Raphael Christian-Roy

Background

About Raphael Christian-Roy

Raphael is a VC, Founder & Startup Operator and Adventure Enthusiast, who is currently working on diverse projects, advising and consulting for new investment funds and important ecosystem players. He spent the past 7 years building new types of investment vehicles and raising VC funds to invest in Canada’s most promising tech founders. Raph Co-Founded Front Row Ventures, Canada’s first university-focused venture capital firm; and up to late 2021, he was the CEO of the firm. He’s a product geek that is first and foremost passionate about creating outstanding technologies that enhance people's lives, especially consumer-centric ones. An entrepreneur since childhood, Raph went from owning a car garage to a window-cleaning business to a tech startup — all before he hit twenty. A software engineer who is passionate about creating outstanding technologies that enhance people's lives, Raph has also been advising and mentoring founders through programs like VentureLAB, NextAI, CDL, MindFrame Connect, and tech-focused events including Startup Weekends, and hackathons. He also worked on Real Ventures’ early-stage investment team for almost 5 years, from 2017 to late 2021. Real is Canada's most active seed venture capital fund. The firm invests throughout the life-cycle of early-stage companies and provides stage-appropriate capital and support for the founders it backs. Prior to FRV, Raph was a Product Manager partnering with forward-thinking startups and companies. When he’s not working on building startups or the tech ecosystem, Raph can be found skiing, snowboarding or coding his newest product idea.