Storytime Capital Research
Investment Thesis
Storytime Capital is a Toronto-based venture capital firm investing exclusively in the "Future of Work" - technology that is redefining how people find work, how organizations find and manage talent, and how work itself gets executed. Founded in August 2022 by Neil Grunberg and Ryan Kimel, the firm's stated thesis is to back "world class teams solving big problems," with a preference for founders who are deeply passionate about their problem space and who are pursuing large market opportunities with a genuinely unique value proposition. The firm frames its remit broadly: companies that "foundationally revolutionize the way individuals and organizations define, discover, develop, execute, evaluate, and incentivize work." In practice this spans HR tech, workforce management software, business automation, AI-driven productivity tools, the gig/fractional economy, and adjacent commerce and creator-economy plays that touch how people earn a living.
Stage Focus
Storytime invests at pre-seed and seed. The firm's public materials describe a preference for seed-stage companies that already show early traction signals, while remaining open to pre-seed opportunities ahead of product-market fit for exceptional teams.
Check Size
Per BetaKit's reporting on the Fund II first close, Storytime typically writes checks of roughly $750K-$1.5M CAD per investment, consistent with a fund built to back around 20 companies per vintage.
Lead Tendency
Storytime leads or co-leads the rounds it participates in. It led ChatFeatured's oversubscribed pre-seed round (July 2026) and was one of two lead investors (alongside Hanaco Ventures) in Quack AI's roughly $7M seed round.
Recent Activity
Storytime closed its debut fund at $17.5M CAD in December 2022, deploying into ~15-20 companies. In June 2025 the firm announced the first close of Fund II at $14M CAD, targeting a final close of $25-30M CAD to back approximately 20 additional pre-seed/seed companies, with Lauren Epstein promoted to General Partner alongside the close. The firm remains active: it led a $2M USD (~$2.8M CAD) oversubscribed pre-seed round for Toronto AI startup ChatFeatured in July 2026, alongside Garage Capital and BY Venture Partners. In February 2026, portfolio company Quack AI (an Israeli AI customer-service agent developer Storytime co-led into a $7M seed) was acquired by Augmented Intelligence (AUI), marking one of the firm's first disclosed exits.
Portfolio Highlights
Storytime's portfolio spans roughly 19-20 companies, concentrated in HR tech / workforce software (Beamible, Candidate.FYI, Hop In, Monark), AI and business automation (Bloks, Clerq, Opstream, SpecifEye, Thoras, Leprecon, Quack AI), commerce and creator tools (Blanka, ChatFeatured, Shopeaks), health tech (Greenspace), supply chain/logistics (HazTrack, Stock), and security (Spikerz). The firm's one disclosed exit to date is Quack AI, acquired by AUI in February 2026.
Team
- Neil Grunberg - Managing Partner, Co-Founder. ~20 years of operating experience across three high-growth startups, including as a co-founder of AlayaCare and an early employee at Workbrain and Vortex Connect.
- Ryan Kimel - General Partner, Co-Founder. Active angel investor for over a decade prior to co-founding the fund.
- Lauren Epstein - General Partner (promoted from venture partner at the Fund II first close in June 2025). Over a decade investing across stages from angel to Series E.
Beyond the three-person investing team, Storytime maintains a large (60+) network of venture advisors spanning HealthTech, human capital management, revenue, fundraising, and leadership, who support portfolio companies and diligence.
Decision Process
Storytime describes a five-step process: (1) initial conversation, (2) light diligence, (3) pitch to the full team, (4) a deep dive on fundamental questions, and (5) a term sheet issued only with "total conviction." The firm cites a typical timeline of 4-6 weeks, while noting it will take longer to build a relationship with a founder over months when useful. This is a small-partnership decision process (three investing partners) rather than a solo-GP or formal-committee structure.
Founder Preferences
The firm looks for founders who are genuinely passionate about the problem they are solving, pursuing large market opportunities, and offering a truly differentiated value proposition. Storytime emphasizes adding value beyond capital: introductions, ongoing engagement, and access to its broad advisor network for talent and strategic support.
Geographic Focus
Storytime states it has "no hangups as to where a company is located" and invests globally, though its stated strategy prioritizes Canada first, with meaningful activity in the US and Israel/Middle East, and at least one portfolio company in Australia (Beamible).
Website Note
The user-supplied URL (storytime.vc) is a lapsed domain that now redirects to a domain-broker sales page (webroker.vc). The firm's live website is https://www.storytime.capital, which was used for this research; the firm record's website/domain fields have been corrected accordingly.