Meet The WPL Team
The sustainable food and agriculture sector presents a significant growth opportunity, fueled by consumer, corporate and regulatory focus on health and climate change. By partnering with WPL, stakeholders can drive meaningful sustainability and economic outcomes while shaping the future of our planet.
The sustainable food and agriculture sector presents a significant growth opportunity, fueled by consumer, corporate and regulatory focus on health and climate change. By partnering with WPL, stakeholders can drive meaningful sustainability and economic outcomes while shaping the future of our planet.
WPL Team
In addition to the WPL Team below, following subsequent closes, WPL will build out a wider team to support deal origination, execution, and portfolio management
Ben Gibbons
My Background:
- Experienced investor with extensive capital raising and transaction expertise for growth stage companies.
- 20+ years of deal advisory experience with a proven track record of private company exits to strategic buyers, private equity firms, and capital markets transactions exceeding $2 billion.
- Strong background in sustainability, leading investments in agtech and foodtech companies with a focus on advising founders and management on strategic planning, financing strategy and impact.
- Demonstrated leadership as Chair and Board Member of the Toronto Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG), with expertise in corporate finance and growth strategies.
Meifan Shi
Managing Partner
My family has always placed a big emphasis on the food we eat, as the foundation for overall health and wellness. Having a vegetable garden growing up where I had access to fresh, organic vegetables, shaped my own health and wellness journey. As the wealth gap has widened, access to nutritious and unprocessed food is more important than ever, and our vision with Waterpoint Lane is to be a force for change in creating a more inclusive and accessible future to nutrition and well-being for our community.
My background:
Extensive experience advising 50+ multimillion-dollar portfolio companies, leveraging strategy and technology expertise to scale business growth within the PE/VC, Family Office and Institutional Investor groups.
Proven track record of leading business transformation initiatives from startups to Fortune 500 companies, with operating management success and investor returns.
Strong background leading global teams on value creation opportunities and building programmatic business models to drive profitability for portfolio companies.
- Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Waterloo and MBA from Columbia Business School.
Life at Waterpoint Lane
WPL Strategic Partners
WPL has partnered with industry leading groups in order to launch and execute on our
strategy, driving value for all WPL’s stakeholders
Decile Partners
• Decile Partners is a full-service back office for operating venture capital funds, unifying legal, accounting and strategic support to achieve firm success through Fund I, II and III.
• Decile Partners provides a dedicated venture associate and deep bench of specialized experts to build a top decile venture capital
fund.
GitHub
• GitHub for Startups partners with leading investors, accelerators, and startup support organizations to help early-stage startups go
from seed funding to unicorn status.
• Through the GitHub for Startups partner program, WPL supports our portfolio companies in executing on their technology strategies leveraging GitHub and, as such, are eligible for additional discounts and benefits while in the program.
OpenGate
• Opengate offers a tailored approach to the strategy and innovation needs of both corporates and startups involved in the agrifood and clean energy sectors.
• In particular, Opengate supports growth strategy and provides visibility and friction-less engagement with potential corporate clients enhancing the opportunities for WPL portfolio companies in engaging with large corporate customers.