Sandpiper Ventures

Rhiannon Davies has over 22 years of international business leadership across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Based in Halifax, she serves as a mentor and angel investor and is building a regional venture fund to promote diversity in the early-stage ecosystem.

Sarah Young is a venture capitalist and founding general partner of Sandpiper Ventures. Before starting Sandpiper, she advised CEOs, boards, and governments on business growth and capital attraction, and previously served as Managing Partner of a strategic communications and advisory firm; she has also bought, scaled, and exited a business of her own. She is a Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative Fellow and Harvard Business School Executive Fellow, and focuses on under-capitalized opportunities using a data-driven approach.

Andrea Barrios sources and evaluates investments in early-stage, women-led companies across Canada and works with founders on strategic guidance. She was previously Senior Impact Investment Manager at Vancity, where she oversaw a portfolio of 32 private equity funds spanning climate technology, sustainable food and agriculture, and life sciences, and earlier served as Portfolio Manager for Innovative Finance and Impact Investing at The Rockefeller Foundation, managing over $100M in commitments. She holds an MBA from the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of British Columbia, and has taught as an adjunct professor at Darden.

Simon Gregory is a Principal at Sandpiper Ventures, focusing on tech-enabled companies led by women across North America, with a decade of experience in venture capital and impact investing. He previously oversaw more than $100M in sustainable investments at The Rockefeller Foundation, where he supported the formation of the SEC-registered Zero Gap Fund, and covered 32 Canadian-domiciled VC funds at Vancity across sectors including climate, life sciences, and technology. His work spans the full investment lifecycle across US and Canadian markets, including sourcing, transaction structuring, negotiation, and portfolio management.

Lauren Ledwell is a technology leader and angel investor with experience in digital innovation and venture investment. She was previously CEO of discoverygarden, a company providing digital asset management and preservation solutions to institutions and governments, and served as Managing Partner of the Women's Equity Lab Atlantic Fund 1, an angel network focused on pre-seed and seed women-led tech companies in Atlantic Canada (she is now an LP in Fund 2). Earlier in her career she led digital transformation efforts at RBC and Manulife, and she co-founded a machine learning company that was a CDL Quantum alumnus.

An award-winning executive who has worked within several of North America's most recognizable brands.

Brings understanding of business operations, value generation, and growth optimization.

A managing partner and founding team member at K20 Fund with a JD from Harvard Law School. He practiced at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP representing major financial institutions, and is a serial entrepreneur who has founded and co-founded companies, including in health-tech.