“This isn't just about the moment. It's about planning for the moment.”
About Inovia Capital
Inovia Capital is a Canadian venture capital firm investing in technology companies from pre-seed through growth stage.
With a 60-person internal team and operations across Montreal, Toronto, Waterloo, Calgary, London, Bay Area, and Abu Dhabi, Inovia supports founders at every stage of their journey.
Krista Skalde leads talent both internally and across the firm's portfolio companies, advising on HR strategy, recruiting, culture, and people systems.
A Leadership Blind Spot
In high performance environments, productivity is everything.
But the hidden drain on productivity is often not workload. It is life.
“There's the actual time of trying to figure out solutions. And then there's the brain space.”
Caregiving is not a hypothetical issue. It is measurable in engagement data, benefits reports, and lived experience.
Krista began noticing it in three ways:
• Data showing elder care impacting performance and mental wellbeing
• Anecdotes from team members quietly navigating aging parents
• Her own personal experience managing the complexity and time drain of family care
“My last summer was in shambles,” she reflects candidly. “The time, the energy, the emotional weight. It's real.”
The assumption that elder care only affects older employees quickly proved wrong.
Younger team members were already planning for aging parents. Some were coordinating care across countries.
That was the moment the blind spot became clear.
When Small Firms Need Big Solutions
At 60 employees, Inovia sits at a critical inflection point.
Large enough that leadership cannot personally know what everyone is going through.
Small enough that every individual's performance meaningfully impacts outcomes.
“In those early stages of growth, benefits are often the bare minimum. But there comes a point where you have to look at what systems you put in place because you can't individually manage everything anymore.”
Flexibility matters. Innovation matters. But small benefit pools can limit options.
Kindly offered something different.
It was not about adding complexity.
It was about removing the burden.
“It [Kindly] takes away the unnecessary, burdensome way of navigating care so employees can focus on what matters.”
Importantly, Kindly did not replace existing support. It complemented it.
Inovia already offers generous caregiving leave. Kindly ensures that when employees take that leave, they are focused on caregiving, not overwhelmed by research, coordination, and decision paralysis.
A Return You Cannot Fully Quantify
For a venture capital firm, return on investment is not abstract.
But not every return fits neatly into a spreadsheet.
“There's something happening in the system I call my workplace that is there should I need it.”
Krista sees value in three dimensions:
Productivity
Reducing cognitive load and time spent navigating complex systems.
Retention
Creating trust and flexibility that attract and retain high performing talent.
Planning
Encouraging employees to think proactively, not just reactively, about elder care.
Even for those who may never use it, knowing the support exists matters.
“You can't always quantify that. But it drives attraction and retention of great talent.”
A Signal to Founders
As an advisor to portfolio companies across stages, Krista often fields questions about when companies should start investing meaningfully in benefits.
Her view is clear.
“At that 60 to 100 person stage, when you can't personally know what's happening in everyone's lives anymore, that's when you need innovative solutions.”
The modern workforce spans more generations than ever before. Needs are varied. Caregiving is no longer rare.
For Inovia, implementing Kindly was not just an HR decision.
It was a signal.
We see the complexity.
We believe in planning.
And we believe performance improves when people are supported beyond work.