Ex- leader Jean Paul (JP) Chauvet has joined Montréal-headquartered venture capital (VC) firm as its newest executive-in-residence (EiR). During his more than 11 years at the commerce technology company, Chauvet played a key role in scaling Montréal-based Lightspeed into a global, publicly traded player. He joins Inovia months after as Lightspeed CEO, following two years attempting to guide the fast-growing firm to profitability amid a challenging tech market.
In an exclusive interview with BetaKit—his first since being replaced as CEO by his predecessor, Lightspeed founder Dax Dasilva—Chauvet said he wanted to take some time off from operations to rest, reset, and consider his next move. Inovia offered a “natural fit” and a chance to share his knowledge with other Canadian tech firms. “I don’t want to just rush, I want to be sure I take the time from Lightspeed—which I am very proud of and I think it’s a fabulous company—to land on something that’s going to give me the same excitement and emotions [that Lightspeed did],” Chauvet said.
As EiR, Chauvet intends to help Inovia source and evaluate deals, while supporting the VC firm’s portfolio companies. He expects the part-time, one-year “transition role” to lead to board seats, personal investments in promising startups, and potentially even his next gig. Inovia has witnessed Chauvet’s and Lightspeed’s evolutions firsthand: the VC firm was one of Lightspeed’s first investors.
Inovia partne.
