Our Team

Hanna Zaidi

VENTURE PARTNER

Hanna is a regulatory strategist that has worked for a wide range of financial institutions from big banks to early stage startups. She has advised early stage fintechs on go to market strategies and product compliance. Hanna has supported the launch of new products in areas such as challenger banks, crypto trading and P2P payments. Hanna is a fintech advisor at Techstars Barclays New York and Holt Accelerator. Hanna also is a
Board Member at Open Banking Initiative Canada.

Michelle Beyo

DIRECTOR & VENTURE PARTNER

Michelle is the Founder and CEO of FINAVATOR a Strategy consultancy focused on Payment and FinTech innovation. Michelle is also proud Money 20/20 Rise Up alumni, Women in Payments -Global Council Committee Member, CPPO “Canadian Prepaid Providers Organization” -Membership Chair, NFCA “National
Crowdfunding and FinTech Association of Canada” -Payment Advisor, OBIC “Open Banking Initiative of Canada” Board Member, Ideal Ventures, Board Member and a strategic advisor for multiple FinTech’s.

Lianne Hannaway

DIRECTOR & CFO-IN-RESIDENCE

Lianne is a CPA, CA, and a technology savvy finance executive with a wealth of experience drawn mainly from publicly traded, publicly accountable and early-stage companies. She has been Chief Accountant on mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures on several deals in the financial services industry. Lianne is founder of Wealthnuvo, a digital wealth platform that offers financial literacy and products to empower women and people of colour to financial wellness. Lianne is also a board member of the Equality Fund, a Canadian-led, international fund designed to support gender equality around the world

Behrang Shirazi

CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER

Behrang is a twenty year veteran of strategic consulting, solutions architecture, digital and IT transformation. He specializes in modernizing enterprise business models in an increasingly digital and technology-driven world. He is sought-after for his expertise in architecting business technology, customer experience design, web and mobile innovations for global audiences across engineering, finance and telecommunications industry.

Christina Boodhoo

BUSINESS ANALYST

Professional Business Analyst focused on enhancing business efficiencies with years of experience in Global Business Management, Finance, and Economics. Lead a number of projects as the Executive Vice President for Ryerson Women in Leadership supporting Legal, Marketing, Finance, Human Resources, and Conference Management.

Ramanan Muthu

PORTFOLIO DIRECTOR

Ramanan is a multifaceted and multidisciplinary professional with deep domain expertise in convergent media platforms, real estate and private equity.His passion for operations and marketing are instrumental to his grass roots and systematic approach to devising solutions and new ideas for our portfolio companies.His entrepreneurial experience spans both North America and South East Asia. He is pillar of mentorship and philanthropy in his community.

Christos Cox

CHIEF GROWTH & INNOVATION OFFICER

A serial entrepreneur and visionary leader with 25+ years of experience in the beauty, lifestyle, entertainment, technology, and cannabis sectors - impacting local and world-class organizations such as UrbanTextures/Premier Salons, Labatt, L’oreal, and Miss Universe. Fueled by his passion to help entrepreneurs succeed, Christos co-founded Daystar to facilitate deals that stabilize operations, elevate "brand eminence", drive value creation and growth. The Daystar team has assisted early and growth-stage founders to acquire more than $40 million in capital to take their businesses to the next level.

Hasani Brissett

CHIEF FINANCIAL ARCHITECT

A versatile investment management sales professional with some 20 years of progressive capital markets and financial services experience. He has worked for and contributed to the rapid growth of some of Canada’s most innovative financial services companies such as Franklin Templeton Investments, Horizons Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), and Questrade ETFs. Mr Brissett’s expertise spans many industries including Financial Services, SaaS, Energy, Real Estate, and Agri-business.

Vishal Tendulkar

DY GENERAL MANAGER - MARKETING

Globally acclaimed marketing professional with over 10 years of experience in the field of entertainment & technology. Vishal has held leadership positions in various multinational companies and crafted some of the leading international brands.

William Kazura

VICE PRESIDENT - SALES

William Kazura is an extraordinary growth generator, a high-performance sales professional with 20+ years of successes in new business creation. He is recognised as a high impact contributor to growth business growth.

Bahir Vivekanand

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

Bahir is a reputed entrepreneur, investor and a creative business leader. Experienced in accelerating business growth that guarantees sustainable success is his forte.

Shaji Nada

CEO

Shaji Nada is the Founder and Chairman of Ideal Group, which is comprised of Ideal Developments, Ideal Entertainment, and Ideal Ventures. Shaji is driven by a desire to disrupt conventional business models. He is passionate about assembling extraordinary teams to realize ambitious goals. He believes in strategic growth, and establishing and leveraging powerful partnerships to drive forward the growth of each subsidiary of Ideal Group.