Staircase Ventures leads seed-stage rounds into Canada’s highest potential tech companies with unparalleled dedication to accelerating founders’ development and performance.
Janet Bannister
Managing Partner
Staircase Ventures leads seed-stage rounds into Canada’s highest potential tech companies with unparalleled dedication to accelerating founders’ development and performance.
Every founder we back benefits from the upside of the Staircase Ventures Fund. Much like founders give stock options to their team members so everyone wins together, we share carry in the Fund, so all founders are incented to support and celebrate one another.
Staircase Ventures (the “GP”) sets aside 20% of its carry (the profits it makes from investing) for Founders and Advisors. We allocate carry equally to each company and within each company, the carry is divided amongst the founders based on their common shareholdings in the business.
Much like stock options, your allocated carry will vest over five years and will continue to vest as long as you are part of the Staircase Ventures portfolio. If your company has a successful exit before the carry is fully vested, the unvested carry will vest immediately.
Managing Partner Janet Bannister has 25+ years of building and investing in rapidly growing tech companies. A team of Advisors, all of whom have launched and built $1B+ businesses, support the portfolio with their knowledge, experience, and networks.
Staircase Ventures leads pre-seed and seed stage investment rounds. We look for companies with initial product in market and early signs of product-market fit.
We invest primarily in B2B software companies which are leveraging technology to deliver radically improved efficiency or effectiveness to their customers.
Staircase Ventures invests in Canadian-based companies, most of which are targeting a North American or global market.
“I think the thing that most stands out about Janet, is her character and deep care for the founders with whom she works. She always puts her founders first, works very hard to help them in multiple ways, and inspires them to believe in themselves and their ambitions.” – Humera Malik, Founder and CEO, Canvass