The last few weeks have certainly proven to be extremely promising for Canadian Tech Entrepreneurs. Almost $80M of equity financing has recently been secured from some of the top investors in the world to help build our next generation of massive tech companies. It’s even more exciting when you realize that these funds are going to three especially young, dynamic and opportunistic companies, all of which are in our backyard!
Yona Shtern, Robert Gold and the team over at Montreal-based Beyond the Rack (“BTR”) lead the way with a whooping $37M 
financing round that should propel the company to new heights yet unseen on the Canadian eCommerce front. BTR has quickly established itself as an eCommerce leader by showing the market that Canadian companies really do know what a “hockey stick” revenue growth chart looks like. The teams’ ability to build such a big company in such a short time frame has earned them our utmost respect. We initially met the team and reviewed their business plan in late 2008; by 2011, they were already ranked as one of the fastest-growing online retailers in the entire world. Yona was also wise in choosing his investors, be it industry specific angels or top VCs such as Panorama Capital, iNovia Capital, Rho Canada, Tandem Expansion, BDC Venture Capital, Highland Capital Partners, EDC and Montreal Start Up. If you aren’t a Beyond the Rack member, don’t wait – register now, and you’ll be impressed!
Just down the road from Montreal is another world class eCommerce team. Ottawa-based Shopify recently closed a $15M second round
of financing. Tobias Lutke, Cody Fauser, Daniel Weinand & Harley Finkelstein have developed an industry leading eCommerce platform that is already being used by thousands of leading online retailers around the world. The team, their vision and commitment to execution all combine to make Shopify one of Canada’s tech leaders in an extremely high growth global market. Unfortunately, we missed the boat on the opportunity to work with them, but our friends over at Bessemer Ventures, Firstmark Capital, Felicis Ventures and Georgian Partners were more than happy to come aboard. I’m expecting to see Shopify rise above the tide over the coming years and establish itself as a global leader in its space.
The most recent team to announce a substantial equity-financing round is Toronto-based Fixmo. Led by its founders Rick Segal, Shyam
Sheth and Joyce Janczyn, Fixmo just announced a $23M round. This investment round included both existing investors (iNovia Capital, Panorama Capital, Rho Canada and Extreme Venture Partners) and an impressive syndicate of new lead investors: Silicon Valley-based Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Washington-based Paladin Capital Group and Hong Kong-based Horizons Ventures. While the company’s core vision has not changed over the last two years, the product development road map has evolved at a rapid pace. Within an extremely short time frame, Fixmo launched a series of Government and Enterprise products, acquired two companies (Conceivium Business Solutions and Chocolate Chunk Apps), established a series of key partnerships and practically jumped ahead of every other Mobile Risk Management solution provider in the market. Obviously, the founders didn’t do it alone, but the sheer fact that Rick was successful in attracting some of the best talent out there (Bruce Gilley, Jonas Gyllensvaan, Tyler Lessard, Lee Cocking, John Yuen and others) speaks to the long term execution ability and potential of Fixmo.
The average tech financing round in Canada is under $4M. Therefore, the aforementioned three companies basically raised as much cash as 20 average Canadian tech startups combined. Obviously, I get nervous when I see a company (portfolio or not) raise such a large chunk of cash. Why? It’s not because I like the small size of the average Canadian financing rounds. Rather, it’s because I think that too much money for a young business can be as bad as or worse than not having enough. $15M-$40M rounds for Canadian tech companies are amongst the largest we have seen this side of the border in over 10 years. That being said, I do also think that Canadian Tech Entrepreneurs are now entering a phase of Ambition coupled with Execution. We have lived through too many years of “lack of ambition”, quickly followed by “lack of execution”, not to mention the much lamented “lack of capital”. However, we are now seeing deals done where massive amounts of ambition and execution converge, and capital is becoming available to build large tech companies right here in our own backyard. With more companies able to raise the amount of funding they truly need to generate hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue, not only we will stop selling our companies short, they won’t need to move down south. Hopefully other investors will note the phenomenon, and future startups won’t have as much trouble raising the capital both from Canada and into Canada. And that’s good for all of us.
