Raissa Espiritu co-founded Audaxa Ventures, an early-stage fund backing women and non-binary founders at the intersection of climate and health, writing cheques from $500K to $1.7M.
Worth knowing
She is a four-time founder who has raised money for clinical validation studies and now sits on the other side of the table, investing across Canada including the North, the US and international markets. She built the first Cenovus EDI Accelerator at UCeed into a program that backed more than 10 founders in a year against a target of six, and she connects Alberta's funders to each other.
Story
Raissa began in science, working as a lab technician at the Juravinski Cancer Centre after biochemistry studies at McMaster, then moved into raising money for research at the University of Toronto's medical and pharmacy faculties, Sunnybrook and CIFAR. She crossed into building companies, co-founding Cosm Medical in Toronto, where she led fundraising for the clinical and validation work behind its 3D-printed, AI-fitted gynecological pessaries. Calgary came next: an executive residency at UCeed, an interim growth role at Platform Calgary, and teaching social enterprise at the Haskayne School of Business. With Hilary Kilgour she now runs Audaxa Ventures, and co-leads both the Venture Capital Association of Alberta and Alberta Female Founders, Funders and Fortifiers.
Highlights
- Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Audaxa Ventures
- Co-founder, Cosm Medical (Gynethotics pelvic health devices)
- First Executive in Residence, Cenovus EDI Accelerator at UCeed (2023-2025)
- Executive MBA, Ivey Business School; class valedictorian, EMBA '21
- Board of Directors, Local Investing YYC; member, Global Women in VC
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