding Ontario’s most promising new companies, Maple Leaf Angels is an experienced group of high net worth private individuals who invest in seed and early stage technology companies.   While investments are made individually, MLA members enjoy the benefit of best practices and the collective knowledge and networks of the group.
Our mandate is to connect experienced, accredited investors and the brightest, most passionate entrepreneurs in a stream lined expert process within the larger entrepreneurial eco-system .

By bringing together investment, experience and a network of partners, MLA enables high potential companies to grow, realize their potential and offer excellent returns.

Since 2007 Maple Leaf Angels has invested $7 million in 18 early stage companies from across the GTA.