At iNovia, when a massive opportunity knocks, we answer! I’m expecting to be sharing a lot more stories about successful Canadian entrepreneurs, and how they’ve built hugely successful companies here as they compete globally for resources, capital and market share. There isn’t much stopping the entrepreneurs driving Canada’s next generation of large tech companies, and for the likes of Beyond the Rack, Shopify, Fixmo and many others, this is just the beginning.
Congratulations to all the teams mentioned in taking important steps on their paths to success!
Below some article worth reading with regards the above companies:
Flash Sales Site And Gilt Competitor Beyond The Rack Raises $37 Million
Montreal’s Beyond the Rack closes US$37M funding round
Shopify raises $15M to expand online shopping platform
Toronto’s Fixmo lands $23.4-million in funding from top VCs
Security Vendor Fixmo Gets VC Boost
Fixmo lands US$23.4M from Kleiner Perkins, Paladin and Horizons
This blog post was first published on StartupNorth
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Tags: beyond the rack, btr, Canada, Chris Arsenault, fixmo, highland, iNovia, klenier perkins, paladin, panorama, rho, shopify
We (iNovia Capital) invested in Gamerizon for a number of reasons, and among them, one stands out: we believe that Alex, Martin, Robert & the team already have the ingredients required to build a very large Company. And by very large, I mean to grow to + $100M in annualized revenues within a reasonable short period of time, and not fall into the trap of an early sale of the Company to a major Media conglomerate. At least, this is our premise as of today! The team’s deep understanding of crucial game mechanics, and the fact that they have built into the company’s DNA a fundamental understanding of mobile and social interaction, makes us believe Gamerizon will outperform most of the game studios out there today. The Chop Chop franchise already show great traction, they own some key proprietary technology, have tons of industry knowledge, and they presented us with an impressive plan for growth. The team is doing all the right things as a start up. Self-funded until they hit tangible milestones, got over 15 million downloads of their product to prove traction, built an amazing team and early-on opened up to a few key potential investors. I also think we have the best co-investor for this Company. Who better than Vanedge Capital to help guide an A team that wants to build the next PacMan, the next Zynga? Vanedge! We are really looking forward working along side Paul Lee (ex-President of Electronic Arts, and Glenn Entis (ex-President of Dreamworks Interactive), helping Gamerizon rise to the top. Congrats guys, you are off to an awesome start! Check out Gamerizon site: http://gamerizon.com/ And most importantly, download chop chop on the AppStore!
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We (iNovia Capital) invested in Gamerizon for a number of reasons, and among them, one stands out: we believe that Alex, Martin, Robert & the team already have the ingredients required to build a very large Company. And by very large, I mean to grow to + $100M in annualized revenues within a reasonable short period of time, and not fall into the trap of an early sale of the Company to a major Media conglomerate. At least, this is our premise as of today!
The team’s deep understanding of crucial game mechanics, and the fact that they have built into the company’s DNA a fundamental understanding of mobile and social interaction, makes us believe Gamerizon will outperform most of the game studios out there today. The Chop Chop franchise already show great traction, they own some key proprietary technology, have tons of industry knowledge, and they presented us with an impressive plan for growth.
The team is doing all the right things as a start up. Self-funded until they hit tangible milestones, got over 15 million downloads of their product to prove traction, built an amazing team and early-on opened up to a few key potential investors.
I also think we have the best co-investor for this Company. Who better than Vanedge Capital to help guide an A team that wants to build the next PacMan, the next Zynga? Vanedge! We
are really looking forward working along side Paul Lee (ex-President of Electronic Arts, and Glenn Entis (ex-President of Dreamworks Interactive), helping Gamerizon rise to the top.
Congrats guys, you are off to an awesome start!
Check out Gamerizon site: http://gamerizon.com/
And most importantly, download chop chop on the AppStore!
