Scarborough led investments through the Women in Technology Fund and Thrive Venture Fund.
Michelle Scarborough is out of her role at BDC Capital, the venture arm of the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), after eight years leading women-focused investment initiatives, BetaKit has learned.
Scarborough is no longer the managing partner of BDC Capital’s Thrive Venture Fund and Women in Technology (WIT) Venture Fund, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
Following outreach from BetaKit, Scarborough confirmed the news in a LinkedIn post today, thanking her colleagues and writing that her time at BDC was “one of the great privileges” of her career. No mention was made of Thrive Lab managing director Sévrine Labelle, who joined in 2023, or BDC CEO and president Isabelle Hudon, who joined in 2021.
When reached for comment, BDC referred BetaKit to Scarborough’s LinkedIn post and said that “steps are currently underway to support a smooth transition.”
“Her leadership and mentorship will have a lasting impact on me and the community.”
Marie Chevrier Schwartz
TechTO
Scarborough’s departure is the latest in a series of leadership changes within this arm of the Crown Corporation. BDC Capital head Jérôme Nycz abruptly announced his retirement almost exactly one year prior, in June 2024, after 22 years at the organization. BDC Capital also made changes to some of its direct investment funds earlier this year, The Logic reported, by shutting down its intellectual property fund and laying off staff at its Deep Tech Venture Fund.
The broader organization’s chief marketing officer, Annie Marsolais, announced she was stepping down today after 10 years at BDC.
BDC Capital is Canada’s largest and most active venture capital (VC) investor. It makes both direct and indirect investments into the country’s entrepreneurs, including its tech ecosystem, with federal money. In the organization’s 2024 annual report, it wrote down its VC portfolio by $220 million.
Scarborough had worked at BDC Capital since 2017. Her role focused on initiatives to finance Canadian women entrepreneurs and investors. Women founders receive only four percent of VC dollars in the country, while women are significantly underrepresented and experience lower retention rates in VC roles.
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Scarborough began her tenure at BDC by leading the WIT Venture Fund, which was established in 2017 to address the funding gap for women founders in Canada. Its $200-million envelope deployed $170 million across 39 women-led startups, Scarborough said on The BetaKit Podcast in 2023. The WIT Venture Fund has seen exits including Beanworks, Kira Talent, Unsplash, and Nudge.
In 2022, Scarborough helped establish the $500-million Thrive Platform for Women, a successor to the WIT Fund. It included the $300 million in direct investment through the Thrive Venture Fund for seed to Series B firms, $100 million for an indirect investment fund, and $100 million for Thrive Lab, which provides equity and support to women-led businesses committed to social impact as measured through the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
BDC Capital appointed Sévrine Labelle as managing director of Thrive Lab in 2023, who is the only team member other than Scarborough listed on the BDC Thrive Platform website.
Scarborough is still scheduled to speak at the BDC Women in Technology Bootcamp at Startupfest in Montréal on July 9, according to the event’s agenda. She also participated in events during Toronto Tech Week, including The Founder’s Collective on Thursday, a dinner for women entrepreneurs hosted by tech community organization TechTO and BDC.
“I’m so thankful to Michelle for all that she’s done for me and Canadian women entrepreneurs,” Marie Chevrier Schwartz, CEO of TechTO, told BetaKit. “Her leadership and mentorship will have a lasting impact on me and the community.”
Scarborough was a board member of notable women-led Canadian companies, such as autonomous vehicle startup Waabi, construction tech company Bridgit, and textile manufacturer SRTX, originally founded by Katherine Homuth. Scarborough is also a class of 2026 Kauffman Fellow, according to her LinkedIn profile, which is a two-year executive education and development program for global VC leaders.
With files from Josh Scott and Douglas Soltys. Feature image courtesy BDC.
