Rebecca Kacaba Wins Most Admired CEO Award

November 23, 2023

Rebecca Kacaba, DealMaker’s CEO and co-founder, has been announced a winner of Waterstone Human Capital’s Most Admired CEO award for 2023. In co-founding and leading DealMaker, Rebecca has embodied the essence of entrepreneurial spirit, drive, and hustle. As a trailblazing female CEO for a tech company operating in the predominantly male capital markets, Rebecca is rewriting the playbook for entrepreneurship. Pairing unapologetic ambition with ingenuity, she is committed to driving change in the capital markets and doing business the right way.

As CEO and Co-Founder, Rebecca has spearheaded DealMaker’s growth with the same intensity and vision that shaped her law career. Rebecca spent over a decade practicing law before founding DealMaker, taking an ambitious leap from her partnership at the world’s largest law firm to build a financial technology company in 2018. Seeing the need to disrupt the costly, lengthy, and still paper-based capital raise process for both public and private companies, Rebecca and her Co-Founder Mat Goldstein set out to disrupt the status quo and making raising capital as simple as eCommerce.

Under her leadership, DealMaker has been one of Canada's Top 10 Fastest Growing Companies two years in a row as ranked by the Globe & Mail's Report on Business and a 2023 Deloitte Fast 50 Company-to-Watch. With a deep commitment to fostering a work culture that encourages ingenuity and creativity, Rebecca has helped guide DealMaker to land the second spot on Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators list.

Mat Goldstein, CSO & Co-Founder of DealMaker, comments: “Rebecca is brave, determined, and an unstoppable force when it comes to what she sets out to accomplish. She has risen to the very top of her field in business law, capital markets, and now, technology. Rebecca’s exceptional dedication to excellence is an inspiration for us all.”

Throughout scaling the business, Rebecca has remained true to her core values and purpose in founding DealMaker - the democratization of wealth and opportunity across society. By helping create the conditions for founders to raise capital online, Rebecca’s work is instrumental in expanding business opportunities for underrepresented founders.

“Receiving this accolade is an absolute honour,” says Rebecca Kacaba. “Thank you so much for this incredible recognition! This award is also a testament to the team around me - I am endlessly grateful for them, as well as to our entrepreneurial clients who push us forward every day. I truly couldn’t be more proud of what DealMaker has been able to accomplish in such a short period of time and I’m ecstatic for what the future holds!”

“The 2023 Canada’s Most Admired award recipients exemplify how culture drives performance, especially in the face of economic uncertainty and other recruitment and retention challenges,” says Marty Parker, President and CEO of Waterstone Human Capital and Chair of the Canada’s Most Admired™ program. “This year’s winners are leveraging culture to drive growth and success in today’s highly competitive talent market through the acquisition, retention, and optimization of high-performance leaders, teams, and corporate cultures.”

“This year’s winning leaders and organizations actively craft culture in alignment with their purpose and values every day, and help drive culture as a competitive advantage,” says Parker. “On behalf of Waterstone Human Capital and our partners, we look forward to celebrating this year’s winners and the impact culture is having on their success.”

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Yahoo Coverage

Monogram Case Study - DealMaker (Embed)

When VCs said no, Monogram turned to retail investors. That decision powered their rise from startup to publicly traded company—and even helped them raise an additional $13M privately after their Nasdaq debut.

The Challenge: Raising Capital on Their Terms

The Challenge: Raising on Their Terms

Monogram Technologies was founded with a bold vision: to revolutionize orthopedic surgery with a robotic joint replacement system using custom 3D-printed joints. The market for this technology is massive—approximately $19.6 billion, with over 1 million knee replacements per year. But it's a capital-intensive, regulation-heavy space—and traditional VCs weren't biting.

Instead of compromising, co-founders Dr. Doug Unis and Ben Sexson went all-in on a different path: retail capital. Why?