Press releases : English : http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/September2011/15/c3729.html French: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/September2011/15/c3740.html A few article links: La Presse : Cent emplois et des nouveaux investisseurs pour Gamerizon The Gazette : Gamerizon’s early start pays off Next Montreal : Gamerizon Raises $5 Million led by Vanedge Capital and iNovia Capital The Gazette : Gamerizon a local success story Financial Post : Canadian startups close all-Canadian funding rounds Direction Informatique : Gamerizon obtient un financement de 5M$ The Gazette : Montreal’s Gamerizon secures $5 million in funding Branchez-vous : Le studiomontréalaisGamerizonobtient5millionsen Video: L’Actualité : Chop Chop et l’art de construire une marque dans l’univers du mobile
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Tags: Alex Sakiz, Chop Chop, Chris Arsenault, Gamerizon, iNovia Capital, Vanedge Capital, VC
This morning I was browsing nextMontreal news and reviewed the most recent presentation from Tara Hunt: So you want to do a startup, eh?
And for those who don’t know Tara, well she is pretty outspoken, and she often says out loud what other say tend to only share behind closed doors. I admire that, right or wrong, she fundamentally believes in what she is doing, and Tara is part of the few people open to sharing her experiences and thoughts on what she is living through as a tech entrepreneur. Read more: http://nextmontreal.com/so-you-want-to-do-startups-eh/#ixzz1PpddQX00
Thanks Tara! Of course its hard, its’ real hard. Try raising a venture capital fund! No difference. You need strong relationships, trust, deep commitment, an amazing team, a vision you can communicate, and timing in the market is key. And yes, location matters!
Of course, as an investor, I’d love to invest in more amazing entrepreneurs, yes I meet great startups I don’t invest in. I’d love to be that enabler, be the one who believed in an Entrepreneur before it was all too obvious. But my reality is such that I only have 24 hours in a day, our team can only manage a limited number of investments, and our pool of capital is limited. So, what we do is try to identify the most amazing people we truly feel comfortable working with, complimentary to our other investments so we can leverage relationships and industry insights, in sectors we not only believe in but that we actually understand. And that, that’s just the starting point! So the end result is likely lots of frustration from entrepreneurs who think venture capital is just a pile of money, or worst, a bank!
I think Entrepreneurs should consider that many VCs look at an investment opportunity the same way a Startup looks at hiring an A team: You can’t hire or afford everybody that apply. Identifying the right competency, ambition and attitude is an art. Chemistry is everything. And bringing in the right person, at the right price, at the right time is no easy feat! And you often end up hire the passive job-seeker because thats the person that has all the above attributes and with who you took the time to build the strongest relationship with!
Yes! You got to be crazy to keep doing this! But I love it!
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Tags: nextMontreal, startups, Tara Hunt
Startup Visa Canada: Who’s In, Supporting Organizations, Media Coverage, and How You Can Help
Startup Visa Canada
- Ben Yoskovitz, Year One Labs
- Jason Bailey from SuperRewards and GrowLab
- Anthony Lee, Altos Ventures and C100 Organization
- Chris Albinson from Panorama Capital and C100 Organization
- David Crow from Startup North
- Roger Chabra, Rho Ventures
- JS Cournoyer, Real Ventures
- Paul Kedrosky
- Dan Martell, Flowtown
- Maria Pacella from GrowthWorks
- Brian Wong of Kiip
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Tags: Boris Wertz, Chris Arsenault, CVCA, Danny Robinson, Startup Visa Canada
Attracting foreign entrepreneurs
No entrepreneur wants to start a business if he runs the risk of being expelled from thevery country in which it has been launched. This is the situation facing two Romanian citizens after embarking on a social network business in Vancouver. The two businessmen were participants in Vancouver’s Bootup Lab Seed Accelerator program last year, where they raised half a million dollars in venture capital for their company. They have already hired one employee and are now looking to hire a second one.
But despite their best efforts, the two men were unable to obtain an entrepreneur visa and will be forced to leave the country by the end of the year. One is in Canada on a business visa, which has already been extended twice, and the other has a work permit from another employer that lasts only until December.
