The51 Announces First Close of Fund III, Anchored by BMO
Lauren Robinson and Shelley Kuipers, The51 Fund III General Partners
The51 Fund III will back women founders building the future of health, wealth and work – among Canada’s most underinvested entrepreneurs
The51 is proud to announce the first close of Fund III, a $30 million fund investing in women founders building the future of health, wealth, and work.
BMO has committed as the fund’s lead anchor investor, joined by 17 women co-anchors from across the country, putting women’s capital and institutional capital to work side by side to unlock the economic power of women for Canada.
This is evidence of an economic opportunity long overlooked - women’s wealth and institutional capital, working together to direct investment into the future of health, wealth, and work: three sectors where women are both the primary consumers and the most underinvested founders.
By 2028, Canadian women are projected to control nearly $4 trillion in financial assets. The51 is the infrastructure that ensures that capital flows toward women-led innovation. The bottleneck has never been ambition or appetite. It has been architecture.
At BMO Wealth, we believe the next phase of growth will be driven by new perspectives, new ideas, and more inclusive access to capital. Anchoring The51 Fund III is a deliberate investment in that future by backing women founders who are building in critical sectors and unlocking innovation at scale. By widening participation in the economy, we’re not only advancing equity, we’re strengthening the competitiveness and resiliency of our industry and accelerating the long-term growth of Wealth.
— Amanda Custodio, Chief Growth Officer, BMO Financial Group
The51 Fund III, led by CEO & General Partner, Shelley Kuipers and Managing Partner, Lauren Robinson, is targeting a $30 million final close. Focused on the future of health, wealth, and work, the fund will invest in early- to growth-stage companies led by women founders across Canada. Women founders currently receive just 2–4% of venture capital in Canada, despite consistently outperforming their peers. Fund III is a direct bet on that opportunity, building on the track record of Fund I and Fund II.
The fund's co-anchor model is itself a statement: by convening a group of women investors at the anchor level, The51 is creating the very change it seeks to catalyze — ensuring that more women hold decision-making power over where capital flows.
“We have always known the appetite was there, from founders, from investors, from the women ready to put their capital alongside their values. Fund III is what it looks like when that appetite finally has a home. We are building the infrastructure Canada needs, and we are doing it together, to unlock the economic power of women for Canada”
— Shelley Kuipers, Co-Founder & CEO, The51
The first close of Fund III marks the next stage of The51’s ambition to unlock the economic power of women, moving capital into the ventures shaping industries and economies of the future.
The opportunity is clear. Women are building scalable companies. Women are controlling more wealth. Institutions are seeking access to differentiated markets, stronger innovation pipelines, and long-term growth.
Fund III brings those forces together.
Because when women founders have access to capital, companies scale. Markets grow. Ownership expands. And Canada’s economy becomes more competitive, more resilient, and more representative of the talent already building its future.
Our Women Co-Anchors
The fund’s 17 women co-anchors reflect the national scale of this opportunity, bringing together investors, operators, family office leaders, corporate directors, and economic builders from Victoria, Calgary, and Saskatoon to Toronto, Montreal and St John’s. They include Sonia Baxendale, Joanne Bourgault, Rachael Carswell, Nan DasGupta, Judy Goldring, Miranda Hubbs, Kerindeep Jaswal, Erin Lang, Jen McCain, Tracey McVicar, Colleen Moorehead, Gillian Riley, Susan Rimmer, Ann Glazier Rothwell, Karen Stewart, Anne Whelan, and Gisele Wilson.
“I believe two things deeply: that women in Canada deserve equal access to venture capital, and that women are stronger when they build together. Fund III and The51 bring both of those beliefs to life. We are putting real dollars behind women-led companies, and we are building a community where founders, investors, and champions show up for each other — because access to capital and access to community should never be out of reach for any woman.”
— Gillian Riley, Founder, The Scotiabank Women Initiative
“The51 is where community and capital converge, and that’s an exciting place to be. Re-balancing an ecosystem takes courage and conviction and I’m grateful to be alongside.”
— Jen McCain, Board Director, Advisor, Family Office Principal
“When women founders, investors and leaders work together to reshape the capital ecosystem, expect great results. The51 combines all three in an extraordinary community which I am proud to support, as a business founder, as an investor in Fund III, and as a woman.”
— Gisele Wilson, Founder, CI Coriel Capital (now Corient)