Spring Impact Capital

A few weeks ago, I spoke with a leader at a port operator in Canada. They are currently experimenting with two electric hauling trucks. While satisfied with their performance, he noted their expense would be prohibitive for the time being. Expansion was not immediately in the cards. I wonder if that's changing. A new Bloomberg NEF report shows that, in China, more than 30% of new truck sales in 2026 will be electric. In fact, of all the EV truck sales made globally, 90% were in China. Europe is picking up the pace. As of H1 2026, sales grew by 50% and make up 26% and 23% of truck fleets in Switzerland and Norway respectively. The US? Going backwards. Only 0.4% of med/heavy trucks are electrics. Sales have actually be sharply declining for the past 2 years thanks to policy changes. For instance, the EPA repealed greenhouse gas standards for trucks that would have incentivized more market supply. In Canada, we are on par with the US at 0.4% of stock. We still largely rely on diesel - traditionally abundant and inexpensive. Except maybe not so inexpensive any more. Diesel prices have risen 23% in Canada just in the past 6 weeks - and these could go higher if Trump follows through with a murky plan to ban diesel exports. Because diesel is the backbone of our logistics network, any cost rise gets translated into downstream goods - food, construction supplies, consumer products and more. Global oil price shocks continue to be a massive opportunity to accelerate our energy transition across the board. This will mean decoupling from US trends. While the etrucks themselves may indeed come from abroad, there is ample opportunity for Canadian entrepreneurs to build home grown tech for optimization, charging, autonomous navigation and more - reducing supply chain costs, reducing our dependence on petroleum, and reducing our greenhouse gas footprint. Bloomberg NEF report on trucking: https://lnkd.in/e9PYQm5e Transport Canada stats: https://lnkd.in/eu85HUyc US transport stats: https://lnkd.in/eYfJWw5B

When you think about vibrant ecosystems, you have to put Montreal near the top of the list. Yesterday, Spring + Spring Impact Capital hosted two events in Montreal at the beautiful Espace CDPQ (wow do we need this in Vancouver!) and both events reinforced the power of this community. Our first event was a women's health / femtech investor discussion with Roxanne Leducduc of FemTech Breakfast Club and Cap Inclusive, where we explored the trends, opportunities, and nuances of femtech investing. The questions were rich and deep, and gave me tremendous optimism for the space and the upcoming Femtech Canada wHealth Ignite Challenge.  Then, last evening, we hosted a founder event on fundraising strategies and it was real! Adrienne Jung of eeva, Sarah De Rose of Blue HF Legal, and I discussed a range of topics, from where to raise to red flags in due diligence, and everything in between. We ending up closing down Espace at the end of the night - the space and the discussions were full! Each time I come to Montreal, I am reminded it is the most collaborative ecosystem in Canada, with brilliant founders and investors in the community working together to scale ventures and impact.  Learn more about the Femtech Investor Challenge: https://lnkd.in/gXBhxfS6 Learn more about fundraising support for founders: https://impactos.is/ And a big node of gratitude to Natalie Youssef, Fabíola da Rocha Borba, and the entire Spring team for making the events a reality. #fundraising #raisingcapital #montreal #femtech #womenshealth #investinginwomen #angelinvesting #impactinvesting #preseed #seed

Great to see so many friendly and new faces at Responsible Investment Association conference yesterday. For the first time, RIA dedicated the entire final day of the conference to Impact Investing. We explored opportunities, barriers and case studies. The agenda covered a range of types of investments - from private equity, to public equities, debt and even blended capital (shout out to my Spring colleague Tasha Truant, who represents our efforts on this!). I was honoured to moderate a panel to went to the heart of the elephant in the room: how to get more institutional capital in the game. Alicia Dubois,(Boann), Jory Cohen (Silk Pin) and Karen Lockridge (CAAP Pension) and I had a vibrant discussion - here are some take-aways: ⏲️ Allocating to impact investments requires institutions to allocate time, budget and expertise. It’s naive to think a new activities can come from the same team set up. ⚖️ Fiduciary duty isn't a valid reason for pushing back on impact investments. Rather, there is increasing pressure on organizations to more precisely define this duty (hint: it includes a duty of care to beneficiaries - beyond just financial) 💪 Champions matter - we all have our examples of people and organizations that have trailblazed a way forward. It's important to reflect on who they are, and what we can learn from them. Fortune favours the bold.  Thank you to Ady J. and Glen Pichanick for the invitation. And to Mitzie Hunter, CEO Women's Foundation, for the inspiring keynote to kicks things off. #impactinvesting #blendedfinance