“These guys were engineering interns at Google and Microsoft before they came to Vancouver,” says Boris Wertz, founder of W Media Ventures and one of their investors. “They could have gotten a job in California, but preferred to stay here and launch their own business. Instead, they have spent a third of their time trying to regularize their situation, without success.”
Current Canadian immigration rules require a foreign entrepreneur to own at least $300,000 in personal fixed assets and have no less than two years experience heading a company in order to qualify for an entrepreneur visa.
These rules do not reflect the new reality of startups launched by bright young entrepreneurs straight out of university, with little money in their pocket, like Mark Zuckerberg when he founded Facebook, says Wertz.
A new visa
That is why Wertz, along with Danny Robinson and Maura Rodgers from Bootup Entrepeneurial Society, issued a proposal to establish a new visa in Canada for foreign entrepreneurs in the knowledge-based sector.
Called Startup Visa Canada, the new scheme would require a foreign entrepreneur to raise seed capital of $150,000 from qualified venture capitalists in place of the $300,000 current personal assets requirement.
The entrepreneur would also need to get a one-third equity position in the company, be actively involved in its management and create at least three full-time equivalent jobs over the course of a two-year program period.
“There is so much talent out there, in Asia, in Europe, in Australia, (people) who might not have $300,000 in their pocket,” says Wertz. “We need to be able to attract these bright people so they can start their business here and generate wealth for Canada.”
The group began a petition and now has 400 signatures supporting the Startup Visa proposition. Signatories include more than 50 venture capital funds, such as iNovia Capital, Real Ventures and W Media Ventures, Canadian tech organizations, such as the Canadian Innovation Exchange, as well as leading Canadian entrepreneurs. A letter was also sent to Minister of Industry Tony Clement, calling on him to start a pilot-project with the new rules.
CVCA- Canada’s Venture Capital and Private Equity Association is behind the initiative as well. “We believe startups to be the driving force behind job creation and prosperity,” says executive director Richard Rémillard. “We need to be more attractive to foreign entrepreneurs.”
“We will run out of engineers, mathematicians, physicists and other knowledge industry people needed to spur innovation,” adds Jean-Sebastien Cournoyer, partner at Real Ventures, a new $46-million seed fund created last year and backed by angels, entrepreneurs and the government of Quebec. “Innovation is global, and so is the talent. If we want to be a competitive hub for Internet companies, we must remove barriers such as this one.”
Canadian immigration rules do not reflect the new reality of startups launched by bright young entrepreneurs straight out of university, with little money in their pocket
Around the globe
Rémillard says Canada has to move quickly because aggressive legislation is being introduced elsewhere in the world to attract and retain the world’s brightest. On March 16, for instance, the British parliament approved changes to the immigration rules that came into effect on April 6.
Under the new rules, the standard investment threshold for an entrepreneur will remain at £200,000, but the government will allow high-potential businesses to come to the U.K. with £50,000 in funding from a reputable organization. As well, entrepreneurs will be allowed to enter the U.K. with their business partners so long as they have access to joint funds.
In addition, a new type of visitor visa will be created for prospective entrepreneurs coming into the U.K. They will be permitted to enter the country so that they can secure funding and make arrangements for starting their business before they transfer to an entrepreneur visa while there.
There will also be 1,000 visas per year available for “exceptional talent,” i.e. people who will be let in for three years and four months without requiring sponsorship by an employer.
Furthermore, the new rules give more flexibility to investors: they will be able to spend up to 180 days per year, rather than 90, outside the U.K. without affecting their right to settle there.
In Singapore, entrepreneurs can obtain their visas in only five weeks – compared to a year or two here in Canada – with a minimum US$50,000 investment.
In Chile, a new program lures entrepreneurs with a one-year visa and an investment of just US$40,000.
Closer to home, a Startup Visa Act was introduced in the U.S. in February 2010 by senators John Kerry and Richard Lugar. In the latest version of the bill, entrepreneurs living outside the country will get a visa if a qualified U.S. investor agrees to financially sponsor their entrepreneurial venture with a minimum investment of $100,000. Two years later, the startup must have created five new American jobs and have raised over $500,000 in financing or be generating more than $500,000 in yearly revenue.
