Pender Ventures

Pender Ventures invests in data centric startups in health-tech, enterprise software, and industrial transformation. We interview leaders and entrepreneurs in these areas, with a focus on women in technology and startups.

Play Your Own Game - Brice Scheschuk’s Framework For Founders Seeking To Understand The World Of Venture Capital 01/30/2025

Play Your Own Game - Brice Scheschuk’s Framework For Founders Seeking To Understand The World Of Venture Capital Isaac Souweine, Partner at Pender Ventures hosts Brice Scheschuk, Managing Partner at Globalive Capital. Brice is an active private technology investor in Canada with firsthand founder experience as the co-founder of Wind Mobile (now Freedom Mobile) in 2008. In this podcast he talks to Isaac about his “play your own game” framework, a thought exercise for founders that shifts their sole focus from pitching to investors to include selling to customers. /episode/index/show/penderventures/id/35087150

Deploying Generative AI and Other TMT Predictions - Part 2 01/10/2025

Deploying Generative AI and Other TMT Predictions - Part 2 Sub-Title: GenAI, machine learning, cloud computing and chips galore. Where business leaders are investing. Maria Pacella, Managing Partner of Pender Ventures hosts Duncan Stewart, director of TMT Research, Deloitte Canada for a second time. Duncan is a globally recognized expert on the forecasting of consumer and enterprise technology, media and telecommunication trends and is co-author of the Deloitte Global Research Annual Prediction Report. In this podcast he talks to Maria about his 2025 predictions on disruptive technologies across industries and reflects on what he got right (and wrong) for 2024. /episode/index/show/penderventures/id/34805650

The Story of Wattpad 10/31/2024

The Story of Wattpad “I would absolutely attribute some of our successes to like building this company in Canada and not anywhere else.” On this episode in the Pender Ventures series on great Canadian technology companies, Maria Pacella, Managing Partner, hosts Co-Founder and Operating Partner of Two Small Fish Ventures, Allen Lau. In 2006, Allen co-founded Wattpad, a technology company for storytellers and their stories, which went on to be acquired by South Korean internet giant, Naver in 2021. Wattpad provided a platform where creators could access and receive real time feedback from millions of users and build large follower bases. Maria and Allen have a fantastic conversation about the evolution of digital storytelling, from launching during the “wild wild west of the early years of user generated content”, to fighting off the competition and capitalizing on technological shifts to build a global entertainment platform that people not only wanted to pay to use but loved to use. /episode/index/show/penderventures/id/33707722

PMC-Sierra - The importance of innovation, adaptability and resilience 10/01/2024

PMC-Sierra - The importance of innovation, adaptability and resilience This is the first in a new Pender Ventures podcast series reflecting the scale-up stories of some of the great Canadian technology companies. We kick off with the story of PMC-Sierra, a pioneering and leading semiconductor chipset supplier that specialized in the design and development of integrated circuits for networking, telecommunications and data storage. Maria Pacella, Managing Partner of Pender Ventures sat down with three key executives and co-founders, each of whom made significant contributions to the semiconductor industry, Greg Aasen, Kevin Huscroft and Colin Harris. They look back on the critical phases of PMC-Sierra's evolution, the strategic decisions made by leadership, its impact on the broader tech landscape, navigating 2000, and what they’d do differently if they had to do it all again. /episode/index/show/penderventures/id/33281852

Deploying Generative AI: Predictions, Surprises, Strategies and Shortages 04/23/2024

Deploying Generative AI: Predictions, Surprises, Strategies and Shortages Maria Pacella, Managing Partner of Pender Ventures gets an in-depth status report on Generative AI in this fascinating conversation with Duncan Stewart, Director of Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) Research at Deloitte Canada. Duncan’s research includes travelling the world for real-time, face to face updates from companies in every sector to unravel TMT and report resulting predictions. Maria and Duncan talk about Generative AI from a number of angles: company side implementation, client-side adoption, supply and demand, pricing and more. Listen to Duncan’s up-to-the-minute insights. But don’t leave it too long. He predicts that by the end of the year all his predictions will be wrong! Subtitle: “I predict by the end of the year all of my predictions will be wrong” /episode/index/show/penderventures/id/30959188

FundFest Panel: How Investors Can Support Exits 09/14/2023

FundFest Panel: How Investors Can Support Exits Moderated by David Dufresne, Partner, CMD Capital chats with Maria Pacella, Managing Partner of Pender Ventures, Anne Phan, VP, Corporate Development at Wealthsimple and Brent Holliday, Founder & CEO of Garibaldi Capital Advisors. They discuss the final phase of the venture cycle. Subtitle: Creating liquidity through exits. /episode/index/show/penderventures/id/28034145

Traction on Demand 05/11/2023

Traction on Demand We are delighted to welcome Greg Malpass, founder of Traction on Demand, to the podcast studio, with host, Maria Pacella, managing partner of Pender Ventures. With Traction on Demand having been acquired by SalesForce in 2022, Greg can reflect on the journey to build and sell Traction, creating a “best place to work in Canada” culture, his proudest moments and his new venture. /episode/index/show/penderventures/id/26813076

