About Us

W Media Ventures is a venture capital firm focusing on Consumer Internet opportunities mainly in the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada. W Media Ventures was founded by Boris Wertz in 2007 and is based in Vancouver, B.C.

Before founding W Media Ventures, Boris was the Chief Operating Officer of AbeBooks.com, the world’s largest marketplace for new, used and rare and out-of print books. Boris joined the company in 2002 after JustBooks, the German company he co-founded in 1999, was acquired by AbeBooks. He successfully finished his PhD as well as his graduate studies at the Graduate School of Management (WHU), Koblenz, majoring in Business Economics / Business Management

Most of our investments are joint investments with long-term partner Burda Digital Ventures / Acton Capital Partners from Munich / Germany. Burda Digital Ventures is the VC arm of Hubert Burda Media, one of Germany’s largest and most innovative media companies, and boasts over 30 portfolio companies in the areas of e-commerce, media, platforms, games and entertainment, and wireless communications. Acton Capital Partners was founded by the same team that managed the corporate venture capital activities of Hubert Burda Media and is focused on later stage companies with an established track record of revenues and profitability.

W Media Ventures and Burda Digital Ventures / Acton Capital Partners have so far invested in half a dozen Consumer Internet companies in the region (see full list of portfolio companies here) and are constantly looking to add more investments.

Here is what we can offer entrepreneurs:

  • We are active investors. Having run Consumer Internet companies ourselves, we understand the space and try to pass on as much of our knowledge as possible to our investments.
  • We make quick decisions. For start-ups time is often of essence so if we decide to invest, we usually decide within days.
  • We have excellent contacts both in North-America and Europe. Having worked in the Consumer Internet space for almost 10 years and partnering with one of the most successful German VC firm, we have excellent industry contacts on both sides of the ocean.

Here is what we are looking for:

  • We only invest in Consumer Internet opportunities - digital media, e-commerce, social networks, platforms. We do not invest in software, hardware, infrastructure or telecommunications companies.
  • We are mostly interested in late and growth stage opportunities but do selectively look at early-stage-businesses. Investments start from a few hundred thousand dollars up to a several million dollars.
  • The companies should be based in the Pacific North-West or Western Canada. We sometimes do exceptions but generally prefer to be geographically close to our investments.