The bill also addresses the situation surrounding workers on an H-1B visa, or graduates from U.S. universities in science, technology, engineering, mathematics or computer science. If these graduates have an annual income of at least $30,000 or assets of at least $60,000, and have had a U.S. investor commit investment of at least $20,000 in their venture, they get a visa. Two years on, the startup must have created three new American jobs and have either raised over $100,000 in financing or generate more than $100,000 in yearly revenue.
What’s more, foreign entrepreneurs whose business has generated at least $100,000 in sales from the U.S. can get a visa. Two years later, the startup must have created three new American jobs and either have raised over $100,000 in financing or generate more than $100,000 in yearly revenue.
With rules like these, one can easily think of a situation where a bright Canadian student would prefer to launch his company in California instead of in Canada.
Many well known investors and startup promoters are behind these changes, including Brad Feld (Foundry Group), Eric Ries (IMVU), Paul Graham (Y Combinator) and even Canadian Paul Kedrosky (Kauffman Foundation). They are launching a campaign to gain political support for the bill, using social-lobbying tools to gather tweets, Facebook posts and SMS messages and hand-deliver them to Congress.
Where will Canada be when the bill gets passed?
Check out the full Summer Magazine Edition of Private Capital Privé at http://www.cvca.ca
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Tags: Boris Wertz, Canadian Immigration, Chris Arsenault, CVCA, Danny Robinson, foreign Entrepreneurs, GrowLab, iNovia Capital, Jean-Sebastien Cournoyer, Maura Rodgers, Richard Remillard, Startup Visa, Startup Visa Canada
Entrepreneur DNA
An entrepreneur is a person that is driven toward success. Keep ahead of the startup game with these important tips.
Curated content: Canada Business Review on May 9, 2011 and the Toronto Star – Media Planet Magazine Insert – New and Modern Business, May 2011
Entrepreneurship is first and foremost a “state of mind”. It is less of something that can be taught than it is a core personality trait buried deep inside one’s soul, a drive, a hunger to succeed, a never ending feeling of dissatisfaction, sensing the necessity to do things differently and make things better. I think entrepreneurship is part of a person’s DNA, providing them with the capability to execute on a vision, like writing an award-winning book, starting from a blank page. The startup tech entrepreneur has the ability to “pick-up” on industry needs, on market trends, identify user pains points and find ways to deliver on those needs by building great products and great businesses.
Are you an entrepreneur? Want to build a successful business from scratch? Than this is for you.
All-in! An entrepreneur must first believe that he is addressing an untapped opportunity and that he has the willingness, drive and passion to go “all-in”. If you aren’t ready to jump, then don’t jump, get a job!
Connectedness! Be connected and stay connected. One of the most important qualities of an entrepreneur is to surround himself with amazing people. Always aim for the best, when seeking co-founders, employees, board members, partners, clients and even investors. It takes time to build real relationships. And every successful entrepreneur I know, have built amazing networks they then converted into relationships, which thereafter often becomes one of the enabling factors of their successes.
Get funded! Attract the right type of financing at the right time. As little as possible early on, in order to validate the product, business model and market demand. It is as critical to choose the right source of capital, as it is to choose the right amount needed at the right stage. Be aware that Venture Capital is made for a certain category of technology companies, tailored for certain stages of growth and is likely the most expensive capital an entrepreneur can attract. Take time to get to know your investors, their interest, their focus, their timelines and investment objectives before accepting any capital.
Build a great product! If you build something that is amazing (think RIM, Taleo, Softimage, Woozworld, iStockPhoto, Fixmo, …) people will adopt it. Think user interface, community virality, focus on customer pains and keep the number of features at a minimum. If you build something that is just “good to have” then your customers will have too many reasons not to select your product. Think “must have” clearly addressable needs and your customer base will thrive.