Jill Earthy & Leah Nguyen – InBC Investment Corp. 05/05/2022

Jill Earthy & Leah Nguyen – InBC Investment Corp. In this episode Maria Pacella, Managing Partner of Pender Ventures chats with Jill Earthy, CEO of InBC and Leah Nguyen, CIO of InBC. Jill and Leah discuss their career journeys, their entry into venture capital and the experiences that have inspired them to keep pushing boundaries. Leah and Jill also share life lessons for current and future women entrepreneurs and discuss missed opportunities as well as the mistakes they have made along the way. Other topics of interest center around DEI, sustainable development and the opportunities and challenges Leah and Jill see for BC when it comes to investing in Canadian companies. The podcast ends with book recommendations from Leah and Jill. /episode/index/show/penderventures/id/23017280

International Women’s Day 2022 03/08/2022

International Women’s Day 2022 In this episode Maria Pacella, Managing Partner of Pender Ventures celebrates International Women’s Day 2022 by taking a listen back to some of the “best bits” from our podcasts featuring Judi Hess, Natalie Dakers, Norma Biln, Jacqueline Ovens, Christy Wyatt, Michelle Scarborough and Alison Nankivell. These excerpts have been specifically selected to impart timeless advice and guidance to women looking to take the next step in their career, possibly into a leadership position, or to start their entrepreneurial journey. /episode/index/show/penderventures/id/22383845

Wils Theagene - Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec 02/10/2022

Wils Theagene - Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec In this episode Kenndal McArdle, Principal, Pender Ventures chats with Wils Theagene, Senior Director Private Equity CDPQ - Equity 25^3 Fund. Kenndal and Wils talk about diversity within venture capital and the private asset class, discuss how EQ25^3 is leveraging diversity as a vector of development and expansion, the social issues surrounding diversity and the challenges that underrepresented entrepreneurs face when seeking funding or access to resources. Kenndal and Wils also discuss ESG in depth and how CDPQ has become a leader in this domain, and Wils offers his advice and opinions on how companies can do a better job when it comes to diversifying and empowering their EDI committees to make meaningful impacts. /episode/index/show/penderventures/id/22091387

Mark Longo - Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt LLP 01/20/2022

Mark Longo - Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt LLP In this episode Maria Pacella, Managing Partner of Pender Ventures, is joined by Mark Longo, founder, and Managing Partner of Osler’s Vancouver office. They look back at 2021 and discuss a variety of topics from talking about the M&A momentum, record IPO numbers, valuations, secondaries, and the factors responsible for record setting deals and compare 2021 to previous years. Mark also provides some detailed insight into founders turning into investors after successful exits, the current IPO trend, foreign investments, and how current and future entrepreneurs can go about raising money and what they should have ready in their tool kit. The podcast ends with a book question. /episode/index/show/penderventures/id/21839063

Exiting The Year With “A Year Of Exits” 12/09/2021

Exiting The Year With “A Year Of Exits” In our final episode for the year, Felix Narhi is joined by David Barr, Maria Pacella and Amar Pandya for a year end discussion on exits. The team looks back at the year through the lens of our record-breaking list of exits, with 11 public and 6 private liquidity events. They reveal some of the secret sauce and we learn why Maria has started to believe in unicorns. The team provides some in depth analysis on a few of the events and discuss where they see the M&A and IPO environment heading in the new year. /episode/index/show/penderventures/id/21434546

The One45 Story 12/09/2021

The One45 Story In this episode Tony Rautava, Associate, Pender Ventures is joined by David Barr, Pender’s CEO and Portfolio Manager, Brian Claire, former CEO of One45 and Derek Hemmes, Founder and Board Member of One45. Together they take a stroll down memory lane and talk about the early days of One45, the idea that launched the company, when they knew they had product market fit, the challenges they faced, the lessons they learned as they build the company for not just one but three acquisitions. /episode/index/show/penderventures/id/21434270

Carlo Perez – Swift Medical 08/26/2021

Carlo Perez – Swift Medical In this episode Kenndal McArdle, Principal, Pender Ventures chats with Carlo Perez, Founder and CEO of Swift Medical Inc. Kenndal and Carlo talk about the series of decisions and choices that led Carlo down the path of entrepreneurship and the eureka moment that led him to launch Swift Medical. Carlo also provides some background on his upbringing and how his proclivity for programming and engineering combined with many of his family being in the medical profession gave him an edge. /episode/index/show/penderventures/id/20272364

Stephanie Andrew – Women’s Equity Lab 08/12/2021

Stephanie Andrew – Women’s Equity Lab In this episode Maria Pacella, Managing Partner of Pender Ventures, is joined by Stephanie Andrew, founding partner of Women’s Equity Lab (WEL). They discuss Stephanie’s background, the history behind the formation of WEL, the success it has achieved so far and the direction it is headed in. They also talk about diversity, the benefits of having women in leadership roles and the quantifiable difference it has made in the way WEL is investing in women. /episode/index/show/penderventures/id/20121398

