Biography

Sophie has been involved in the Canadian Venture Capital Industry since 1992. She joined one of the first private independent Fund in Quebec, GTI Capital, that year. Sophie was born in Quebec in 1968. She studied in Business at Sherbrooke University and followed graduate Studies in Sciences at Concordia University. Sophie has been living in Montreal since 1991. After several years with GTI Capital, Sophie joined Bell Canada as director of Mergers and Alliances for Eastern Canada. A year later, in 1995, CDP capital created a technology subsidiary to manage their VC investments. Sophie was one of the first employee to join the IT Group. She worked for CDP for seven years, managing a large portfolio of VC investments internationally with assets of close to one billion $. When she left CDP to join Brightspark, she was Vice-president, IT Investments. In 2003, Sophie joined Brightspark as managing partner and raised Brightspark Ventures II. Brightspark is one of the leading early stage venture capital firm in Canada. She has led or overseen more than 50 investments in technology companies in Canada and abroad over the past 15 to 20 years. Sophie was involved in a number of successful VC backed companies including Touchtunes, Servicesoft, Think Dynamics, Protecode and Grapple. Sophie also played a pivotal role in the investment, growth and exit of Radian6, leading to a 23x multiple on capital invested — one of the most successful technology exits in Canadian history. Brightspark Ventures has twice won the Canadian Venture Capital Association “Deal of the Year Award”, for the sale of ThinkDynamics to IBM and for the sale of Radian6 to Salesforce.com. Sophie also co-founded two Internet companies Jewlr.com and iStopOver.com. IstopOver.com was sold to 9Flats in 2012 and Jewlr.com is a leading e-tailer in Canada with annual growth of over 100%. In 2013 Sophie, along with business partner Mark Skapinker, developed a new model of VC investing in Canada focusing on new sources of capital, Special Purpose Vehicle funds and a focus on Series A investing. This business continues to thrive. Brightspark is recognized as a leading VC in Canada with innovative entrepreneurs at its helm. Sophie is also a Board member of Centech, the accelerator and incubator associated with ÉTS (École de Technologie Supérieure) in Montréal. Sophie has also been an active investor and Board member in Hopper, a Montreal based growth company looking to disrupt the large online travel market. Sophie is active in the Montreal tech community and mentors a number of young founders with a special interest in helping young female founders to strive in the ecosystem. As managing partner at Brightspatk Sophie sits on the Board of Directors of a number of compagnies. Sophie won the «angel of the year» award for her contribution to the angel investment community in 2017, nominated by the National Angel Capital Organization of Canada.