Meet Our Team

Sunil is Managing Partner of Extreme Venture Partners, one of Canada’s most active early-stage VC funds. Sunil is also Managing Partner of Extreme Accelerator, an early-stage tech accelerator investing in some of the fastest-growing startups from across Canada and the world. Previously Sunil was a Managing Partner and co-founder of Extreme Startups (later merged with GrowLab to become Highline) where he lead more than 15 investments. Sunil is the Director of the Founder Institute - the world’s largest pre-accelerator operating in 100+ cities worldwide. In total Sunil has helped launch more than 100 new startups in the past 5 years.

Lauren is the Global Operations Director for HIGHLINE, a pre-seed VC with offices in Vancouver and Toronto. She evaluates deal flow, manages the portfolio, oversees national programming, grows key partnerships and helps drive new platform initiatives to better support portfolio founders. Previously she led operations at Extreme Startups, where she led Toronto + NYC programming, managed portfolio operations and created new founder development initiatives. Prior that, she spent the early part of her career in Investment Banking, helping companies drive growth through mergers, acquisitions & equity financing. Lauren is passionate about blending her past enterprise transactional experience and global entrepreneurial ambitions to help startups and corporates connect to spark innovation. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University in Finance and Entrepreneurship.

Jonathan is a serial entrepreneur, active angel investor, board member and speaker. Jonathan currently invests out of, Stanley Park Ventures, Oak Mason Investments and Flight International. In addition to his investing efforts, Jonathan has been active with several non-profit organizations and currently is involved in New Ventures BC and Launch Academy. Jonathan is a founder and on the Board of Advisors of HIGHLINE.VC a VC backed Co-Venture Platform with programming in four cities (Vancouver, Toronto, San Francisco, New York). HIGHLINE is a merger of GrowLab and Extreme Startups. Jonathan was the Executive Director of GrowLab before merging with Extreme Startups.

Brad Mix, originally from Edmonton Alberta, is a graduate from the University of British Columbia with a Bachelor of Commerce degree. Brad is the Senior Director at Innovation PEI; responsible for the growth of the Aerospace, Bioscience & Food Processing, and Information Technology sectors in the Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada. Since 2007, Brad and his team of business development professionals have attracted over 60 new investments into Prince Edward Island earning the Province an A+ rating for attracting Greenfield Investment and Job Creation in the 2014 Conference Board of Canada Provincial Survey. Brad is a Director and Board Member of LaunchPad PEI which is a designated incubator under the Start-Up Visa Program. LaunchPad PEI offers a variety of services for Start-Up Companies and has graduated 10 companies that currently employ over 200 people in Prince Edward Island.

Gary Brownstone has a depth of international experience in growing companies in several verticals. Specializing in bringing both operational strength and investment to companies has led to the creation of Catchfire, a late-stage, hands on accelerator that invests both money and management in businesses seeking accelerated growth. Gary is a Member of the Board of Directors at Composites Innovation Centre, the Canadian Association of Business Incubators, and four privately held companies. Gary received his MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business, at the University of Western Ontario.

Peter is the President and CEO of Toronto Business Development Centre. Peter brings over 30 years of experience working in the incubation and acceleration industry with Nova Scotia’s Department of Economic Development, of which 19 years were with Innovacorp. Peter has an eMBA and a Master’s Degree in Management from Lansbridge University. He has a certificate in Project Management and Project Scheduling.

Andre Garber is Director of the Dentons Canada Startup Program, a program designed to successfully launch startups into the marketplace. Based in Dentons’ Toronto office, Andre practices corporate law with a strong focus on the technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) sectors. He advises startups and entrepreneurs on a broad spectrum of legal matters, from commercial arrangements to capital raising and exit strategies. He has an expertise in fund formation and cross-border mergers and acquisitions.

Sunny is a strategic marketing and communications professional with 10 years of experience in the technology, financial services and manufacturing industries. She has been an Advisor at the National Crowdfunding Association of Canada since 2013 and was one of its founding members, focused mainly on community building, digital strategy and event production. She also consults independently for startups, small businesses and non-profits on fundraising, crowdfunding and business strategy. Sunny graduated from the Schulich School of Business at York University in 2014, specializing in Entrepreneurial Studies and also has a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of British Columbia.

Prior to joining CABI, Kailin worked for the federal Minister of Industry and the Minister of the Immigration, Citizenship and Multiculturalism. Kailin is involved in numerous activities that support the entrepreneurial community in Canada and is the co-founder of the Canada China Innovation Network. Kailin has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of British Columbia and is finishing her last year of law school at the University of Toronto.