Don’t wait! Fast iteration provides the best possible results. It’s like continuous improvement, not just of your product but also of your team, your marketing plan and your business development efforts. Once you’ve decided to go a certain way, then go really fast. If something get’s in your way … turn.
“If everything seems under control, you’re just not going fast enough.” Mario Andretti, world champion racing driver.
The efforts and steps required to take an idea and develop it into a successful business often seem endless and painful. But the satisfaction for an entrepreneur to have built a successful business is so unique, so intense, that many can’t resist but go back to square one to do it all over again, and again.
Choice! Many forget that the common denominator to any entrepreneurial endeavor is the ability for any and every entrepreneur to choose. Even though some of the younger entrepreneurs may sometimes feel under-privileged, less-connected or not-as-commercially savvy as others, the bottom line is that all entrepreneurs have the ability to choose with who they want to build their busin
esses with and have an equal advantage of choosing the right co-founders, employees, partners, clients as well as investors. Understanding that your “choices” and “decisions” as an entrepreneur are what will make you succeed is priceless.
Entrepreneurs across Canada have access to all the resources needed to succeed in buildingcompetitive global companies. The Canadian economy is vibrant, has one of the best-educated workforce in the world, a deep research infrastructure across the country, an active venture capital and private equity community and our governments are providing support by acting as catalysts in the commercialization of innovation.
So what are you waiting for? Go out and show the world what you can do!
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Tags: Chris Arsenault, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneur DNA, iNovia Capital
The largest gathering of Venture Capital and Private Equity firms is heading out to Vancouver
Posted first on May 12, 2011 by Chris Arsenault for CVCA VCRants Blog
I’ve been an active board member of the CVCA – Canada’s Venture Capital & Private Equity Association – for many years, with somewhat of a focus on helping make the annual main event a unique and uttermost valuable gathering of the minds that define our private capital industry.
I’m predicting that this year’s event will set new groundbreaking records. In fact, I think that this year’s event will break every record we have logged at the CVCA! And why you may ask? Because this year’s event speakers and attendees are made up of the most active and opinionated leaders in our industry.
We have the largest group ever of Limited Partners attending, coming from across North America, Europe and Brazil, which, in turn, is attracting practically every Venture & Private Equity Fund Manager and General Partner in the country.
This year’s Annual conference is being held from May 25-27th in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia, at the Westin Bayshore.
The speaker lineup is amazing and includes:
Leo DeBever, CEO and Chief Investment Officer, Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo)
Barry Gonder, Managing Partner, Grove Street Advisors, LLC
Doug Pearce, CEO and Chief Investment Officer, British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (bcIMC)
Maurício da Rocha Wanderley, CIO, Valia
Sebastien Burdel, Principal, Coller Capital Ltd.
Alan Hibben, Managing Director, Mergers and Acquisitions, RBC Capital Markets
John McCoach, President, TSX Venture Exchange
Andrew Rippy, Managing Director - Investment Banking, Pacific Crest Securities
Blair Cowan, Vice-President, Corporate Finance, CIBC
Vipon Ghai, Managing Director, Manulife Capital
Mark Jenkins, Vice-President and Head of Private Debt, CPP Investment Board
Greg Woynarski, Managing Director and Head of the Global Debt Capital Markets Group and Global Co-Head of Credit Capital Markets Group, Scotia Capital
Chris Arsenault, Managing Partner, iNovia Capital Inc.
Jeff Clavier, Founder and Managing Partner, SoftTechVC
John Ruffolo, Senior Vice-President and Head of Knowledge Investing, OMERS
Boris Wertz, CEO, W Media Ventures
Frank Dennis, President and CEO, Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Company
Brett Hodson, President and CEO, Corix Group of Companies
Peter Luit, President and CEO, Livingston International
Tim April , Managing Director, Fund Investments, BDC Venture Capital
Jacques Bernier, Managing Partner, Teralys Capital
Jennifer Brooy, Vice President and Head of Equity, Export Development Canada
Melissa McJannet, Managing Director, Northleaf Capital Partners
Todd Tessier, Vice President, BC Renaissance Capital Fund
Stephen Dent, Partner, Birch Hill Equity Partners
Kelly DePonte, Partner, Probitas Partners
Aaron Gershenberg, Managing Partner, SVB Capital
David Henderson, Managing Director , XPV Capital Corporation
Tim Kelly, Partner, Adams Street Partners
Susan Long McAndrews, Partner, Pantheon
Dave Mullen, CEO and Head of Private Equity North America, HSBC Capital (Canada) Inc.
