Sprout Fund

General partners Kristina Milke, Shaheel Hooda, and Mark Benning share investment decision-making. Each partner brings a distinct operational background: Milke through angel investing and financial controls, Hooda through serial software entrepreneurship, and Benning through founding and exiting four VC-backed Silicon Valley startups. The internal team includes Principal Abhay Ghatpande, but the final investment committee authority rests with the three GPs.

The firm's stated focus is Western Canadian B2B software, and Alberta and British Columbia are its core markets. However, the portfolio reaches eastward: investments include Bright Breaks in Nova Scotia and Rithmik Solutions in Quebec, confirming that the mandate is effectively national for seed-stage B2B software where the firm can add value through its operator network.

Sprout sources through the personal and professional networks of its three general partners, including the A100 Tech Entrepreneurs group, the MIT-founded Threshold Impact Venture Mentoring Service, and the Valhalla Private Capital angel network that Kristina Milke formerly led. The community partner system — a roster of M&A advisors, family-office connectors, and startup EIRs — acts as an extended origination layer across Alberta and British Columbia.

The firm focuses on seed stage, specifically investing in companies with a minimum viable product, initial market validation, and early revenue. Typical rounds range from CAD $1 million to $3 million, with Sprout leading or participating alongside syndicate partners. The firm then helps portfolio companies reach milestones that set up Series A potential — it does not lead Series A rounds itself but facilitates investor introductions for follow-on funding.

Sprout Fund is a venture capital firm, not a family office. It operates a commingled fund structure — Sprout Fund II closed with a CAD $2.5 million commitment from Alberta Enterprise Corporation in 2023 — and draws its LP base from high-net-worth individuals and institutional investors seeking exposure to early-stage Canadian B2B software. The mentorship layer is a structural feature of the firm, not a family-office service.

Sprout invests across a broad set of B2B software markets — from fintech and proptech to AI, health tech, and gaming applications — but the firm's stated criteria require the business to be an innovative technology company with a scalable software model. It does not invest in consumer hardware, life sciences, or capital-intensive industrial manufacturing. The emphasis on 'B2B software' excludes pure consumer apps without a clear enterprise monetization engine.

Beyond the check, each general partner and community partner provides active, scheduled mentorship to portfolio founders. Milke coaches through the GrowthX revenue accelerator, Benning offers Founderly executive coaching, and Hooda mentors through Leanstack and 500 Global. Community partners — including M&A advisors, cybersecurity operators, and family-office investors — take board observer seats or advisory roles, turning the investor base into a distributed operating resource for startups.