Sandpiper Ventures

Name

Sandpiper Ventures

Legal name

Sandpiper Ventures

Website

https://sandpiper.vc

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital and Private Equity

NAICS

Other Financial Investment Activities (5239), Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Early-Stage Venture Capital (Series A/B) (FSANAAAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Micro-VC & Angel Funds (FSANAAAI), Emerging Manager / Seeding Platforms (Multi-Manager) (FSANAGAF)

Keywords

• Early-stage venture capital
• Women-led startup funding
• Seed and series A investing
• Tech-enabled portfolio investing
• Impact venture capital

Headquarters

HQ city

Halifax

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Fund Management: Sandpiper Ventures generates returns through management fees on managed capital and carried interest (performance fees) on successful portfolio exits. As a seed-stage VC fund, they invest in women-led companies and generate returns when portfolio companies achieve exits through acquisition or IPO.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Sandpiper Ventures is a high-conviction, early-stage venture capital fund that invests in tech-enabled companies led by women in Canada. The fund deploys capital at the pre-seed, seed, and Series A stages, primarily in Health, Energy and Infrastructure, and Future of Work sectors, while providing operator insight, board leadership, and access to global networks to portfolio founders. Fund I closed at an oversubscribed $20M CAD in August 2022 and the firm is now deploying Fund II.

Product overview

Sandpiper Ventures operates as a single unified investment fund (Sandpiper Venture Fund I/SVF I) focused on early-stage women-led tech companies in Canada. The fund's core offering is capital deployment combined with strategic guidance, operator insight, board leadership, and access to global networks. The fund primarily targets companies in Health, Energy and Infrastructure, and the Future of Work sectors, requiring at least one woman in a C-level position with meaningful equity. Sandpiper closed its inaugural Fund 1 at an oversubscribed $20M in August 2022 and is currently investing from Fund II.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Sandpiper Ventures Fund I (SVF I) Inaugural early-stage venture capital fund providing equity capital, operator insight, board leadership, and global network access to women-led Canadian tech companies at pre-seed, seed, and Series A stages.
• Sandpiper Ventures Fund II

Quantifiable outcome

• Companies missed by traditional VC deliver 1.5-2.4x higher MOIC and 15-20 percentage point IRR premiums
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Canada51coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 May 2020Co-founded partnership between Atlantic Women's Venture Fund (now Sandpiper Ventures) and The51 (Calgary), creating a nationwide vehicle for supporting female-led businesses. Aims to radically increase women's participation in Canada's innovation-driven economy.
• The51coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCalgary-based investment platform partnered with Atlantic Women's Venture Fund to create Canada51 initiative supporting women founders across Canada.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• The51: Calgary-based investment platform and fund co-founder of the Canada51 partnership with Sandpiper. Both focus on backing women founders in Canada with early-stage capital, making it the most directly comparable peer.
• Backstage Capital: US-based early-stage fund investing in companies led by underrepresented founders, particularly women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ founders. Operates in the same structural-inefficiency thesis space targeting overlooked talent pools.
• Female Founders Fund: New York-based seed-stage venture fund investing exclusively in female-founded companies, with a focus on technology and consumer businesses. Closest US analogue to Sandpiper's mandate and stage.
• SoGal Ventures: Global early-stage venture firm investing in diverse founders, with both US and international presence. Competes with Sandpiper for the same diverse-founder deal flow thesis at seed stage.
• Golden Seeds: One of the largest US early-stage investor networks actively seeking companies where at least one woman is in senior leadership. Directly comparable mandate to Sandpiper's women-C-level focus.

Regional players

• Whitecap Venture Partners: Canadian early-stage VC that has co-invested with Sandpiper in Future Fertility. Operates in the same Canadian geography with a comparable Seed-to-Series A stage focus, though without the women-founder mandate.
• Brightspark: Canadian VC that led Callia's Series A alongside Sandpiper. Operates in the same Canadian geography at similar early stages, providing a direct comparison point for Sandpiper's performance within the Canadian VC ecosystem.
• MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund (IAF): Canadian seed-stage fund of funds and direct investor in tech startups, based in Toronto. Competes with Sandpiper for Canadian tech deal flow at similar stages, though with broader sector and founder mandates.

Emerging players

• BBG Ventures: US seed-stage venture fund backed by BB&G (Built By Girls) focused on consumer tech and female-led founding teams. Comparable thesis but smaller scale and earlier stage than Sandpiper's portfolio construction.
• Pipeline Angels: Network of women investors deploying capital in women-led startups, primarily at pre-seed and seed stages via angel syndicates. Operates at the same founder segment but with an angel-network rather than institutional-fund model.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat1 record

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Sandpiper_VC
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sandpiperventures

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments24 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Sandpiper Ventures