Invest with impact

Chris is the founding general partner of Pangaea Ventures and has helped entrepreneurs change the world for over 25 years. Chris is based in Phoenix and sits on the boards of several portfolio companies. Prior to starting Pangaea in 2000, Chris was a partner at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt, specializing in environmental and corporate law. Chris has been on the board of the Canadian Venture Capital Association and several non-profit organizations.

Chris has a Juris Doctorate from the University of Toronto and a B.Comm from the University of Calgary.

• Outside of work, you will find me running trails on the west coast and in Arizona
• In the morning, I am energized by all the little things that can make our world more sustainable, in addition the big, impactful things we see at Pangaea
  
  

A passion for improving the delivery of healthcare through innovation is what drives Janelle. With over 12 years of healthcare experience, she has a background in private investments, scaling ventures and management consulting.

As partner at Pangaea, with a focus on healthcare investment, Janelle brings her expertise in entrepreneurial endeavours (including launching a population health technology platform; becoming a joint venture with Microsoft and GE), her extensive network in private capital, public and private healthcare sectors. Janelle spent most of her career at GE Healthcare collaborating with global teams across Europe and US. She is enthusiastic about working closely with Modulim, Aspect Biosystems, Correlia Biosystems and Redlen. 

Janelle holds MBA from the University of British Columbia in Entrepreneurship and Innovation and a Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University. 

• When she’s not investing, you can find Janelle on a sailboat in the Caribbean or west coast of Canada. She is a certified skipper. 
• The best piece of advice she’s ever been given is "Build relationships, they will take you further. Identify ways you can help other people; maybe not today, or tomorrow or this year or the next 5 years, those relationships and that support will come around to support you". 

Andrew joined Pangaea Ventures in 2006 and since then has developed deep expertise in helping companies navigate the early growth stage as they work to prove product-market fit, build out high-performance teams, cultivate a culture of excellence, and optimize growth financing. Andrew is also responsible for leading Pangaea's impact strategy and related activities, including the incorporation of impact measurement into due diligence, impact reporting, and portfolio value creation. He currently works closely with Aspect Biosystems, CarbonCure Technologies, ESS Inc., Prime Roots, Tidal Vision and previously worked with numerous energy-related companies in Pangaea’s portfolio.

 Andrew holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (Mechanical Engineering) from the University of Toronto and a Masters in Business Administration degree from the University of British Columbia.

• When not investing, I am happiest racing my road bike in the mountains of Europe or in the local beer league racing scene. 
• Unscrupulous ethics, rampant corruption, and partisan politics are barriers to solving many of the world’s problems and I would love to be able to make an impact stamping this behaviour out.

Purnesh has been involved in developing and commercializing advanced materials across diverse industries over the past 25 years. He has held leadership positions in both large enterprises and startup companies. He is now applying his entrepreneurial passion and well-honed skills to help build startup companies leveraging advanced materials innovation to make the world better by addressing global challenges, such as, climate change, energy, food, water, and health. Purnesh also shares his knowledgebase by providing mentoring and advisory services with groups promoting entrepreneurship and advanced materials commercialization. 

He received his B.Sc. (chemistry/biology), with distinction, from the University of Guyana, Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia where he was a Commonwealth Scholar and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Delaware."

• When not investing, I'm with family, golfing with friends, gardening, and catching up on historical events.
• Best part of my job is interacting with entrepreneurs to  work on leading edge materials innovations to resolve big global challenges.

Rejoining Pangaea Ventures in 2020, Sarah brings more than a decade of venture capital and company building experience to the team. Sarah has cultivated expertise in building entrepreneurial teams, scaling early stage ventures, and venture financing. Sarah is an active mentor to early stage entrepreneurs and a startup community activator and advocate.

Sarah led Pangaea’s investments into PolySpectra, Correlia Biosystems, and pH7.  Sarah holds a Bsc. From Dalhousie University and an MBA from the Schulich School of Business.

• Outside of work, you can find Sarah on the local trails with her dog, Indie, out on her road bike, or spending time with friends and family.
• What I love most about venture capital is the opportunity to collaborate with and learn from the next generation of technology leaders and visionaries. I am constantly learning and building and rebuilding what I think our future looks like. I am so fortunate I get to help a cleaner, healthier, and safer world for generations to come. 

Tracy Hedberg is a Chartered Accountant with a scientific background. She worked six years as Senior Securities Analyst, Corporate Finance, for the British Columbia Securities Commission. Tracy served as Controller for Lion One Metals Inc., a TSX-V listed company, before establishing her own practice and later joining Pangaea. Tracy has a BSc. with a double major in Biology and Environmental Science from the University of Victoria, as well as her CA designation.

Abhiram joined Pangaea Ventures in 2022. For almost 10 years, Abhiram has been a hands-on leader with a 'roll up your sleeves and get in the trenches' attitude. He is effective at improving day to day processes, raising execution levels and strengthening innovation pipelines. Abhiram has a track record of launching new products and initiatives, first at Tarkett Sports and then at Zymergen. He has functional experience across diverse industries including building products, specialty chemicals, consumer electronics, roll to roll manufacturing and materials informatics.

Abhiram completed his Ph.D in Materials Science & Engineering from Georgia Tech after obtaining an undergraduate degree in Polymer Science from UDCT, Mumbai.

• Outside of the professional grind, Abhiram finds tranquility in snowboarding, open water swimming, percussion instruments and the pursuit to make the perfect omelette. 
• He is deeply energized by the desire, resourcefulness and grit of founders with chips on their shoulders to take an amorphous vision of the distant future and crystallize it into reality. 

Prior to joining Pangaea Ventures in 2022, David spent several years developing and implementing major research and technology translation initiatives at the University of British Columbia. His technical experience includes clean energy, quantum materials and devices, and chemistry, and he has published several technical and non-technical articles in these fields. David has mentored a number of early-stage ventures, and continues to be an active member of the technology start-up community within British Columbia.

David holds a Masters in Chemistry with Honours in French from Newcastle University in the United Kingdom, and a PhD in Chemistry from the University of British Columbia.

• Outside of work, David can typically be found exploring the coast mountains of British Columbia, either on skis, on foot, or on a bike.
• I love meeting and learning about the founders of a new venture, just as much as I love learning about their technology. You can learn so much from the “who” of a company, rather than just the “what!”