Vancouver entrepreneur and angel investor Marlon Thompson has launched Opening Round, a consultancy that funds, advises, and partners with founders and funders.

To date, the firm has backed consumer tech and consumer packaged goods across North America through syndicated investments — where a group of individual backers pool their resources to collectively fund early-stage ventures. It provides a range of services for pre-seed and seed-stage startups and investors, including assistance with strategic positioning, mergers and acquisitions, and financial literacy and modelling. It also helps with inclusive approaches to developing investment theses and pursuing limited partners. Opening Round’s core focus is to “support and elevate outsiders in a notoriously inaccessible space.”