Panache Ventures

The firm's leadership team includes Managing Partner Patrick Lor and General Partners Mike Cegelski, Prashant Matta, and Genevieve Tanguay. Lor and Cegelski were previously GPs at 500 Startups Canada and are repeat founders with multiple exits. Investment and portfolio support in Quebec and Eastern Canada is led by Domenic, while the broader investment team handles sourcing and evaluation across Panache's core themes including healthcare applications, energy, AI infrastructure, and enterprise software.

Panache operates from offices in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver, giving it physical presence in Canada's four major startup ecosystems simultaneously. This distributed partnership model allows the firm to source deals that single-city funds miss. The team's backgrounds as exited founders and 500 Startups Canada operators also create deep personal networks across the Canadian technology community.

Panache Ventures operates as a traditional venture capital firm managing committed capital from external limited partners through discretionary fund vehicles. Its current active vehicle is a $100M Fund II. The firm is not a family office, corporate venture arm, or evergreen investment vehicle.

Panache focuses on direct investments into pre-seed and seed-stage technology companies, writing first cheques up to $1.5M. The firm positions itself as the first institutional investor on the cap table. Its public materials do not reference a fund-of-funds strategy or commitments to other venture funds.

Panache targets pre-seed and seed rounds, typically as the first institutional investor. The firm writes initial cheques up to $1.5M. After the initial investment, Panache provides hands-on guidance and warm introductions to top-tier funds in Canada and the US aimed at helping portfolio companies reach Series A.

The firm does not publish a list of excluded sectors and states publicly that it backs founders across all technology sectors. Its current portfolio includes companies operating in enterprise software, AI/ML, fintech, climate, digital health, space, robotics, insurtech, proptech, cybersecurity, and education, indicating broad sector appetite within technology.

There is no public record of a dedicated philanthropic foundation operating alongside Panache Ventures. The firm's public communications do not describe any charitable or grant-making structures associated with the management company or its principals.