Control and ownership: Not only were they able to raise the capital they needed to grow the business—they did it on their own terms.
Long-term asset: They wanted to build an army of true believers who wanted to see the company succeed and would continue to reinvest over the years.
A value-add network: Raising from retail allowed Monogram to amass a waiting list of thousands of patients eager to participate in future trials.
Aligned incentives: Their mission to improve patient outcomes and build a better future for those struggling with joint pain resonated with retail investors.

The Power of Retail: Monogram's Capital Journey

Start Date	End Date	Type	Platform	Amount Raised	# Investors
3/13/19	3/31/20	A+	SeedInvest	$14,588,668	6,000
11/16/20	1/16/21	A+	StartEngine	$2,965,501	8,000
1/17/21	2/18/22	A+	StartEngine	$23,647,853	14,082
7/15/22	3/16/23	CF	DealMaker	$4,673,000	2,249
3/1/23	4/8/23	A+	Republic	$232,275	120
3/1/23	5/23/23	A+	DealMaker	$15,958,364	5,198
5/18/23	-	Nasdaq listing
7/24	10/24	Unit Offering	DealMaker	$12,990,103	2,745

Monogram Capital Raise Timeline

Monogram's first direct-to-investor raise was a $14.6M round in 2019. Since then, Monogram has raised retail capital six additional times, using Reg A+ as a springboard to a Nasdaq listing in 2023.

Each raise brought in new believers—and more importantly, kept bringing them back. That's the long-term power of retail capital. It's not just one campaign—it's a compounding asset that grows with the business.

$80M+

Raised across seven campaigns

~40,000

Investors championing Monogram's vision

20%

Of each raise came from previous investors

Marketing Excellence

DealMaker Reach provided strategic investor acquisition services, helping Monogram connect with the right audience through high-impact channels.

Premium Publications

Targeted campaigns in premium publications like Morning Brew captured qualified investors

High-Engagement Webinars

Engaging events that generated over $4.3 million in investments

Community Building

Strategic approaches that fostered a loyal shareholder base

Investment Momentum

Innovative approaches that amplified investment momentum

Monogram's Journey to Success

Monogram's journey has been defined by relentless innovation, strategic fundraising, and breakthrough advancements in robotic-assisted joint replacement. From early-stage research to a Nasdaq listing and beyond, Monogram's milestones reflect its evolution into a pioneering force in orthopedic surgery:

Filed its first patent application in 2017
Conducted clinical studies at UCLA and University of Nebraska
Expanded the team with key hires
Attracted a top-tier advisory board to guide clinical innovations
Signed their first distribution partnerships
Made headlines with cutting-edge live demonstrations
Secured 501(k) FDA clearance for the mBôs surgical system

Nasdaq Debut & Beyond

In May 2023, Monogram Orthopaedics successfully listed on the Nasdaq—a significant milestone offering liquidity and growth opportunities for the company.

For most companies, that would be the end of their story in the private markets. But for Monogram, it was just the beginning of a new chapter.

Public perception says you can't raise privately post-IPO. Monogram proved that wrong.

Defying conventional fundraising norms, Monogram raised an additional $13 million from private investors, powered by DealMaker. This move highlighted the power of a dedicated investor community and provided additional strategic growth capital. Meanwhile, strategic digital marketing for the private offering helped boost the public share price—a win-win for the company and its investors, both public and private.

This was retail capital at its best: strategic, repeatable, and aligned.

One vision. Zero compromises.

This wasn't a one-time raise. It was a multi-year capital strategy.

Retail capital helped Monogram:

Go from concept to commercialization without relying on VCs
Retain ownership and control in a high-burn industry
Build a base of loyal shareholders who invested not once, but over and over again
Uplist to the Nasdaq, and still keep raising post-IPO

This is what makes retail capital different. It doesn't expire—it compounds. And DealMaker is built to maximize that long-term value.

Ready to Raise Capital on Your Terms?

Whether you're pre-revenue or post-IPO, DealMaker gives you the infrastructure, support, and strategy to raise from the people who believe in you most.

Explore Raising Capital with DealMaker