Nurturing growth
Our experienced team seeks to best align and leverage relationships throughout the TELUS organization and its extensive ecosystem to accelerate growth initiatives and maximize the potential for long-term value creation for our portfolio companies.
Our team
Terry Doyle
Managing Partner & Vice President
About Terry
Terry has an impressive network and track record of success in senior roles in corporate development and operations, with industry experience in telecommunications, software and consumer electronics. He’s the founder of Amicita Capital, an early-stage venture fund investing in the future of work.
Terry is a Canadian at heart, having played a key governance role in C100 – a non-profit, member-driven association of Canadian thought-leaders committed to supporting and accelerating the innovation economy in Canada. Terry also has extensive international experience leading successful partnership and M&A activities in Asia and Europe for multinationals like British Telecom, Nokia and Microsoft, as well as high growth startups like Checkr.
Terry holds a CLB (Bachelor of Civil Law) and LLB from McGill University and is a member of the Institute of Directors in the UK, the Law Society of England and Wales, and the Law Society of Upper Canada. He lives in California and enjoys cycling, travel and competitive sailing.
Brian Martin
Partner & Investment Director
About Brian
Brian is a technology director responsible for leading investments in smart cities, IoT, 5G and security for TELUS Ventures. Brian is an experienced VC investor with expertise in go-to-market for early stage companies, and as an engineer, he applies both a strategic and technical lens when evaluating investment opportunities and guiding portfolio companies. Brian’s portfolio companies have had exits to Splunk, Planet Labs, VMware and IMS Health.
Prior to joining TELUS Ventures, Brian was a Principal at Vanedge Capital for 5 years and previously served as Chief Security Officer at BC Hydro, where he led overall security policy development and implementation for the province’s electrical system. Brian is a trained engineer, with a bachelor’s degree in electrical, electronics and communications engineering from the University of Alberta, and he holds a Professional Engineer certification from the New York State Education Department.
When he’s not volunteering for Big Brothers or in the LGBTQ+ community, Brian can be found skiing or snowboarding Vancouver’s North Shore mountains or enjoying live music at festivals around the world. Brian is a Chartered Financial Analyst, a member of the CVCA committee on International Affairs and holds an MBA from the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University.
Martin Cheski
Partner & Investment Director
About Martin
Martin Cheski is an Investment Director at TELUS Ventures where he leads portfolio strategy and advises growth stage companies as they scale their business within the TELUS ecosystem.
Martin was previously Director-Investment Management at TELUS Communications. From 2012 through 2022, Martin directed over $35B of investment in market development, technologies and infrastructure across core telecom, health, agtech and emerging businesses delivering world class ROIC and growth.
Martin is a CPA, CMA and has board observer status with a number of TELUS Ventures portfolio companies
Omair Shah
Partner & Director, Strategic Portfolio Development
About Omair
Omair leads strategic portfolio development activities for TELUS Ventures. Drawing on his knowledge of TELUS’ business units, their strategic goals and existing capabilities, Omair helps determine priority investment areas and ensures that active opportunities are in alignment with the broader organization. He also plays a key role in the success of TELUS Ventures’ portfolio companies, working closely with founders and executives on value creation initiatives and helping them scale.
Prior to joining TELUS Ventures, Omair was a Partner at Boston Consulting Group, where he was focused on driving large scale transformation and growth opportunities for telecommunication clients around the world. Over 14 years, Omair focused on business diversification, change and stakeholder management, advanced analytics and go-to-market program design and implementation. He is particularly passionate about helping organizations proactively tackle disruption and grow sustainably.
Omair has lived and worked all over the world - on every continent but Antarctica. He now calls Toronto home and spends his free time helping decorate cakes at his wife’s bakery. When he’s not decorating, Omair can be found spending time and energy with his young children.
Omair holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BSBA with a major in accounting and finance from the American University of Sharjah.
Chris Robertson
Partner & Investment Director
About Chris
Chris is responsible for leading investments in Connected Consumer, as well as IoT, smart cities, and other innovative future-forward foundational technologies for TELUS Ventures.
