John Stokes
John Stokes is the co-Founder and Managing Partner of Real Ventures and the co-Founder and Board Chair of the OSMO Foundation.
About: Raised in the UK and New Zealand, but adopted by Montréal in 2007, John Stokes is the co-founder and Managing Partner of early-stage venture capital firm Real Ventures, a lead actor and major catalyzer of Canada’s startup ecosystem. In his role, he has led investments into companies such as Sonder, Breather, Transit App, Dcbel and Unsplash and, in 2018, L’actualité named him as one of the “100 most influential people in Quebec.” John was also recognized by the Montreal Gazette as one of the “24 Quebecers we love” for his contributions to Montréal’s entrepreneurship renaissance.
In addition to co-founding Real Ventures, he is co-founder of the OSMO Foundation, the entrepreneurship focused not-for-profit that acquired Notman House and St Margaret’s Hospital and turned them into a vibrant startup campus. In 2022, John started the “Survive the Drive” founder meetup event series that introduced the concept of a re-imagined startup ecosystem, with growth and development of founders, rather than of technology or capital, at its core.
Links:
- Company: www.realventures.com
- Foundation: https://notman.org/en/osmo
- Survive the Drive: https://notman.org/events/survive-the-drive
Social:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnstokes
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/iamjohnstokes