Learn about our team at Valua Partners

Who we are

Helping founders, entrepreneurs and
emerging growth companies accelerate.

Our focus is helping startups accelerate their business growth. At Valua Partners, we are experts in financial modeling, capital raising and CFO business services. We work with seed stage and Venture Capital backed tech companies. Our partners have been working with entrepreneurs, CEOs and venture capitalists for decades. We have been part of acquisitions, venture capital funding and helped several startups experience rapid growth. We take a hands on, personalized approach to every client engagement we accept.

Partners

Sami Ghaith, CPA,
MBA

Sami is the founder of SDG Accountant and specializes in tax and business consulting services for Real Estate, Tech, Retail and Service Industries. Sami is licensed as a Chartered Professional Accountant of Ontario.

Most recently, Sami has provided consulting services to BDO Canada LLP, RSM Canada LLP and many reputable high net-worth family offices in the Greater Toronto Area. He has worked in various public accounting, consulting, and out-sourced CFO roles throughout the U.S. & Canada. In the real estate space, he has worked as a controller for Tishman Speyer in New York City. He has also been exposed to SaaS sales role with a tech company operating in a high-growth mode in Silicon Valley.

Sam received his B.Commerce in Accounting and his Masters in Business Administration (MBA) at the Schulich School of Business at York University. Sam is a Certified Quickbooks Proadvisor and a member of both the Certified General Accountants and the Chartered Professional Accountants. Sam is capable of handling dual citizen tax returns (U.S. & Canada) and has achieved his certificate in the ‘U.S. Taxation for a Canadian Practitioner’ course.

Partners

Chris Lazarte, CPA, CA

Chris is a licensed Chartered Professional Accountant and has 15 years experience working in global finance and accounting roles. Chris has assisted with several venture capital financings for technology companies across North America while acting in a CFO capacity. He has been part of significant M&A deals including the sale of the software company DataFox to Oracle in 2018. Chris managed FP&A at Zuora (NYSE: ZUO) – one of the fastest growing software technology companies in the Bay Area. At Zuora, Chris managed a $100M budget and was involved in the Series F due diligence financing for $115M. Earlier in his career, Chris was an Audit Manager at KPMG LLP where he served high profile clients including the Toronto Stock Exchange, Bank of Montreal, and General Electric.
Chris is keen on ensuring budgeting and forecasting is a priority at technology companies. He is a best-selling teacher of financial modeling courses to over 25,000 finance professionals globally.

Mebby Mengele

Mebby currently serves as the Global Director of Royal York Property Management, the premier property management and leasing company in Canada, with over 22,000 properties valued at more than $10.1Bn. With years of experience in corporate finance, Mebby has worked in both Private Equity and Investment Banking.

Most recently, he was with Citigroup, advising multinational conglomerates on restructuring, capital raising in debt and equity markets, refinancing alternatives, special purpose acquisition companies, and mergers and acquisitions. He has been involved in deals exceeding $50.0 billion in transaction value, including marquee transactions like the $26 billion Rogers and Shaw merger. In his spare time, he has worked with various small-to-medium sized companies across a broad range of sectors including Artificial Intelligence, Crypto, and Web3.

Mebby received his Honours Bachelor of Commerce with a Minor in Economics from the DeGroote School of Business. He has earned notable accreditations and training in financial modeling and valuation, having developed full-scale operational models for large multi-billion enterprises and novel SMEs, discounted cash flow models, and leveraged buyouts.

In his free time, Mebby enjoys traveling, working out, and serving as a teaching assistant at McMaster University. He has competed in amateur bodybuilding and played varsity soccer during his time at McMaster.

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