Owen Matthews
Chairman, Alacrity Canada
Owen is a successful technology entrepreneur and investor. He is a General Partner at Wesley Clover and Chairman of the Alacrity Foundation. Owen has founded 20 companies throughout his career. These companies have generated over $850M in value for shareholders and driven over $150M in annual sales. He founded the Alacrity Foundation to support entrepreneurs and technology companies in Western Canada.
Owen’s current board positions are: Alacrity Foundation (Chair), Pacific Entrepreneurship Trust (Chair), SaaSquatch (Chair), Billi (Chair), HYAS, Quantotech and Revela.
At the University of Victoria, Owen studied computer sciences and psychology while running a web design firm and graphic arts studio. He received the 2016 University of Victoria Craigdarroch Award for Excellence in Research Partnerships, along with his colleagues, Dr. Thomas Darcie and Dr. Stephen Neville. He founded Newheights Software, which merged with Counterpath and ended up as a publicly listed company on Nasdaq with a $110M value and tens of millions in annual revenue.
Following his Newheights venture, Owen joined his family’s technology investment firm, Wesley Clover, as a General Partner. Wesley Clover is a 50 year old venture investment firm with investment funds in Canada, the US, the UK, Europe, India, Mexico and Turkey. Owen searches out new investment opportunities and manages existing portfolio companies.
His interest in mentoring young high-tech teams led him to found and chair the Alacrity Foundation. The foundation has established companies that have employed more than 400 people and have had a direct economic impact of $500 million in Western Canada. It has also helped bring over $325 million dollars of investment into the western Canadian technology ecosystem.
Owen is an active and charitable contributor in the community. He is on the Board of Governors for Power to Be Adventure Therapy Society, a non-profit organization that empowers people to explore their limitless abilities through inclusive adventures rooted in nature. He is on the Board of Directors for the Victoria Innovation, Advanced Technology and Entrepreneurship Council, Victoria’s one-stop hub connecting people, knowledge, and resources to grow and promote the local technology sector. He has served on the Board of the Children’s Health