Fastbreak Ventures

Co-founders Matt Saunders and Alan Lysne jointly run investment decisions. Both have founded and exited venture-backed technology companies — Saunders took a business public on the TSX, and Lysne's startups were acquired by Monitise and Verint. Their investment committee operates at the intersection of operator instinct and fund-manager discipline.

Fastbreak sources deal flow primarily through corporate-backed accelerator programs the partners have co-created and operated in Canada, India, and Southeast Asia. These programs — built in cities including Calgary, Mumbai, and Vietnam — function as origination funnels that give the firm early access to founders before they enter traditional venture pipelines. The firm references having screened thousands of early-stage startups through this model.

Fastbreak presents itself as a direct investor that aims to lead the first institutional round for founders. The firm's website emphasizes direct pre-seed and seed-stage investing, with no mention of fund-of-funds commitments or LP allocations to other external venture managers. Its primary deployment vehicle appears to be direct equity checks into enterprise software platforms.

The firm targets pre-seed and seed stages explicitly. Fastbreak positions itself to lead the first institutional round, stepping in when a company has not yet taken scaled institutional capital. While the firm categorizes itself as also covering venture (general) and growth, its website content concentrates on the earliest funding moments.

Fastbreak has not publicly articulated a formal co-investment posture. The firm emphasizes leading rounds and acting as the first institutional check, which often sets syndicate terms, but published materials do not describe a structured co-investment program or club-deal mechanism alongside external general partners.

The firm focuses on highly scalable enterprise software platforms. Its portfolio narrative highlights sales-enablement tools and enterprise software solutions, consistent with the partner's operating histories in enterprise technology. No additional verticals are prominently featured, and Fastbreak does not publish negative screens or explicit sector exclusions.

Both partners have sat on both sides of the table as founders and investors. Alan Lysne was co-founder and CTO of Davinci Technologies, acquired by what is now Verint, and CEO of Cascada Mobile, acquired by Monitise. Matt Saunders co-founded a technology company he took public on the TSX. Their fund model leans heavily on that operator DNA, using customer connections and founder empathy as differentiators alongside capital.