Bridging Funding Gaps: Discovery Foundation’s Capital Connect Program is launching soon!
Image of women discussion around a table, with text on the side: Discovery’s Foundation’s Capital Connect Program, Demystifying Funding Pathways is Launching May 2024, in Partnership with Discovery Foundation.
VANCOUVER, BC, Volition is excited to continue our collaboration with Discovery Foundation to deliver the 2025 Capital Connect Program -an initiative designed to demystify funding pathways and help BC-based founders strengthen their ability to access diverse funding sources. The Discovery Foundation's Technology Education Program (TEP), funds Agent-run programs and events across BC that promote commercial innovation and support the growth of the province's science and technology sector.
This partnership is built on a strong commitment to inclusion, with robust goals to prioritise underrepresented and equity-deserving founders* across BC; this includes a key target of 85% representation of women and gender-diverse founders. To achieve these goals, we will leverage our incredible ecosystem network, and are investing in Indigenous Cultural Competency training for our team. These strategic approaches enable us to deliver programs that reflect our values of accessibility and equity in the startup ecosystem.
"The Discovery Foundation's support enables us to tackle a critical gap in BC's tech ecosystem by demystifying funding pathways for founders who need it most," said Melanie Ewan, Managing Partner at Volition. "Over the past two years we have been delivering Funding Pathways workshops for women founders–we have heard the pain points around navigating our funding and support ecosystem. The impact of this was seen in WEOC’s Bootstrap or Borrow, which uncovered how women entrepreneurs predominantly and disproportionately rely on high-risk options like personal savings and credit cards to fund their businesses. Through Capital Connect, our goal is to build and mobilize knowledge to address this issue, for both founders and ecosystem actors."
Our dual approach combines free 1:1 Business Advising with facilitated, community dialogue (Capital Conversations), creating a comprehensive learning environment that helps founders develop both strategic knowledge and tactical skills to access diverse funding options. We are committed to capturing lessons learned throughout the program and sharing these back to the community, in an effort to build our collective knowledge and connectivity.
Running from May to November 2025, the program will serve BC-based tech/tech-enabled companies from pre-seed through early Series A stages (i.e., MVP to break even); this program is well suited for founders who are either actively preparing to raise and/or would like to explore funding alternatives. The program is open to all to apply, though we will prioritise women and other underrepresented groups in the ecosystem.
Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis starting May 1, 2024. To join the program waitlist and jumpstart your application, fill out the form here. For further information or partnership opportunities, reach out to:
Melanie Ewan
Managing Partner & Director of Operations, Volition
*“Equity-deserving groups” is defined by the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion, as “Groups of people who have been historically disadvantaged and under-represented. These groups include but are not limited [...] women, visible minorities, Indigenous people, and people with disabilities, and people in the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, people with diverse gender identities and sexual orientations.” (see Glossary of Terms)
About the Discovery Foundation
A registered charity, the Discovery Foundation has been a committed champion and enabler of the science and technology sector in BC since its formation in 1979. Its principal activity is the delivery of the Technology Education Program via agents that provide education and guidance to entrepreneurs in BC.
About Volition
Since 2017, we've been at the heart of startup ecosystems, bridging gaps between founders, funders, and support organizations. Our experience with 20+ partners and 2500+ startups across 5 countries has honed our expertise in fostering thriving entrepreneurial environments.
Our mission is to strengthen innovation ecosystems for a better tomorrow. We do this through providing cohort-tailored support and program consultation for ecosystem actors that serve, educate, and fund women-led and impact-oriented ventures.
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/volitionadvisors/
Website:www.ThisIsVolition.com
