A Calgary-based venture firm is putting serious money behind women entrepreneurs. The51, which invests in women-led companies across Canada, has reached the first close of its $30 million Fund III, with BMO signing on as the lead anchor investor alongside 17 women co-investors.

The fund focuses on three sectors — health, wealth, and work — where women are both the primary consumers and, historically, among the most underfunded founders. Women-led companies currently receive just two to four per cent of venture capital in Canada, despite consistently outperforming their peers, according to The51.

The co-anchor model itself is part of the point. By bringing together a group of women investors at the anchor level, The51 is deliberately shifting who holds decision-making power over where capital flows.

"The question is never whether that capital will move — it is where it will go," said Shelley Kuipers, co-founder and CEO of The51. "The51 exists to make sure it flows toward the women building what's next."

By 2028, Canadian women are projected to control nearly $4 trillion in financial assets. The51, which has already backed women founders through two previous funds, sees that as both an opportunity and a responsibility.