Vancouver-based Blume among first 5 startups backed by LOI Venture
The cohort of startups is solving problems across a number of industries including wellness, health care, digital assets, creator tools and employee engagement.
LOI Venture, the $20 million pre-seed fund launched this past December by Ryan Holmes and Manny Padda, has revealed its first five startup investments.
Why it matters: Just two weeks ago the fund announced the close of around $10 million from its initial LPs, so today’s news shows just how fast Holmes and Padda are moving to execute on their fund’s mission.
Securing the bag: The five funded startups are solving problems across a number of industries including wellness, health care, digital assets, creator tools and employee engagement.
Blume, founded by Vancouver sisters Taran and Bunny Ghatrora, has developed a direct-to-consumer collection of self-care products.
Flöka, founded by Vanessa de Waal, is building AI-powered integrative health technology for lifestyle practitioners.
Webacy, co-founded by Maika Isogawa, enables you to decide ahead of time who would receive your digital assets (crypto and social accounts) upon your death.
ControlHQ, founded by Kevin Sandhu, Alexandra Nuth and Andrea Sandhu, is a financial platform that provides freelancers with a salary top-up loan during slow months.
WFHomie, founded by Pavla Bobosikova and Reza Farahani, is an employee engagement and distributed team culture analytics platform. It received LOI Venture’s first investment back in December of 2021.
A reminder: LOI Venture was launched to fund founders primarily under 30. A high percentage of companies funded through LOI Venture will be graduates of the League of Innovators (LOI) program, which was founded by Holmes, and which, according to the organization, has helped more than 250 graduate companies amass nearly $1 billion in combined value.
What’s next: “Over the next couple of months, we’ll be finalizing our second close and continuing to review startups for investment,” reads an email from LOI Venture. “With the League of Innovators Boost program adding 36 ventures to their cohort this year, we’ll have plenty of talent to keep busy with.”