Before joining TELUS Ventures in 2018, Chris provided M&A and capital raising transaction advice to global technology companies at Cardin Partners and prior to that, advised Canadian technology companies at Garibaldi Capital Advisors. He also has experience at a PE/VC firm investing in and acquiring high-growth technology businesses, as well as operational experience within a FinTech portfolio company. Vancouver-born and now living in Toronto, Chris spends his free time standing in the middle of rivers or exploring all that the diverse and multicultural city has to offer, but remains loyal to his hometown as a devoted Vancouver Canucks and Whitecaps fan.
Chris serves as director and observer on a number of portfolio company boards, including OhmConnect, Sense Labs, Emesent, TechSee, Panache Ventures, and Unmanned Life, among others. He is a CFA Charterholder and holds a BCom from the Sauder School of Business.
Rohit Nuwal
Partner & Investment Director
About Rohit
Rohit is an investment director responsible for leading investments in Healthtech, as well as supporting coverage of other innovative future-forward foundational technologies for TELUS Ventures. An experienced VC investor, Rohit helps portfolio companies with their strategy agendas and growth initiatives, not shying away from rolling up his sleeves.
Prior to joining TELUS Ventures, Rohit was leading the strategic investments for Bertelsmann where he was also leading the corporate development & strategy mandates for Bertelsmann India group. More recently, he had been building digital SBU within a large family owned conglomerate as Vice President.
Previously, he was a management consultant with Boston Consulting Group & Accenture Strategy advising tech, media, consumer goods & retail clients. He started his career in brand management, sales & distribution with one of the largest FMCG companies in Asia.
India raised, Rohit is an avid yoga practitioner and is also a certified yoga trainer. He has an MBA from ISB & holds a Masters degree in economics.
Prior to joining TELUS Ventures, Rohit was leading the strategic investments for Bertelsmann where he was also leading the corporate development & strategy mandates for Bertelsmann India group. More recently, he had been building digital SBU within a large family owned conglomerate as Vice President.
Previously, he was a management consultant with Boston Consulting Group & Accenture Strategy advising tech, media, consumer goods & retail clients. He started his career in brand management, sales & distribution with one of the largest FMCG companies in Asia.
India raised, Rohit is an avid yoga practitioner and is also a certified yoga trainer. He has an MBA from ISB & holds a Masters degree in economics.
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Ravit Warsha Dor
Partner & Investment Director, Israel
About Ravit
Ravit leads TELUS Ventures in Israel, one of the most vibrant venture ecosystems globally, to actively drive new solutions across the entire TELUS ecosystem, with focus on innovative technologies in AgTech, Digital Health, Consumer Connectivity, IoT, 5G, and Business Enablement Platforms.
Ravit was previously Partner and head of Israel at Kamet Ventures, a €200m Insurtech, Health and Mobility venture-studio backed by AXA insurance. Prior to Kamet, Ravit headed Digital Health Innovation at the Israeli Ministry of Health.
A native of the Israeli tech ecosystem, Ravit started out as an engineer in media and telecom startups, and later moved to head R&D teams, product management, and business development. Her experience includes co-founding a biofeedback start-up and consulting with a variety of leading Healthcare Organizations and Multinational Companies.
Ravit began her career in the Israeli Army Intelligence unit 8200 and holds degrees from Tel-Aviv University (B.Sc. Bioinformatics) and Cambridge University, UK (MBA).
Ravit was previously Partner and head of Israel at Kamet Ventures, a €200m Insurtech, Health and Mobility venture-studio backed by AXA insurance. Prior to Kamet, Ravit headed Digital Health Innovation at the Israeli Ministry of Health.
A native of the Israeli tech ecosystem, Ravit started out as an engineer in media and telecom startups, and later moved to head R&D teams, product management, and business development. Her experience includes co-founding a biofeedback start-up and consulting with a variety of leading Healthcare Organizations and Multinational Companies.
Ravit began her career in the Israeli Army Intelligence unit 8200 and holds degrees from Tel-Aviv University (B.Sc. Bioinformatics) and Cambridge University, UK (MBA).
