Ripple Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Ripple Ventures is a Toronto-based inception-stage venture firm founded in 2018 by Matt Cohen, an operator turned investor whose first company, Turnstyle, was acquired by Yelp. The firm describes itself as an "inception stage partner to founders building advanced technologies." Its filter has stayed constant: back the most ambitious people it can find, building technologies ahead of their time. What those people build has shifted. Early funds backed enterprise software, developer tools and applied AI/ML. Fund IV now also backs rockets, defence, uranium exploration, fusion diagnostics, plant engineering and autonomous wet labs, while still investing in the AI application layer, which it sees as more service-shaped than software of the past.
Stage Focus
The firm invests at the inception stage: pre-incorporation, pre-product or pre-traction. Its 2025 reflections post says it is doubling down on true pre-seed in 2026. Third-party profiles also place it at pre-seed through early seed.
Check Size
The website states a cheque size of $250K to $1M USD.
Lead Tendency
Ripple typically leads or co-leads rounds, with flexibility to join as a supportive partner. More than half of its investments had no other fund like Ripple on the cap table at the first check, and about 70% across funds had no core peer funds at inception.
Recent Activity
Fund IV is live. A first close came earlier in 2026, a second in summer 2026, and a final close is targeted before the end of 2026. Anchor and significant LPs include Northleaf Capital Partners, one of Canada's largest private conglomerates, and RBC / RBCx (returning from Fund III). Fund IV companies named by the firm include Canada Rocket Company, North Vector Dynamics, Terranox AI, Valen, Green Abundance, uRun, Silmo, Blackletter, Asset and Daedal Systems (announced September 2026). The firm is in active deployment mode.
Portfolio Highlights
The portfolio lists roughly 50 companies across Deep Tech, AI Infra, AI + Science, AI + Services and Vertical AI. Notable names include Voiceflow (conversational AI agent platform), Wisedocs, Rose Rocket, Blank Bio, Zenhub and Transformer Lab. Exits include Hyper (acquired by Motorola Solutions), Pitstop (Fullbay), Harmonize (Drata), Zealot (UserEvidence), Plannuh (Planful) and OnCall Health (Qualifacts), plus Turnstyle (Yelp) from the founder's own history. The firm emphasizes early DPI and runs a corporate development effort with standing acquirer relationships.
Team
- Matt Cohen: Founder and Managing Partner, host of the Tank Talks podcast
- Dominic Lau: Partner, joined as an associate and rose to General Partner
- Katie Ko: Investment team
- Jay Lee: Head of AI, built the internal RippleOS system, a former intern who came from McKinsey
- Venture partners: Sarah Lubeck (marketing), Dave Macnee (GTM, early Slack), Rahul Parmar (sales, GTM at Railway), Ryan Freeman (partnerships), Ian Logan (engineering, early Airbnb), Zach Waterfield (engineering), Dan Teoh (engineering, Toast AI), Adam Jarczyn (product), Jackson Mullins (talent)
Decision Process
A four-person core team makes fast, high-conviction decisions with concentrated portfolios. RippleOS, an internal system of about 15 AI agents, supports sourcing, market maps, technical diligence, portfolio support and LP reporting, and partners review everything before it goes out.
Founder Preferences
Founders who are curious by default and high velocity, with rare earned insight or technical depth, who build markets rather than predict them. The firm targets engineers leaving companies like SpaceX, geoscientists, and operators leaving scaled companies, often before the company has a name. Sourcing runs through the RippleX Fellowship, the Tank Talks podcast and the venture partner network.
Geographic Focus
Canadian and US startups that sell to global markets, with a base in Toronto and portfolio companies in Toronto, Vancouver, Waterloo, Calgary, San Francisco, New York, Seattle and Washington DC.
Support Model
Ripple offers introductions to customers, key talent and downstream funds, hiring help, enterprise customer introductions, co-investor networks for future raises, and strategic M&A exit support through its venture partner bench and RippleOS.