Deanna Brown, CEO, Federated Media Publishing Inc.
Matt Klainer, Business Development Manager , Google
Michael Shim, Vice President, Mobile Partnerships, Groupon
Jim Orlando, Managing Director, OMERS Private Equity
Scott Stedman, Partner, The Yucaipa Companies
Gary Rubinoff, Managing Director, Summerhill Venture Partners
Chris Wormald, Vice President – Strategic Alliances, Research In Motion
Paul Deninger, Senior Managing Director, Evercore Partners
Jennifer Morais , Senior Principal, Funds and Secondaries, CPP Investment Board
Jim Pittman, Vice President, Private Equity, PSP Investments
Rakesh Saraf, Portfolio Manager, Private Investments, Alberta Teachers’ Retirement Fund Board
Lincoln Webb, Vice President, Private Equity & Infrastructure, BC Investment Management Corporation
Miguel Ferreira, Head of International Markets, Tarpon
Tim Formuziewich, Managing Partner, Brookfield Brazil
Miguel Perrotti, President, Invest Tech
Maurício da Rocha Wanderley, CIO, Valia
Duncan Littlejohn, Managing Director for Latin America, Paul Capital Partners
Michael Woolhouse, Senior Principal, Private Investments, CPP Investment Board
Sidney Chameh, Chairman, ABVCAP Founder and Partner, DGF Investimentos
Martin Pose, Partner, TozziniFreire Advogados
David Snow, Founder & CEO, Privcap
Bing Gordon, Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
Don Mattrick , President, Interactive Entertainment Business, Microsoft
Neil Young, CEO, Ngmoco
Stephen Todd Walker, Managing Director, Oppenheimer & Co., and Author of ‘Wave Theory for Alternative Investments’
And yes! The rumors were well-founded. Entertainment before the traditional Scotch Tasting Evening on the 26th will be provided by none other than “Great Canadian Entrepreneur and Entertainer Howie Mandel”
HOWIE MANDEL
Howie Mandel, one of the biggest names in comedy, will entertain us after dinner. Howie Mandel has remained a constant force in show business for over 30 years. This summer he embarked on his latest endeavor as a judge on NBC’s hit talent competition series “America’s Got Talent” alongside Sharon Osborne and Piers Morgan. Howie recently received an Emmy nomination for “Outstanding Reality/Competition Host” for “Deal or No Deal” and a Daytime Emmy nomination for “Outstanding Game Show Host” for the syndicated version of the show.
So if you are not registered and are looking for “the place to be” later this month, then LINK TO CONFERENCE WEB SITE, SPEAKER LIST & AGENDA and register today – we are almost sold out!
See you in Vancouver!
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Tags: Annual Conference, Canada, Chris Arsenault, CVCA, Howie Mandel, VC
Come join us for AccelerateMTL on March 31st The C100, iNovia Capital, Real Ventures and BDC Venture Capital have collaborated to bring the Montreal tech entrepreneur community a major event about the “What” and the “How” of building successful tech companies at high speed.
The event kicks off at 2:00 pm with “Do More Faster: Techstars Lessons to Accelerate Your Startup”, a keynote and open Q&A session with Brad Feld, co-founder of Techstars and Managing Director of the Foundry Group, investor in Zynga.
Brad will be followed by a panel of leading C100 seed investors and VCs from the US and Canada who will share what they think it takes to get their money and build world class companies from your own backyard.
Not to be missed is the final portion of the program – keynotes from Dave McClure, the Founder of 500 Startups, and Howard Lindzon, Founder of Stocktwits – to be followed by an interactive Q&A with both Dave and Howard.
