Vancouver, BC – May 24, 2017 – Yaletown Partners has expanded its team in Montreal and Toronto, creating a national network focused on closing the growth capital gap faced by Canadian industrial and enterprise technology companies.

Yaletown members in Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Toronto now have front row access to Canada’s most promising technology companies applying machine learning, AI, the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data and other modern technologies to make industry sustainable.

Opening Yaletown’s office in Montreal are Shyam Gupta and Sophie Gupta, the dynamic father-daughter investment team behind Somel Investments. Somel is a small, successful, private financing firm focused on emerging-growth companies in IoT and based in Quebec. Shyam will be the Yaletown’s Montreal-based Partner and Sophie will be Principal overseeing operations.

Shyam is a successful entrepreneur in the high-tech industry, with more than 40 years of global experience in research, operation management and business development. In the late 1990s, Shyam co-founded SDP Telecom Inc., a global telecom business specializing in base station hardware for in-building solutions, and led the company through to its acquisition by Molex LLC, a subsidiary of Koch Industries in 2014 . He is the recipient of numerous awards for his entrepreneurial success, including the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 and the Technology Fast 500 in North America for two consecutive years as well as the Quebec Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of The Year Award in 2009.

Sophie is a corporate and technology lawyer who co-founded Somel Investments in 2015. As a Managing Director at Somel, Sophie provides business growth and legal advice to portfolio companies. She began her career at McCarthy Tétrault LLP, as a member of the firm’s general corporate law and its technology law practice groups, specializing in mergers and acquisitions, private equity and intellectual property law.

In Toronto, David Harris Kolada has joined Yaletown as Venture Partner. Formerly, David was Vice President, Venture Capital at OpenText Corporation, where he managed the global software company’s $100-million venture portfolio. Prior to that, David was a senior executive at large global Cleantech fund, Sustainable Development Technology Canada. Earlier in his career, David was CFO at Eloqua Corporation (now Oracle), Senior Director with Cognos (now IBM) and Partner with an independent VC fund.

Yaletown’s national team will be attending the joint annual general meeting for CVCA and Réseau Capital in Montreal June 6 to 8. Come say hello.

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