Bernie Li joins Global Venture Capital Firm Antler in Canada Office

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  • 08.10.2021 12:25 pm

Bernie Li, the Co-Founder of Pure Energies, a Leading Tech-Enabled Marketplace Delivering Solar Solutions Across North America, joins Antler Canada in Global Growth of its Senior Management Team

Global early-stage venture capital firm Antler has named Bernie Li as partner in its Toronto office. He will be based in Toronto and join the company’s senior leadership team, bringing two decades of experience as an investor and company founder to the support of Antler’s emerging entrepreneurs.

Prior to joining Antler, Bernie co-founded Pure Energies, a leading tech-enabled marketplace that delivered solar solutions to customers across North America from its bases in Toronto and later, San Francisco. Pure Energies was among the first generation of residential solar companies that leveraged the web for customer acquisition, product design and contract fulfilment. 

Under Bernie’s leadership, Pure Energies grew to over two hundred employees - which led to the opening of a second, US office. The company raised around $25m of financing from VCs and other capital providers, enabling the company to achieve a successful exit to a publicly traded acquirer.

Bernie’s experience as an investor includes working with leading VC funds, in addition to working with start-up founders as an angel investor and advisor. Some of those start-ups include Vizetto, Bright, Playground Sessions and Flow Beverage. Earlier in his career, Bernie was an investor at iNovia Capital, one of Canada’s preeminent venture funds. He is a graduate of Wilfrid Laurier University and currently serves as an investment committee member for The Atmospheric Fund.

“We are thrilled to have Bernie join us as Partner at Antler Canada,” said Antler Founder and CEO  Magnus Grimeland. “His experience as both an entrepreneur and investor will be of huge support to our portfolio companies, as he has real experience of building companies to achieve scale fast”

Bernie Li, Partner of Antler Canada says, “I am thrilled to launch the Antler platform in Canada. Antler has proven its model for helping ambitious founders during the exciting - yet often nervous - times of startup creation. By leveraging Antler's network of partners, founders and investors spanning 14 regions and over 350 portfolio investments around the world, we want to support Canadian founders to have global ambitions!”

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