Come join us to mingle and network with entrepreneurs, VCs and angels who’ve done it and want to support the next generation of great Canadian entrepreneurs.
Note: We will also be announcing the CIX Accelerator winning Montreal Entrepreneur that will be attending the Silicon Valley based Plug and Play Technology Center for three months.
**Doors open at 1:00 pm – come early!**
We also adding the second floor with tables as a business “office hours” area, allowing investors, entrepreneurs and C100 chartered members to hold one-on-one meetings.
For those interested in joining the team for an AccelerateMTL Ski Day click
here: http://acceleratemtlski.eventbrite.com
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Tags: AccelerateMTL, C100, Chris Arsenault, iNovia Capital
Originally posted February 16th 2011 for MRI blog
When I first heard of the MaRS Discovery District initiative to put together a delegation of Ontario digital media companies with the objective of storming down to New York to connect with the Madison Avenue influencers, I was somewhat sceptical of the true impact it could have: “How can a few Canadian tech companies take on the Big Apple and get results?”, I thought.
Surprise, I was impressed!
Peter Evans, a great entrepreneur who is now spending his time and energy as part of the MaRS Advisory Services, and his team, simply made it happen. The goal of gathering strong local New York coverage for a select group of Ontario based digital media companies was achieved in part because of Evan’s idea of inviting a group of active Canadian VCs along to join the delegation and participate in every aspect of the two and a half day event. This group of investors automatically called upon their New Yorker based co-investors and VC colleagues to join in. Furthermore, the idea of holding a “pre-conference” half day session the before the opening cocktail reception of the AlwaysOn New York OnMedia 2011 Conference, was well thought through. The selected companies had the unique opportunity to pitch their businesses to the privileged group of Canadian investors as well as the invited New York VC locals and industry colleagues. Even Tony Perkins, founder and editor of AlwaysOn attended the pre-conference sessions and met up with a few of the companies!
But it didn’t stop there. Peter organized two on-site visits and Q&A sessions with hot local digital media companies (AppNexus & Yodle) where both VCs and Entrepreneurs tagged along. Finally, the integration of our 6 Canadian digital media companies into the OnMedia 2011 Conference itself was well orchestrated. Each and every one of the selected companies had the opportunity to either present at the conference or be part of a panel. A lot of knowledge sharing and networking activities.
The select Ontario based digital media companies that attended were:
• gShift Labs – search engine optimization
• InGamer Sports – live event social gaming
• OpenFile – user-generated online newspaper
• PostRank – social engagement and influence ratings
• Viafoura – online user engagement
• Wave Accounting – free accounting application for small businesses
I really appreciated this initiative and meeting up with the selected startups, because it directly supports the message that we can be more successful by being better connected. I think Canada spawns a respectable number of technology startup companies across a broad range of industry sectors, but successful outcomes are still infrequent because they are not sufficiently “connected”. This initiative along-side many others such as: the CIX – Accelerate Program, the C100 48Hrs in the Valley and the GROW conferences are helping mind-the-gap and creates unique opportunities to build stronger relationships across the border and across industries.
We have some amazing tech entrepreneurs in Canada and we are seeing more and more of our tech and digital media companies hit the limelight. AlwaysOn 2011 OnMedia Top Private Companies included two Canadian companies this year:
• Adenyo – Toronto, Ont., Canada (who has been acquired last week!)
• Tynt - Calgary, Alb., Canada (who is one of iNovia Capital’s portfolio companies)
Being part of ground-breaking technology companies recognized for their contributions to marketing, branding, advertising, and publishing is a great way to showcase some of our best companies. But, I do think we should have 5 or even 10 on the list next year!
Like MaRS, we need to continue to showcase our top entrepreneurs, our companies, and further deploy efforts not only across the board but across the continents. We need to be connected, we need to support our entrepreneurs beyond capital.
Connectedness!
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Tags: Chris Arsenault, Connectedness, iNovia Capital, MaRS, OnMedia, Peter Evans
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