Behind the deal: Our investment in Brio

We are happy to announce our investment in Brio, a B2B SaaS company helping alternative asset managers and multi-family offices streamline investor onboarding, deal marketing, LP management, compliance and back-office operations.

Brio is the product of nearly a decade of firsthand experience navigating the operational complexities of managing LPs. Originally built internally for Brightspark Ventures, the platform has since evolved into a standalone company, field-tested, scalable, and ready to transform how fund managers operate.

Highlights

• Founded: 2024 (spun out from Brightspark Ventures)

• HQ: Montreal, QC

• Funding: March 2025 | $3M Seed Financing

• Investors: Led by Canso Innovations Ltd. and Walter GAM, with participation from Brightspark Ventures

The Story So Far
In 2016, Brightspark saw an opportunity to dramatically grow and diversify its LP base but realized that its existing processes would create unsustainable operational burdens. The team knew there had to be a better way, but nothing on the market fit their needs. So, they did what came naturally as VC entrepreneurs: built their own platform. Brightspark put together an internal team of operators that built Brio by tackling every pain point the firm faced firsthand. Whenever a process was slow, inefficient, costly, or created a poor LP experience, they built a feature set to fix it. What started as a simple investor portal grew into a comprehensive platform and the operational backbone for managing alternative assets.

As Brightspark’s sole back-office platform, Brio supported the firm’s scale to 4 VC funds, 45 SPVs, 1000+ Limited Partners and more than $500M in assets under its management. With more asset managers facing the similar scaling pain, Brio’s commercial potential became clear.

Fast forward to today, Brio is a standalone company helping leading alternative asset managers and multi-family offices streamline their own LP operations and scale without increasing headcount. The company allows asset managers to get rid of back-office inefficiencies and manual tasks while navigating regulatory compliance and fund structure complexities.

Our Thesis
Brio’s platform directly addresses the operational pain points faced by alternative asset managers and family offices. It enhances efficiency, streamlines compliance, and improves the investor experience by automating the complex workflows of LP management at scale. The platform supports a range of needs across the alternative asset management lifecycle, including deal-making, LP subscriptions, reporting and documentation, accounting support, compliance automation, partner ecosystem integrations, and security.

Demand for the platform has been strong, with other GP from the ecosystem such as VCs, PEs and real estate firms approaching Brightspark at first to leverage its platform. Brio has positioned itself as a key player in the market with its proven product and reliable capabilities and is well positioned to scale.

For nearly a decade, the founding team has been deeply involved in scaling LP operations, developing unique insights of GPs needs, managing expectations of LPs and the operational complexities that come with them.

Audrey Ostiguy, the CEO and co-founder, brings nearly a decade of experience in alternative asset compliance and operations, including her leadership as Chief Compliance Officer at Brightspark. She blends operational excellence with regulatory depth and a strong vision for scalable innovation.

Émilie Parker Jones, Brio’s CMO and co-founder, is a marketing leader who helped shape Brightspark’s investor community from the ground up. With a career rooted in challenging conventions and delivering clarity in complexity, she brings a rare combination of creative energy and executional precision to Brio’s growth strategy.

Ab Fadel, CTO and co-founder is a seasoned tech leader with a track record of successful startups and exits. Over the past decade, he has led the design and evolution of Brio’s platform with a deep understanding of both the user journey and the infrastructure required to scale securely and efficiently.

The team has worked together for years, and has demonstrated the kind of cohesion, experience and tenacity that Brightspark always looks for in founders.

The investment
Brio has raised a C$3 million dollar seed round Walter GAM and Canso Innovations Ltd. have collectively led the round, with Brightspark Ventures also re-investing through a dedicated SPV (powered by Brio’s own platform!).

This round will further support the team's growth and continued product development as Brio expands in the market of alternative asset management.

To learn more about Brio or request a demo, visit their website.