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Key people at The Firehood.
The Firehood is a dedicated network focused on significantly increasing the participation, leadership, and prosperity of women within the technology sector. It builds a supportive ecosystem that provides members with crucial access to professional development, mentorship, and investment opportunities. The organization emphasizes direct connections and resources to empower women throughout their tech careers.
Co-founded in 2021 by Danielle Brewin Graham and Claudette McGowan, The Firehood originated from a clear understanding of the need for a dedicated support structure for women in technology. Graham, an investor, and McGowan, a corporate tech leader, leveraged their combined experience to establish a platform designed to promote female success in the innovation economy.
The network primarily serves women professionals, entrepreneurs, and emerging leaders across the technology landscape. The Firehood's long-term vision is to cultivate an inclusive, thriving environment where women are not merely represented, but are pivotal drivers of innovation and economic progress, shaping the future of technology.
Key people at The Firehood.
# The Firehood: Women in Tech Network
The Firehood is a Canadian angel investor network and movement dedicated to increasing the participation, leadership, and prosperity of women in technology.[1][2] Founded in 2021, the organization operates as a nationwide collective of women investors who pool capital, expertise, and mentorship to support women-led tech startups across Canada.[1][2]
The organization's mission directly addresses a critical market inefficiency: while women comprise 50% of Canada's population, they face significant barriers in the tech ecosystem related to limited access to networks, training, leadership opportunities, and capital.[1][2] The Firehood tackles this gap by creating a structured investment vehicle where women angels collaborate to deploy capital into promising female founders. Since its inception, the network has grown to over 100 members and has deployed approximately $3 million in funding across 14 women-led startups spanning from British Columbia to Newfoundland.[1][5] The organization's investment philosophy emphasizes both financial returns and ecosystem impact—backing B2B technology companies with global scaling potential while simultaneously building the next generation of women accredited investors and tech leaders.
The Firehood was established in 2021 by Claudette McGowan and Danielle Graham, who recognized that many women in tech face persistent workplace barriers and that women entrepreneurs encounter distinct challenges when starting, growing, and scaling technology businesses, particularly in STEM-focused sectors.[1][2] The founders' insight was deceptively simple but powerful: ask a large group of women to invest in other women, and the majority will say yes. This experiment evolved into a nationwide movement.
The organization emerged from a clear market observation—despite women's equal representation in the general population, they remain significantly underrepresented as founders, investors, and leaders in Canadian technology. The founding team recognized that the solution required more than passive awareness; it demanded an active, organized network of women with capital and influence willing to redirect resources toward female-led innovation. The rapid growth trajectory—from inception to over 100 members with $3 million deployed in just a few years—validates the underlying thesis that demand for this type of organized capital and community was substantial and unmet.
The Firehood operates a tiered membership structure that democratizes angel investing while maintaining quality standards. Members can join at three levels: General Membership ($2,000 CAD annually), Ventures Membership ($12,000 CAD annually), or Supporter Sponsorship ($25,000 CAD annually).[5] This structure allows women at different wealth and experience levels to participate, creating a more inclusive angel network than traditional venture capital structures.
Rather than operating as a monolithic investor group, The Firehood organizes members into six Technical Firehood Circles focused on specific domains: Blockchain, Cyber, Artificial Intelligence, Digital Transformation, Ventures, and Software Engineering.[6] These circles meet six times annually, enabling members to develop deep domain expertise while building peer relationships with other women investors and technologists in their field of interest.
Beyond capital deployment, The Firehood provides comprehensive founder and investor development. The organization offers pitch coaching, mentorship access, leadership training, and networking opportunities at major Canadian tech conferences including Elevate Tech Festival, Web Summit, StartupFest, SaaS North, and Gitex.[1][6] This multi-layered support model—combining capital, coaching, and community—creates stickiness for both investors and founders.
While headquartered in Toronto with a primary catchment area spanning the Toronto-Waterloo Corridor, The Firehood maintains national coverage and actively deploys capital across Canada.[1] The organization hosts monthly in-person events at Verity Women's Club in Toronto while maintaining virtual participation options, balancing local community building with national accessibility.
The Firehood has begun partnering with complementary organizations to expand capital availability. Most notably, DMZ Ventures—the for-profit investment arm of the DMZ accelerator—joined as an Investment Partner, creating co-investment opportunities that increase funding pools for founders.[3] This partnership model suggests a maturing organization capable of attracting institutional capital partners.
The Firehood operates at the intersection of three powerful macro trends: the gender equity movement in venture capital, the rise of specialized angel networks, and the geographic decentralization of Canadian tech funding.
Venture capital has historically been one of the most gender-imbalanced sectors of the economy, with women founders receiving a disproportionately small share of funding despite comparable or superior performance metrics. The Firehood addresses this market failure by creating a dedicated capital pool controlled by women investors who understand both the barriers women founders face and the opportunities they represent. This is not charity—it is capital reallocation based on market inefficiency.
The organization also rides the broader trend toward specialized, mission-driven angel networks that compete with traditional venture capital by offering founders more than just money. By combining capital with mentorship, technical community, and founder coaching, The Firehood creates a more comprehensive support system than many early-stage VC firms. This model appeals to founders seeking not just funding but genuine partnership and understanding.
Geographically, The Firehood represents the decentralization of Canadian tech funding beyond the traditional Toronto-Vancouver axis. By actively investing in startups across Canada—from Newfoundland to British Columbia—the organization is helping distribute venture capital more equitably across the country, reducing the geographic concentration that has historically disadvantaged founders outside major tech hubs.
The organization's influence extends beyond direct capital deployment. By hosting pitch competitions at major conferences, maintaining visibility at tech events, and building a network of over 100 women angels, The Firehood is shifting cultural narratives around women in tech investing and entrepreneurship. Each successful exit or scaling event from their portfolio becomes proof of concept that women-led investment decisions generate strong returns.
The Firehood has successfully validated a thesis that was previously underexploited: organized groups of women with capital will actively invest in other women when given structured opportunities to do so. The organization's trajectory from founding in 2021 to $3 million deployed across 14 companies in just a few years demonstrates both market demand and execution capability.
Looking forward, several developments will likely shape The Firehood's evolution. The planned launch of the Prosperity Platform in 2026 signals ambitions to become a more comprehensive ecosystem player, moving beyond periodic pitch events toward continuous job matching, mentorship connections, and funding access.[6] This platform could become a significant competitive advantage, creating network effects that deepen member engagement and founder loyalty.
The organization's willingness to partner with institutional players like DMZ Ventures suggests a maturation strategy where The Firehood maintains its identity and mission while accessing larger capital pools. This could accelerate deployment velocity and allow the network to support larger funding rounds as portfolio companies scale.
The broader question is whether The Firehood can scale nationally while maintaining the community intimacy and mission focus that currently define it. As membership grows beyond 100 and capital deployment accelerates, the organization will need to ensure that its culture of genuine peer support and mentorship doesn't dilute into a transactional investment vehicle. Organizations that successfully navigate this transition—maintaining mission while scaling operations—tend to become category-defining institutions.
The Firehood's ultimate impact will be measured not just in capital deployed but in how many women founders it helps scale into category-defining companies, and how many women investors it develops into influential voices shaping the future of Canadian technology. If the organization achieves both, it will have fundamentally altered the composition and decision-making power within Canadian venture capital.
