CEO Message

June has been an exciting and busy month for Profound Impact!

I am thrilled and grateful to welcome a group of female investors, including many who are first-time investors, into our network as part of our latest funding round. Women need opportunities to invest and grow their portfolios, and I’m proud that so many made the decision to make their first-time investment in Profound Impact, sending a clear message of confidence in the company’s vision and the team’s leadership!

We are also pleased to announce the launch of Profound Impact’s inaugural Board of Directors, composed of distinguished business leaders with a wealth of skills and diverse backgrounds. Joining me, as founder, president and CEO of Profound Impact, this experienced board, which will help guide the company toward its next phase of growth and success, includes:

Board Chair – Deborah Rosati, FCPA, FCA, ICD.D, GCB.D, CCB.D: An award-winning corporate director and entrepreneur and founder of Women Get On Board.

Board Director – Sharon Castelino, MBA, LLM, ICD.D: An award-winning financial services executive and corporate director with three decades of experience in multiple sectors and across global jurisdictions.

Corporate Secretary – Kasia Malz, CPA, CA, MAcc.:  In addition to her role as CFO, Kasia will serve as corporate secretary for the board of directors.

We were excited to present and demonstrate our Research Impact product at Collision in Toronto from June 26 to 29. As this conference brings together global technology leaders and companies, high-potential start-ups and top journalists to participate in more than 20 content tracks, Collision was the ideal venue for showcasing Research Impact’s capacity to serve as a matchmaker for collaborators and researchers to connect with industry partners and government granting agencies. In addition to demonstrations in our booth, I was pleased to present the benefits of Research Impact along with Deloitte partner Jigna Shah on the AWS StartUp Loft Theatre stage. You can learn more about Research Impact and our participation in Collision in this newsletter.

This month’s Impact Story profiles Shann McGrail, Chief Executive Officer of the Haltech Regional Innovation Centre. You’ll learn how Shann uses both her extensive experience in the technology sector and her improv skills to lead Haltech in its mission to serve as a strategic connector and educator for start-ups in Halton and across Ontario.

Finally, we have received impressive nominations for the Impactful Action Awards. Thanks to all who let us know about incredible people around the world making a great impact!

Thank you for connecting with us and the Profound Impact community!

Sherry Shannon-Vanstone

Profound Impact Exceeds First Tranche of Financing Round Led by Female Investors

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PROFOUND IMPACT™ CORPORATION EXCEEDS FIRST TRANCHE OF FINANCING ROUND LED BY FEMALE INVESTORS

The company on target to close the second tranche of the $3 million round in August 

WATERLOO, ON | June 15, 2023 — A group of female investors, including many who are first-time investors, is leading the way for Profound Impact™ Corporation’s latest funding round. 

The first round of financing closed on May 5, 2023 and included more than $2.2 million in seed funding for the company. The participation of first-time female investors sends a clear message of confidence in Profound Impact’s vision and the team’s leadership. The company will be closing the remainder of the $3 million when the second tranche closes on Aug. 4, 2023. 

“As the leader of a female-founded company, I am thrilled and grateful to welcome these investors into our network,” says Sherry Shannon-Vanstone, Founder and CEO of Profound Impact. “Women need opportunities to invest and grow their portfolios, and I’m proud that so many made the decision to make their first-time investment in Profound Impact.”

Profound Impact is poised to continue its growth in the Canadian market, and this latest funding will allow the company to expand into the United States and internationally.  

“Congratulations to Sherry and Profound Impact on this closing. As an angel investor in women-led ventures, I’m excited to see more women invest at the seed level. Women founders in North America face many systemic barriers in pre-seed, seed and venture finance. I firmly believe that raising awareness of the opportunities for women to invest in women-led ventures is key to helping us remove those barriers,” says Lara Zink, President & CEO, Women in Capital Markets.

“We are excited to see female investors committed to growing their portfolios and unlocking financial opportunities in the innovation sector,” says Ken Grewal, Founder and CEO, Forthlane Partners. “It is vitally important that financial education and opportunities are available to women and all investors interested in growing their portfolios.”    

“It is gratifying to finally see so many women stepping up to steer their financial futures. Investments by women for women in Canada’s female-founded companies not only bridges identified funding gaps, but also builds a future for female entrepreneurs,” says Anne-Marie Canning, cultural entrepreneur and investor in Profound Impact. 

“Many women want to invest in the tech sector, but face difficulties in taking the first steps into the investment space. Connecting female investors to female entrepreneurs helps empower women across the tech industry to find success,” says Claudette McGowan, Co-founder of The Firehood. “I was pleased to support Profound Impact in this funding round and will follow along closely as their company continues to grow.” 

Profound Impact, which operates out of the Toronto-Waterloo technology corridor, offers Research Impact, an AI-powered tool that helps academic and industry researchers find the perfect funding match. More than just a search engine, Research Impact offers automatic, targeted and timely grant matching.

This phase of investment represents an important step along Profound Impact’s growth trajectory. The company has made significant strides over the past few months, including hiring Kasia Malz as Chief Financial Officer and forming an Inaugural Board of Directors. 

