The Toronto seed-stage investment fund, which invests in women-led high-growth companies, closed the round with about $3.5 million in additional capital from five new limited partners (LPs), including Teralys Capital, Globalive Capital and several angel investors. (BetaKit)

Talking point: StandUp launched in May 2017, with the Business Development Bank of Canada as its anchor LP. To date, the fund has invested in nine companies, of which at least seven have women CEOs. The lack of gender diversity in Canada’s venture capital space persists, despite some positive signs with the appointment of Janet Bannister as managing partner at Real Ventures and Laura Lenz’s appointment as partner at OMERS Ventures. Women-led companies continue to receive less funding overall than their male counterparts. As my colleague Catherine reported last year, nearly 90 per cent of all venture capital deals in Canada from the previous five years had gone to companies founded exclusively by men.