OMERS promotes Laura Lenz to lead venture capital unit

OMERS promotes Laura Lenz to lead venture capital unit SEAN SILCOFF TECHNOLOGY REPORTER PUBLISHED 1 HOUR AGO Open this photo in gallery: Laura Lenz is a veteran early-stage capital investor who joined OMERS Ventures in 2019 and oversaw its Canadian investments. SUPPLIED COMMENTS SHARE SAVE FOR LATER Listen to this article Learn more about audio Log in or create a free account to listen to this article. Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System has appointed Laura Lenz to head its venture capital arm, the fourth person to hold the job in just over three years, while signalling a continued commitment to backing Canadian technology founders. Ms. Lenz, a veteran early-stage capital investor who joined OMERS Ventures in 2019 and oversaw its Canadian investments, replaces Saar Pikar, who left in July after just one year on the job to lead Kensington Capital Partners Ltd. He in turn had replaced Michael Yang, who departed two years after replacing Damien Steel, who left in 2023 to lead climate technology startup Deep Sky Corp. “We have a fantastic track record in Canada, and I’m excited to continue building,” said Ms. Lenz, who started her career as an associate with BMO Capital Markets before taking on investor roles at EdgeStone Capital Partners, MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund and Geoff Beattie-led Generation Ventures. “I know the people, I know our portfolio, I know our strategy.” OMERS private capital head Michael Block said in an interview: “We have tremendous confidence in her and her whole team. She is very thoughtful and conscious about risk. She’s built a great network of relationships with founders in Canada and has a great reputation.” OMERS Ventures started in 2011 when then-CEO Michael Nobrega brought on John Ruffolo to back promising Canadian tech entrepreneurs. The timing was ideal. While the Canadian venture capital industry was reeling following the retreat of institutional investors during the 2008-09 credit crisis, the tech startup world was rife with opportunity, as smartphones, cloud computing and artificial intelligence proliferated. OMERS Ventures made early bets on future Canadian champions including Shopify Inc. SHOP-T +2.41% increase , Xanadu Quantum Technologies Ltd. XNDU-T -4.39% decrease and Hopper Inc. It expanded to Britain and the United States and began managing third-party capital before Mr. Ruffolo departed in 2018. But OMERS Ventures’ relative prominence in the ecosystem faded as other domestic tech…