“As a serial entrepreneur, I admire Sherry’s strong vision of ‘connecting great people to great things,’” says Deborah Rosati, Chair of Profound Impact’s Board of Directors. “I invested in the company and believe that my experience in technology start-ups/scale-ups, commitment to good governance, financial expertise, and venture capital experience will bring value to the company as it scales.”

This female-led investment sends a strong message to the investment community that women will step up to support and invest in women-founded and led companies.

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ABOUT PROFOUND IMPACT CORPORATION 

Based in the Toronto-Waterloo technology corridor, Profound Impact’s AI-powered tool – Research Impact – helps academic and industry researchers find the perfect funding match. With over $300 Billion in research funding opportunities, 100,000s industry partners and 8.8 Million researchers globally, finding the optimal grant for academic and industry innovators is often overwhelming and unnecessarily time-consuming.  More than just a search engine, Research Impact offers automatic, targeted and timely matching.  Profound Impact’s customers include top North American research institutions, universities and industry partners.  CEO and Founder Sherry Shannon-Vanstone is a serial technology entrepreneur with an unparalleled track record.  She has had five successful start-ups and exits in Silicon Valley and Canada, including two IPOs and acquisitions.  

Website: www.profoundimpact.com 

Facebook: @aprofoundimpact

Instagram: @aprofoundimpact 

LinkedIn: Profound Impact Corporation

Twitter: @aprofoundimpact

For media inquiries, please contact:

Durrell Communications

media@profoundimpact.com 

PROFOUND IMPACT™ CORPORATION ANNOUNCES INAUGURAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Deborah Rosati and Sharon Castelino join Profound Impact’s first board of directors.

WATERLOO, ON | JUNE 6, 2023 —Profound Impact™ Corporation is a leader in AI-powered solutions including Research Impact, an optimization platform that matches research grants with academic and industry researchers. Today, Profound Impact is pleased to announce the launch of its inaugural board of directors. Composed of distinguished business leaders with a wealth of skills and diverse backgrounds, this experienced board of directors will help guide Profound Impact toward its next phase of growth and success.

The members of Profound Impact’s board of directors include:

Board Chair – Deborah Rosati, FCPA, FCA, ICD.D, GCB.D, CCB.D: An award-winning corporate director and entrepreneur defined in three interconnected ways throughout her 35-year career – as a corporate governance champion, catalyst for change and community builder. In June 2023, Deborah was bestowed an honorary Doctorate of Laws by Brock University, her alma mater, recognizing her significant contributions and social impact.

Board Director – Sharon Castelino, MBA, LLM, ICD.D: An award-winning financial services executive and corporate director with three decades of experience in multiple sectors and across global jurisdictions, including institutional banks, capital markets and technology.  Sharon earned her MBA from the Ivey Business School, receiving the prestigious Ivey Scholar, and her Master of Laws (Business), from Osgoode Hall Law School.

Corporate Secretary – Kasia Malz, CPA, CA, MAcc.:  In addition to her role as CFO, Kasia will serve as corporate secretary for the board of directors.

Founder, President & CEO – Sherry Shannon-Vanstone, BS, MS Mathematics, LLD

“We are pleased to bring industry veterans who will add tremendous value with their expertise in technology, business and corporate governance to drive our growth strategy,” says Sherry Shannon-Vanstone, Founder and CEO of Profound Impact. “Also, congratulations to Deborah on her honorary doctorate from Brock University! I had the privilege of receiving my honorary doctorate from the University of Western Ontario in 2019 and know what a special honour it truly is.”

With this new board, Profound Impact is poised for explosive growth and sustainable success as a leading AI-powered platform in the $300 billion research funding market. “We are excited to make an impact by ‘connecting great people to do great things,’” says Deborah Rosati, Board Chair.

ABOUT PROFOUND IMPACT CORPORATION 

Based in the Toronto-Waterloo technology corridor, Profound Impact’s AI-powered tool – Research Impact – helps academic and industry researchers find the perfect funding match. With over $300 Billion in research funding opportunities, 100,000s industry partners and 8.8 Million researchers globally, finding the optimal grant for academic and industry innovators is often overwhelming and unnecessarily time-consuming.  More than just a search engine, Research Impact offers automatic, targeted and timely matching.  Profound Impact’s customers include top North American research institutions, universities and industry partners.  CEO and Founder Sherry Shannon-Vanstone is a serial technology entrepreneur with an unparalleled track record.  She has had five successful start-ups and exits in Silicon Valley and Canada, including two IPOs and acquisitions.  

Website: www.profoundimpact.com 

Facebook: @aprofoundimpact

Instagram: @aprofoundimpact 

LinkedIn: Profound Impact Corporation

Twitter: @aprofoundimpact

For media inquiries, please contact:

Durrell Communications

media@profoundimpact.com

CEO Message

The application of technology in healthcare has increased significantly since the advent of COVID 19 in 2020. This month’s newsletter highlights the role of health informatics, which combines communication, information technology and health care to transform and greatly improve patient care through the sharing of information, accurate and timely diagnoses and treatments and personalized medicine.  You’ll learn about interdisciplinary research in areas including big data, environmental and global health, patient monitoring and acceptance and adoption of technologies for health management.  And you’ll meet Dr. Helen Chen of the Professional Practice Centre in Health Systems at the University of Waterloo who works with health care sector partners and professional staff and faculty from the University of Waterloo to tackle interesting and important real-world problems.

