# Sam Znaimer

> Sam Znaimer is a Series C investor at Ventures West (Vancouver) backing Internet and Software. See 1 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [Ventures West](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/ventures-west)
- Location: Vancouver, Canada
- Total investments: 1
- Last investment: Oct 2001
- Lead investor: 0%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/samznaimer

Sam Znaimer is a Series C investor at Ventures West in Vancouver focused on Internet and Software. Sam Znaimer joined Ventures West in 1983, and is a pioneer of the Canadian venture capital scene with almost 30 years of hands-on early stage technology investing experience. At Ventures West, Sam focuses on cleantech and communications investments, and leads the firm's communications practice.Sam's past investments include Statpower(acquired by Xantrex Technology), OctigaBay Systems (sold to Cray, NASDAQ: CRAY), Convedia (sold to RadiSys, NASDAQ: RSYS) and AudeSi (sold to Wind River, NASDAQ: WIND).Sam currently serves as a Director of SWITCH Materials. Sam is a Director of Wavefront Wireless Commercialization Accelerators and is a member of the Nanoworks Alberta Steering Committee. Sam was a founding Director of BC Technology Social Venture Partners where he has advised EMBERS, an economic development group in Vancouver's downtown eastside, and the Potluck Cafe, a social enterprise that provides free, nutritious meals to the "hardest to house" in this economically troubled area.

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Internet | 1 | 100% |
| Software | 1 | 100% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Convera Corporation | Convera is a leading provider of mission-critical enterprise search and categorization solutions. Convera's RetrievalWare solutions maximize return on investment in vast stores of unstructured information by providing highly scalable, fast, accurate and secure search across more than 200 forms of text, video, image and audio information, inmore than 45 languages. More than 900 customers in 33 countries rely on Convera's search solutions to power a broad range of applications including enterprise portals, knowledge management, intelligence gathering, profiling, corporate policy compliance, regulatory compliance, customer service and more | $20M | Series C | Oct 01, 2001 |  |

1 of 1 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Altamira](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/altamira-12e7) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Entrepia Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/entrepia-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Mayfield Fund](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/mayfield-fund) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/ontario-teachers-pension-plan) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Wesley Clover](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/wesley-clover) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

## About Ventures West

VC Fund · Vancouver, Canada

Ventures West is one of Canada's largest privately owned venture capital companies. In addition to providing capital, they contribute a wealth of resources to each investment.With 10 professional technology investment managers, and one of the most productive Entrepreneur-In-Residence programs in Canada, the Ventures West team has over 120years of technology venture investing and hands-on operating experience.Ventures West has a unique set of capabilities - a long and successful track record in venture capital investing, management depth, extensive contacts in North American technology, financial, and venture capital industries, and the ability to form investor syndicates.

4 contacts available at Ventures West.

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| David Berkowitz | General Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/david-berkowitz |
| Sam Znaimer | General Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/sam-znaimer |
| Howard Riback | General Partner and CFO | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/howard-riback |
| Kenneth Galbraith | General Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/kenneth-galbraith |

## Similar investors

### Similar stage
- [Sequoia Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/sequoia-capital) — VC Fund
- [New Enterprise Associates](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/new-enterprise-associates) — VC Fund
- [Bessemer Venture Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/bessemer-venture-partners) — VC Fund

## FAQ

### What does Sam Znaimer invest in?

Sam Znaimer invests primarily in Internet and Software startups, most often at Series C stage. Most of the 1 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### When did Sam Znaimer last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Sam Znaimer closed in Oct 2001. Shizune tracks 1 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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