Tanmay Bharghava
Principal
About Tanmay
Tanmay leads investments in agriculture, food, consumer goods and supply chain tech for TELUS Ventures. He is enthusiastic about global food systems, their challenges and opportunities therein. He applies his experience in production and supply chain technologies to source, invest in and support companies that are transforming the agri-food ecosystem for a better, sustainable future.
Tanmay has donned hats of an investor and a startup executive. Previously, he was an early employee and member of the senior leadership at Intello Labs, an agtech SaaS startup disrupting post-harvest quality and grading in the fresh produce industry. At Intello, he initiated operations in the Asia Pacific region and led its expansion for over three years. Prior to that, he was a part of the investment team at a NY-based fund, raising and deploying capital in promising growth companies located in underinvested areas of the United States.
Outside work, he likes to read physics and natural philosophy or practice archery. He loves to do geeky activities with his eight-year-old daughter. Tanmay holds an MBA with honors from NYU's Stern School of Business and is also an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay.
Sophie Ngo
Senior Associate
About Sophie
Sophie is responsible for transaction due diligence and portfolio monitoring, with a focus on data analytics and insights. Sophie leverages data collected across the portfolio and from external sources to provide the team and portfolio companies with visualization tools and actionable insights.
She draws on her previous experience in business valuation and financial modelling to support data-driven decision making at TELUS Ventures. Prior to joining TELUS Ventures in 2021, Sophie was a manager at PwC Deals. Sophie spent the past two years focused on using data analytics and visualization to help companies benchmark against their peers and understand and improve their performance.
Born in Vietnam and now living in Vancouver, Sophie is a co-chair of the Candidate Committee of the CFA Society of Vancouver and a Young Partner at Social Venture Partners Vancouver. In her spare time, you can find Sophie hiking in the mountains or cycling through them as she trains for another Gran Fondo. Avid road cyclists, she and her husband have completed three races, including the GranFondo Whistler.
Sophie received her MBA with a focus in strategy and finance from the University of British Columbia. She is a CFA Charterholder and a Chartered Business Valuator.
Chetan Srivastava
Senior Associate
About Chetan
Chetan is a Senior Associate at Telus Ventures, focused on working with TELUS business units to develop key investment themes, conduct due diligence on target companies, and drive value creation back to TELUS by proactively engaging with portfolio companies post-investment.
Prior to joining Telus Ventures, Chetan was an Investment Associate at the CVC/Family office of one of the largest media conglomerates in Asia. He focused on investments and exits across EdTech, AR/VR, Enterprise SaaS, and Cybersecurity in North America and Western Europe. Chetan has also worked as a buy-side Analyst for a boutique Investment Bank and within the Risk Advisory practice at one of the Big 4 firms.
Chetan holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics and Mathematics from the University of Delhi and a Master's degree in Finance from the Schulich School of Business.
Based in Toronto, Chetan is passionate about running marathons, biking, and cooking. He is also an avid Formula 1 fan and never misses an opportunity to catch a race on a Sunday morning.
Prior to joining Telus Ventures, Chetan was an Investment Associate at the CVC/Family office of one of the largest media conglomerates in Asia. He focused on investments and exits across EdTech, AR/VR, Enterprise SaaS, and Cybersecurity in North America and Western Europe. Chetan has also worked as a buy-side Analyst for a boutique Investment Bank and within the Risk Advisory practice at one of the Big 4 firms.
Chetan holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics and Mathematics from the University of Delhi and a Master's degree in Finance from the Schulich School of Business.
Based in Toronto, Chetan is passionate about running marathons, biking, and cooking. He is also an avid Formula 1 fan and never misses an opportunity to catch a race on a Sunday morning.
Rob Freele
Senior Associate, Strategic Portfolio Development
About Rob
Rob plays a central role on the Strategic Portfolio Development team. His priorities include partnering with TELUS BUs to refine their business strategy, identifying investment themes and targets, executing due diligence, and overseeing post-investment value realization.
Prior to joining TELUS Ventures, Rob spent seven years across a variety of professional service roles including strategy consulting, private equity and restructuring. He also spent 2 years leading early stage startups - first joining a seed-stage startup in Berlin, and more recently founding a blockchain analytics startup. In his role as an investor, he is passionate about identifying and accelerating disruptive innovation, and supporting founders along their growth journey.
