Bonnie Chau, principal at BCF Ventures, is one of our top 50 Emerging Leaders in corporate venturing for 2025.
Bonnie Chau has spent her career immersed in the startup scene. She cut her teeth at a fast-growing fintech, took a founder’s leap into entrepreneurship, and ultimately landed at BCF Ventures in 2019 – where she played a pivotal role in launching the first corporate VC fund backed by a Canadian law firm.
Chau is a driving force behind BCF Ventures, a specialised early-stage fund focused on B2B SaaS and AI investments. Alongside a lean team, she also co-manages Lalotte Ventures – for a family office related to the company. It is considering expanding to invest on behalf of other organisations as well.
“We operate like a typical VC fund,” says Chau. The fund has a financial-first approach, prioritising high-growth opportunities over direct corporate synergies. It takes a hands-on approach to post-investment support and doubles down on its best-performing investments.
This approach has served BCF Ventures well so far, with a portfolio of 20+ companies across both funds and a string of successful exits, all via acquisitions.
“You are covering everything and trying to assess so many things, not just the business but also the personality and character of the founder.”
The team casts a wide net, having invested in companies across industries such as legal, supply chain, digital health and sports tech.
Chau is involved in every stage of the investment cycle, from scouting startups to negotiating the investment and helping the portfolio companies with their growth plans. But her favourite part is the first call with a new startup. “You are covering everything and trying to assess so many things, not just the business but also the personality and character of the founder,” she says.
Patience, she notes, is a crucial trait for corporate investors. “Things take time in the CVC world,” she says. Not just investment decisions – it can take a while for CVC arms to earn the trust of their corporate parents.
But for Chau, the long game is worth it. “If you have a long-term horizon of growing together, it is a really beautiful partnership.”
See the full list of Emerging Leaders 2025 here.
