Backbone Angels includes 10 current and former senior figures at the Ottawa e-commerce giant, among them chief talent officer Brittany Forsyth and vice-president of commerce intelligence Solmaz Shahalizadeh. (The Logic)

Talking point: In announcing its launch Monday, Backbone cited stats showing global funding to women-led startups dropped 27 per cent in 2020, and that only 0.0006 per cent of the US$424.7 billion in tech venture funding raised since 2009 went to startups led by Black women. Backbone’s focus on investment in companies with Black, Indigenous and women of colour is paired with the goal of improving representation in the Canadian investment community. To that end, it is seeking additional investors. “We know that in order to systematically disrupt the system, we need to address not just who is receiving funding, but also who is investing,” reads its website. Backbone is also the latest example of the money minted by Shopify’s growth, reinvested in the Canadian tech ecosystem. Last month, family-scheduling startup Maple, founded by two former Shopify employees, launched with a US$3.5-million raise that included angel investment from several of their former Shopify colleagues, including president Harley Finkelstein. And Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke continues to build his investment portfolio, making headlines in December for backing Calgary-based challenger bank Neo Financial.