Indigenous Peoples in B.C. Indigenous Peoples in B.C.
This has led to the creation of programs that support Indigenous entrepreneurs. Some venture capital funds are now specifically looking for Indigenous-owned companies to invest in.
Just this morning, Business Development Bank of Canada announced that it will commit $250 million to assist Indigenous and Black-led business.
BDC has long had an Indigenous banking department. BDC has long had an Indigenous Banking Department.
Other loan programs are run by organizations like the 100-percent indigenous-owned All Nations Trust Co.
The B.C. The B.C. It lists 22 programs, some of which are run by external organizations and 20 that are exclusively open to Indigenous people.
Venture capital funds that target First Nations entrepreneurs specifically are relatively rare.
Althea WISHLOFF, Raven’s general partnership, told BIV that “Raven is the only venture capital fund with a thesis of funding Indigenous and Native American entrepreneurs.” “There is no venture fund with a thesis similar to Raven’s.”
Raven invests in businesses with strong leadership and good prospects. She said that the investments range between $250,000 and $3 million.
The venture capital company launched in 2018 with an initial fund of $25 million. Later, a $110 million fund was launched. BIV covered that fund in January of 2023 when it was referred to as a $100 million fund. The Raven Fund Group has a $20.4-million non equity fund.
Wishloff, originally from B.C., said: “We have a mixture of institutional corporate partners.” Gitxsan Nation member. “BDC is the anchor LP (limited partner) for funds.”
Wishloff stated that BDC is only a minor component of equity investments, with the remainder coming from a mixture of institutions and corporate partners.
She said that about a dozen Raven employees are responsible for executing the venture fund strategy of the company.
Raven has made 20 investment since its inception, she says.
Indigenous people in B.C. Indigenous people in B.C.
In the 1700s, indigenous people fished and hunted animals like sea otters. They harvested trees, and added value to them. They were also avid traders and provided items such as blankets.
Settlers paid Indigenous guides who were entrepreneurs to guide them on trails. According to Rick Mickelburgh’s book on the Line: A History Of The British Columbia Labour Movement, members of the Kwakwaka’waku warned Hudson’s Bay Co. about the coal beneath their village in Port Hardy.
Today, the entrepreneurial spirit is still alive.
Raven’s latest investment announcement was made for Artemis, a Vancouver-based company even though the website lists Seattle as its contact address.
The funding round was held last summer, but nothing was announced until the 22nd of May this year.
Artemis raised $1.5m in pre-seed financing. Raven led the round, with Ripple Ventures, Telegraph Hill Capital and angel investors rounding things out.
Artemis executives were familiar with partners at Raven before the investment.
Wishloff, along with other partners, then conducted due diligence from May to July last year. They were sufficiently impressed to lead the fundraising campaign.
Artemis has five employees and a 1,200 square foot office near Smithe Street and Cambie Street, Artemis cofounder and CEO Josh Gray said to BIV.
He said that he was looking to hire between two and five more people by the end the year.
Gray, a serial-entrepreneur, cofounded Artemis with William Shi who he says he has known from middle school.
Artemis CEO Josh Gray | Submitted
Their company makes software to help companies “clean up” their data, or standardize it in a way that data input from various sources is consistent and searchable.
“Companies today are awash in data, but the problem is that it’s messy,” he said.
Gray said that data sets are messy because owners often input data using different tools such as Salesforce Inc.’s (NYSE CRM) customer relationship management, Intuit Inc.’s (Nasdaq INYU) Quickbooks, and other software by HubSpot Inc.
He suggested that HubSpot’s software could list customers as “customers”, whereas Stripe’s software might list those customers as “accounts.”
In some cases, the corporate name may include “Inc.” and “Ltd.” while in other instances it might not.
Gray said that to get any value out of data, it must be cleaned and made reliable. Once it is ready to go and clean, you can begin to extract value from it.
He said that his technology uses artificial intelligence (AI), agents who plan and execute tasks for the users.
Gray said: “Let’s imagine I’m a data scientist and I’m building a analysis to understand the marketing on our website, and how it impacts our bottom line.”
He said that a data engineer would have to document a large amount of data in order to clean and build datasheets.
“I need documentation of the formulas I use and the columns and tables that I use.” Documentation work can take you away from the hard work involved in building an analysis.
He said that the AI agents of his company can read code written by users, understand how they are being used, and then document them for the user.
Gray described his company’s status as “pre-revenue” with approximately 30 customers using the platform in a beta phase.
He plans to charge some customers for the use of the software by the end of this year.
Gray said that he attended many trade shows in the past year, and that networking has helped to spread the word about his company.
He said, “We’ve seen a lot of interest in the live events.”