Andrew Mosawi – iATS Payments 06/24/2021

Andrew Mosawi – iATS Payments In this episode Kenndal McArdle, Principal, Pender Ventures chats with Andrew Mosawi, President of iATS Payments. Kenndal and Andrew discuss how he pivoted from being a scuba diving instructor to the world of payments. They talk about the challenges that Andrew saw in the payments industry, current innovations and where Andrew thinks the payment industry will go next. They also talk about crypto, the future of money and why Andrew believes giving consumers a choice when it comes to payments is important. /episode/index/show/penderventures/id/19593623

Pender’s Private Equity Approach to Public Markets 04/21/2021

Pender’s Private Equity Approach to Public Markets In this episode David Barr, President, CEO and Portfolio Manager, chats with Kenndal McArdle, Principal, Pender Ventures. They discuss their private equity approach to public markets, and in particular, how this approach relates to Pender Growth Fund. They also discuss Kenndal’s career path from public small cap to venture capital; mergers and acquisitions; how they analyze a business both from the public and the private side and their views on Canadian companies to going public. /episode/index/show/penderventures/id/18810380

Women Investing in Women 03/04/2021

Women Investing in Women In this episode Maria Pacella, Managing Partner of Pender Ventures, is joined by Jacqueline Ovens, Alison Nankivell and Heather Conradi. Gathered to mark International Women’s Day, the guests discuss how they invest in women fund managers and entrepreneurs, how gender diversity plays a role in returns, how they measure diversity within their organizations and how we need to continue to close the gender gap in the investing world. /episode/index/show/penderventures/id/18194573

David Smith - Teradici 02/11/2021

David Smith - Teradici In this episode Maria Pacella, Managing Partner of Pender Ventures, is joined by David Smith, CEO of Teradici. They discuss the acceleration of the work-from-home movement caused by COVID-19 and how Teradici was well-equipped to support existing and new clients in this digital shift. They also cover Teradici’s engineering Emmy win for their work in media and entertainment, and their recent update to support Mac OS in virtualized environments. /episode/index/show/penderventures/id/17914844

Introducing Pender Ventures 11/19/2020

Introducing Pender Ventures In this episode Maria Pacella is joined by Kenndal McArdle, Principal of Pender Ventures, and their new team member, Kristina Bergman, Partner at Pender Ventures. Maria chats with Kristina to learn more about her background and experiences working as a tech product marketer and manager, an entrepreneur and an investor. Then Kristina turns the tables and interviews Kenndal about what makes Pender Ventures stand out from the competition. /episode/index/show/penderventures/id/16876172

What Scales is Simplicity 11/13/2020

What Scales is Simplicity Original Publication Date: June 4, 2020 /episode/index/show/penderventures/id/16805357

Women in Tech – Exploring Leadership and Diversity of Thought 11/13/2020

Women in Tech – Exploring Leadership and Diversity of Thought Original Publication Date: December 5, 2019 /episode/index/show/penderventures/id/16805276

Women in Tech – Advice for the Next Generation of Women Leaders in Health Tech 11/13/2020

Women in Tech – Advice for the Next Generation of Women Leaders in Health Tech Original Publication Date: September 26, 2019 /episode/index/show/penderventures/id/16805189

The Highs and Lows of Venture Capital 11/13/2020

The Highs and Lows of Venture Capital Original Publication Date: August 1, 2019 /episode/index/show/penderventures/id/16805123

Tech – Just What the Doctor Ordered 11/13/2020

Tech – Just What the Doctor Ordered Original Publication Date: May 6, 2019 /episode/index/show/penderventures/id/16791626

Tech – Building an Enterprise from the Ground Up 11/12/2020

Tech – Building an Enterprise from the Ground Up Original Publication Date: April 2, 2019 /episode/index/show/penderventures/id/16791554

Tech – Women in Tech – Leadership Lessons from Judi Hess 11/12/2020

Tech – Women in Tech – Leadership Lessons from Judi Hess Original Publication Date: March 8, 2019 /episode/index/show/penderventures/id/16791257

Tech - Disruption 4 - Edge Computing, IoT and Anomaly Detection 11/12/2020

Tech - Disruption 4 - Edge Computing, IoT and Anomaly Detection Maria Pacella, SVP, Private Equity and Portfolio Manager of the Pender Technology Inflection Fund, has been talking with Silicon Valley veteran, Rich Miller. In this last podcast they are joined by Toufic Boubez, VP Engineering at Splunk and a serial entrepreneur and tech industry leader with expertise in disruptive solutions. Having discussed blockchain and big data, this podcast turns to edge computing, the Internet of Things, anomaly detection and machine learning. /episode/index/show/penderventures/id/16790480

Tech – Disruption 3 – Big Data 11/09/2020

Tech – Disruption 3 – Big Data Original Publication Date: December 17, 2018 /episode/index/show/penderventures/id/16743584

Tech – Disruption 2 – Blockchain 11/09/2020

Tech – Disruption 2 – Blockchain Original Publication Date: December 10, 2018 /episode/index/show/penderventures/id/16743368

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