Angel investing is alive and well. It was an honour to have been invited to Anges Quebec’s annual summit yesterday. With 170 members, they are the largest and most active angel investing group in Canada - with over $200M deployed since its founding in 2008.  On the other side of the country, I’m proud to support Aaron Stuart on the screening committee for VANTEC - which claims to be the oldest angel network, started in 1999.  Of course, our own sister organization Spring is also active - having worked with over 1000 angels over the country (many belonging to their own groups, others new to the practice) to add an impact lens to their lens.  Whatever the size, age, focus and location of the angel group, it’s important to remember the critical role they play in our innovation system. They are often made up of individuals who have successfully grown and exited startups - and are therefore well positioned to support founders and empathize with their journey. Without them, most startups simply wouldn’t start. According to National Angel Capital Organization (NACO), $1.9B was deployed by them between 2020-2025. Merci à Marc-Antoine Cantin CPA, ICD.D et Nicolas Bertrand pour cette aimable invitation et pour le travail incroyable que vous accomplissez au Québec. Spring Impact Capital se réjouit de co-investir prochainement avec vous!

September is full of opportunities to learn, connect and grow with Spring 🌱 From fundraising and due diligence to investing in FemTech, join us for conversations with founders, investors and ecosystem leaders across Canada and online. Coming up at Spring: Sept 16 · Fundraising Strategies That Actually Work | Victoria Sept 17 · 5 Biggest Due Diligence Hurdles | Online Sept 22 · Investing in FemTech | Montreal Sept 24 · Fundraising Strategies That Actually Work | Montreal Sept 24 · Investing in FemTech | Ottawa Sept 29 · Investing in FemTech | Toronto Find your event + RSVP: luma.com/spring.is See you there!! Featuring: Chris Fernando, Keith Ippel, Julie Angus, Margery Moore, Roxanne Leduc, Sarah De Rose, Adrienne Jung, Caroline von Hirschberg, Julia Elvidge & Tarika Vijayaraghavan, Ph.D.. #SpringEvents #Entrepreneurship #Founders #ImpactInvesting #FemTech

🏆 A new week means a new round of wins from the Spring community! This week, Spring founders are earning recognition, securing funding, and making their way into the Top 10. 🚀 ✨ Haibu Health + Dr. Shazhan Amed was awarded a $600K Canadian Institutes of Health Research | Instituts de recherche en santé du Canada commercialization award, scoring in the top 10%. ✨ Enya Learning + Amin Sharifi was selected as a Top 10 finalist in the 2026 New Ventures BC Competition by Innovate BC. ✨ VEGAIN Nutrition + Edan Wolk + Melissa L. advanced to the Top 10 in the 2026 New Ventures BC Competition by Innovate BC. Congratulations to all the founders and teams behind these milestones. We love seeing the Spring community keep moving forward!! #FounderWins #ImpactEntrepreneurship #Startups #SpringCommunity #CanadianStartups

21 years ago I started a summer job as a kayak guide on a remote part of Vancouver Island. I had little idea at the time that it would be the trigger the first step of an incredibly rewarding career (so far). You see, shortly after that job, I ran the bizarre gamut of management consulting interviews. As only one of two candidates to be invited to Toronto from “out west” (ie. anything west of London, Ontario) and outside the core “feeder” business schools, I was a fish out of water. I wondered when the Partners would figure out their mistake and send me home. But I had nothing to lose. I somehow got through the market sizing stuff and to the "experience" interviews. With no fancy bank internships to speak of, I told tales of shoo-ing away black bears, rescuing capsized guests, and making peace between feuding guests. They were - as my interviewers saw - stories of problem solving, risk assessment and customer service. Or maybe they just thought the bear stories were cool - I’ll never know. Either way, I was thrilled to get a job and learn from some incredibly smart people. So, it was quite special to be back in a kayak (and with more incredibly smart people Olivia Hornby (Shamash) Keith Ippel Larissa S.) on our annual retreat last week on beautiful Bowen Island, BC. Who would have thought that my career would have taken me from consulting, to non-profit work, to impact VC investing over 4 continents? It’s been non-linear, slightly meandering and incredibly fulfilling. A bit like a lovely afternoon of paddling. Here’s to using summer moments to reflect 🙂