Janet Bannister

Janet Bannister is a Canadian business executive and venture capitalist.

Bannister is the founder and managing partner of Staircase Ventures. Prior to launching Staircase Ventures in 2023, she was the managing partner at Real Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm.

Bannister is the co-chair of C100 and on the boards of the Ivey Business School and LEAP, a social venture accelerator, as well as serving as a mentor at Creative Destruction Lab at the University of Toronto.

Bannister has been recognized by media outlets including being on the “Most Influential Women in Payments” listing by American Banker in 2019, the “Women of Influence in Private Markets” list by Venture Capital Journal in 2021, the “Female Founders & Investors to Know” listing by Pitchbook in 2021, and the "Seed 30: The Best Women Early-Stage Investors in North America" list by Insider in 2023. She is also the recipient of the 2024 Toronto Region Builder Award.

Bannister started her career as a brand manager at Procter & Gamble and then as an engagement manager with McKinsey & Co. In 2001, she spent four years at eBay in Silicon Valley. In 2004, she launched Kijiji.ca which became one of Canada's most-visited websites.

She also founded and was CEO at a venture-backed start-up prior to joining Real Ventures in 2014. In 2017, she was announced as part of a team to guide fintech strategy for the province of Ontario and the Canadian Economic Strategy Roundtable on Digital Industries.

Staircase Ventures
Launched by Bannister in 2023, Staircase Ventures closed their first fund by collecting C$34 million with investors including the Royal Bank of Canada. The fund focuses on leading seed-stage financings of B2B software companies in Canada.

In October 2023, it led the Calgary fintech startup Fillip to a C$5m seed round of fundraising. By February 2024, the firm had also led seed rounds of funding for other Canadian startups including AI drug discovery platform Biossil and Rhenthi, a marketing automation platform, along with a C$6m round for AI-focused Sibli.

Background
Bannister was a varsity long-distance runner and a national triathlon champion in Canada finishing 8th in the world at the Long Distance Triathlon World Championships in 1996. She holds a degree from the Ivey Business School at the University of Western Ontario.