This month’s Impact Story highlights the work of Lily Pourzand, who came to Canada from Iran in 1999 in search of political safety and personal freedom.  A finalist for the 2023 Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards, Lily is a passionate and outstanding advocate for girls and women, both in Canada and around the world, as she works to create community linkages and establish relationships with stakeholders, organizations, funders and policymakers to bring positive social changes.

The Profound Impact team is planning for a busy June and we hope to see you at one of the events we’ll be participating in this month. We’re proud to sponsor the CS-CAN 2023 conference at McGill University from June 5 to 9.  Our team will be in Montreal to meet with computer science researchers and students from across Canada.  We’ll also be taking part in the Collision 2023 conference at the Enercare Centre in Toronto, from June 26 to 29 as part of the Startup Alpha program.  And I’ll be presenting, in conjunction with Deloitte, on the AWS stage at the conference.

Nominations are open until June 14th for our Impactful Action Awards. We believe that one profound impact leads to another and that’s why the recipients of our awards will be able to select a charity of their choice for a donation made by Profound Impact.  To make a nomination, or learn more about the awards, please click here: https://news.profoundimpact.com/…/2023-impactful…/

Finally, we are pleased to announce the appointment of Kasia Malz to Profound Impact as Chief Financial Officer. Kasia joined the Profound Impact team in April and brings more than 15 years of experience working in diverse financial leadership roles in start-up and high-growth environments. She received both her Masters of Accounting and Honours Bachelor of Mathematics from the University of Waterloo, holds a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA) designation and is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the state of Illinois. Adding Kasia as our CFO signals a time of growth, expansion and investment here at Profound Impact and we know that she will be an invaluable member of our team as we grow.

We look forward to receiving your nominations for the Impactful Action Awards and to meeting you at the CS-CAN conference in Montreal and the Collision conference in Toronto.  Thank you for connecting with us and the Profound Impact community!

Sherry Shannon-Vanstone

Kasia Malz Appointed as CFO

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PROFOUND IMPACT™ CORPORATION APPOINTS KASIA MALZ 

AS CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

Malz brings 15 years of broad financial leadership experience in start-up and high-growth companies.

WATERLOO, ON | MAY 24, 2023 — Profound Impact™ Corporation is pleased to announce the appointment of Kasia Malz to the company as Chief Financial Officer.

Malz joined Profound Impact in April 2023 and brings more than 15 years of experience working in diverse financial leadership roles in start-up and high-growth environments. She holds her Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA) designation and is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the state of Illinois. Malz is no stranger to Waterloo Region and the surrounding area as she received both her Masters of Accounting and Honours Bachelor of Mathematics from the University of Waterloo. 

“Adding Kasia as our CFO signals a time of growth, expansion and investment here at Profound Impact,” says Sherry Shannon-Vanstone, Founder and CEO at Profound Impact. “We know Kasia will be an invaluable member of our team as we grow. We’re looking forward to her guidance as we continue this upward trajectory.”

Profound Impact, which operates out of the Toronto-Waterloo technology corridor, offers Research Impact, an AI-powered tool that helps academic and industry researchers find the perfect funding match. More than just a search engine, Research Impact offers automatic, targeted and timely grant matching.

Prior to joining Profound Impact, Malz spent four years as CFO of Titanium Transportation Group Inc. and two years as CFO of Next Hydrogen Solutions, both of which she took public, supported with multiple capital raises and grew through M&A. She currently sits on the board of the Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy at McMaster University and Nets for Net Zero and is an Executive in Residence with Foresight Canada.

“I’m honoured to be part of Profound Impact and incredibly passionate about our solution, which brings together industry and academia with government and other funding organizations,” Malz says. “Our work at Profound Impact will continue to innovate in matching research funding, and I’m looking forward to our team’s journey.”

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ABOUT PROFOUND IMPACT CORPORATION 

Profound Impact’s AI-powered tool, Research Impact, helps academic and industry researchers find the perfect funding match. With over $300B in funding, 100,000s industry partners and 8.8M researchers globally, finding a match between academia, industry and grants is often overwhelming and time-consuming. More than just a search engine, Research Impact offers automatic, targeted and timely matching. Our customers include top Canadian research institutions. Profound Impact’s CEO and Founder Sherry Shannon-Vanstone is a serial tech entrepreneur with an unparalleled track record in building high-performing teams and led start-ups to successful exits both in Silicon Valley and Canada with two IPOs and two acquisitions. The company is located in the Toronto-Waterloo technology corridor. Our Canadian and US team members are passionate about connecting great people to do great things while maximizing their worldwide impact.

Website: www.profoundimpact.com 

Facebook: @aprofoundimpact

Instagram: @aprofoundimpact 

LinkedIn: Profound Impact Corporation

Twitter: @aprofoundimpact

For media inquiries, please contact:

Durrell Communications

media@profoundimpact.com