David Dufresne

Worth knowing

He has been writing first cheques into Canadian companies for more than twenty years, from institutional funds to his own angel portfolio spanning robotics, logistics, gaming and consumer audio. Few people know the Québec early-stage market and its angel networks better, and he has run companies himself, so the advice is operator-tested.

Story

David began in venture capital in the early 2000s at Desjardins Venture Capital, then managed funds at the BlackBerry Partners Fund, later Relay Ventures. He stepped out of investing to operate: five years as CEO of Bandzoogle, the platform musicians use to build their own websites, and later Head of Strategy and Growth at Bandcamp. He returned to the fund side to build institutions rather than join them, launching the Canadian arm of 500 Startups and then, in 2017, a Montréal-anchored seed firm with Mike Cegelski, Patrick Lor and Nicolas Bouchard. He was a founding partner at Pref Capital and co-founded the AI-focused CMD Capital with Matt Roberts. Since 2024 he has been at AQC Capital, which leads pre-seed and seed rounds alongside the Anges Québec angel network.

In David's words

Based in Montreal, pre-seed and seed-stage VC, angel investor, ex-exec in music tech startups.

Highlights

• Investment Partner, AQC Capital, Montréal (2024)
• Co-founder, Panache Ventures; first fund closed $25M (2017)
• Co-founder, 500 Startups Canada
• Former CEO, Bandzoogle; Head of Strategy and Growth, Bandcamp
• Mentor, Creative Destruction Lab; Director, Audible Reality