Outside of the office, Rob enjoys staying active - at the gym or outdoors, going to live music events, cooking, reading, and spending time with friends and family. He holds a Bachelors in Medical Science from Western University, as well as an HBA and MSc in International Management from Ivey Business School.
Anthony Lam
Investment Associate
About Anthony
Anthony is a member of the TELUS Financial Management Development Program (FMDP). At TELUS Ventures, he will be responsible for further developing the firm’s portfolio performance database. As well, he will support the development of investment theses for all of TELUS Ventures’ focus areas, review investment opportunities, and contribute to strategic governance initiatives.
Now in his third, and final FMDP rotation, Anthony’s experience with other TELUS business units enables him to recognize opportunities for strategic alignment with TELUS Ventures investment prospects. In his time spent with TELUS Risk Management, he engaged in various organization-wide business audits, most notably becoming the first FMDP member to lead an audit engagement towards theend of his rotation. As part of TELUS’s Corporate Shared Services FP&A team, he managed and forecasted operational spend across several business units, including TELUS Ventures.
Anthony is a graduate of the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia and passed his CPA Common Final Exam in 2020.
Mike Titkov
Investment Associate
About Mike
Mike is an Investment Associate supporting the TELUS Health and Consumer portfolios. Mike will lead the investment deal team supporting the Consumer portfolio in addition to providing coverage for TELUS Health. Mike’s mandate will expand to strategically investing in the most advanced and innovative solutions that have the potential to drive significant growth, impact, and scale and are strategically aligned to the broader TELUS mandate.
Mike was previously an investment associate at Volaris Group, the strategic investment arm of Constellation Software. At Volaris, Mike led a corporate development team and was responsible for the origination and execution of investments in horizontal software companies. Prior to this, Mike was a consultant at EY advising tech companies and financial institutions.
Residing in Toronto, Mike is a big fan of outdoor activities, including tennis and soccer in summer and snowboarding in winter.
Mike has an MBA from Rotman & holds BSc in economics from LSE.
Mary Ma
Associate, Strategic Portfolio Development
About Mary
Mary is a graduate of the TELUS Pre-Approved CPA Rotational Program. At TELUS Ventures, she is responsible for the development of the firm’s investment themes. She also supports the investment due diligence process in terms of the value creation back to TELUS and helps engage with portfolio companies post-investment to maintain commercial partnerships.
From the Rotational Program, Mary’s experience with other TELUS business units enables her to recognize opportunities for strategic alignment with TELUS Ventures investment prospects. During her previous rotations, she initiated revenue recovery projects of up to $9M in Revenue Assurance as well as finding $2.7M worth of savings through her investigative work on the Mobility Winback program in Consumer Small Business (CSB) Revenue. She also contributed to month- and year-end reporting for the TELUS Technology Strategy Business Transformation (TSBT) team.
Mary is a FUNance Prime for the TELUS Corporate Affairs & Finance (CA&F) Community in Ontario as well as a CA&F Photo Influencer and ensures that all participants have the opportunity to take part in social activities throughout the year. She is a graduate of Rotman Commerce at the University of Toronto and passed her CPA Common Final Exam in 2020.
Living in Mississauga, Mary spends her downtime transcribing music, singing, skating and exploring the city’s parks.
Katherine Nicanorova
Portfolio Finance & Operations Manager
About Katherine
Katherine leads finance & operations for TELUS Ventures & The Pollinator Fund for Good delivering insights, portfolio direction and operational recommendations.
Katherine was previously an Investment Associate for BDC Capital’s Deep Tech Venture Fund, a $200M venture capital fund, investing in science and engineering heavy technologies in quantum, microelectronics, robotics.
She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Economics from McGill University and a micro-masters degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Data, Economics, and Development Policy. Recently, she completed her Masters in Quantitative Management from NYU Stern while she was working full time.
Katherine is based in Montreal.
To submit a general enquiry, obtain contact information for one of our team members to discuss an investment opportunity or sign up for quarterly updates from TELUS Ventures, please contact us.
