Brian Martin

Brian Spencer Martin is a Vancouver-based venture investor and board director whose career bridges engineering, security leadership, and technology venture capital. He trained as an electrical engineer, earning a BSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Alberta and later an MBA (finance specialization) from Queen's University's Smith School of Business. He is a CFA charterholder and a Professional Engineer, a combination that underpins his notably product- and technology-first approach to investing.

Before venture capital, Martin spent his early career on the operating side. He was a regional manager at Honeywell (roughly 2002–2006), then moved into senior security leadership roles at BC Hydro and the British Columbia Transmission Corporation (BCTC) from about 2006–2011, where he was responsible for security policy and implementation across the province's electrical system. He subsequently served as Managing Director at Performance Capital Advisors (approximately 2011–2014) before entering institutional venture capital.

Martin joined VanEdge Capital, a Vancouver enterprise-technology VC firm, around 2014, where he spent roughly seven years, rising to Principal. There he focused on B2B software — big-data analytics, IoT, cloud, and security — and served on multiple boards, several of which produced exits to acquirers including VMware, Splunk, Planet Labs, and IMS Health. In late 2020 he joined TELUS Ventures, the strategic investment arm of Canadian telecom TELUS, as Director/Partner and Investment Director, where he leads investments in smart cities, IoT, security, and connected/intelligent mobility. He was named to Global Corporate Venturing's "Emerging Leaders 2023" list and sits on the CIX Summit selection committee.

• Backs B2B/enterprise technology companies from seed to Series B, with checks of ~$500K–$10M (sweet spot ~$3M).
• In his own framing, he prioritizes *"companies that have clear value propositions to enterprises, and are able to leverage modern AI techniques to develop products."*
• Core sectors: AI & analytics, data services, cloud infrastructure, IoT, security, SaaS, and enterprise software.
• At TELUS Ventures, his themes center on smart cities, IoT/security, and intelligent/connected mobility — he has argued that with autonomy emerging, telcos are well-positioned via 5G networks to power the services autonomy requires.
• His engineering background drives a product-first diligence style — he prefers to get "into the weeds" of a technology's features and functionality rather than evaluating on market narrative alone.
• Strong emphasis on go-to-market execution for early-stage companies, an area colleagues cite as a particular strength.