For startups
Angel capital from people who have built the kind of company you are starting.
- Revenue required
- Member actively involved
- $25K–$5M per member
- Co-invests with other angels
Blue Ring Venture Capital is not a typical tech angel group. Members back startups selectively and only once there is revenue: a paying customer, not a pilot and not a promise. Most sectors are open, with a short published list of exceptions — what decides it is whether a member knows the work well enough to be useful and will be hands-on. Pre-revenue companies are declined, kindly and quickly.
A frank fit check
Members lean in when
- Customers are already paying — revenue is the line, whatever the sector
- A member has operated in the work and will be actively involved
- The founder wants an operator involved — not just money
- Unit economics can be shown on one page
- The company is Canadian, ideally within a couple of hours of Windsor or London
- The round is $250K–$1.5M and you welcome other angels
Members pass when
- There is no revenue yet — this one is a hard no, not a maybe
- The plan depends on raising a large venture round next year
- You need the money in under four weeks
- The ask is under $100K (try Community Futures or a CFDC first)
- The company is in a sector on the exclusion list below
- The founder is looking for a silent investor
What is different about pitching operators
Less slide-ware. More about the Tuesday.
Our members have hired the first ten people, chased the first receivable and fixed the machine at 2 a.m. They will ask about your gross margin per unit, your lead time, your supplier terms and who covers for you when you are sick. They care less about the size of the market slide than about whether the next twelve months are believable.
A typical structure is a priced round of common or preferred shares, or a convertible note or SAFE when a larger round is genuinely coming. Members co-invest with other Canadian angel groups and, where it fits, with funds such as MaRS IAF.
- Expect a 30-minute call first, then a working session, then a pitch to interested members
- Diligence is 20+ hours of member time — expect calls with customers and suppliers
- Decisions are made by the individual members who choose to participate
- Members can point you at WEtech ScaleUP, TechAlliance or an accelerator if that is the better next step
Bring
- A ten-slide deck or a two-page memo
- Twelve months of actuals, however small
- A simple use-of-funds table
- Names of three people we can call
Sectors our members do not look at
We look at most sectors — the exceptions are listed here so nobody wastes a week: software and AI companies; restaurants, cafés and food service; hotels, resorts, B&Bs, tours and travel; clinics of any kind (health, dental, therapy, veterinary); studios of any kind (fitness, yoga, wellness, beauty); fashion and apparel; landscaping; concrete; franchise locations; trucking; wineries, breweries and distilleries; mining and mineral exploration; real-estate development; cannabis, gaming, adult. That applies on the startup track exactly as it does for established companies.
Canada only, for now
The group invests in Canadian companies. Windsor-Essex, Chatham-Kent and Sarnia-Lambton, London and Southwestern Ontario are where our members are, and Southern Ontario and elsewhere in Canada are open when the fit is right and someone can realistically stay involved. Canadian federal and provincial programs — grants, BDC, FedDev Ontario and the current federal investment initiatives — can sit alongside members' capital.
Startup questions
Do you charge to apply or to pitch?
No. There is no application fee and no presentation fee. Nobody at Blue Ring Venture Capital is paid a commission or finder's fee on any investment.
How is this different from WECAN or another angel network?
Those groups are built for venture-scale technology companies and are very good at it. Our members are operators who back a small number of revenue-stage companies they understand, across most sectors. Many founders should apply to both; we happily refer companies that are a better fit elsewhere.
We have no revenue yet. Can we still apply?
Not yet — and we would rather say so now than after you have spent an hour on the form. Pre-revenue is the one line our members do not cross, whatever the sector or the idea. Come back when customers are paying, even at a small scale, and the conversation changes completely. In the meantime, an accelerator, a CFDC or a friends-and-family round is usually the better next step, and we are happy to point you at one.
Do you lead rounds?
Sometimes a member leads; more often members join a round that another group or an experienced angel is leading. Either way the involved member takes an active role after closing.
What valuation do you use?
Whatever the round agrees. Members look for terms that are fair to the founder and leave room for the next round. They do not chase venture-style preferences and do not expect a 100× outcome to make the math work.
Apply on the startup track
Tell us who on our side should care and why. A member with the right background reads every startup application.
Written by The Blue Ring Venture Capital team. Last reviewed .
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