links for 2008-05-31

• TED | Talks | Nicholas Negroponte: The vision behind One Laptop Per Child (video)
  Nicholas Negroponte: The vision behind One Laptop Per Child
  (tags: education technology OLPC)

Angel Capital Ascending – Angel Reception in Ottawa (June 5th, 2008)

The National Angel Organization, in partnership with Gowlings, OCRI and the Ottawa Angel Alliance, are hosting a reception to facilitate networking within the community and to share information from a recent study on returns to Angel groups.

The study, sponsored by the Angel Capital Association and released by Professor Robert Wiltbank (Atkinson Graduate School of Management), finds average Angel capital investment returns in excess of 27%.

During the session, Prof. Wiltbank will share his findings on the significant determinants of achieving superior Angel investment returns, including the impacts of:

• Due diligence efforts
• Investor experience in the industry
• Level of investor/investee interaction
• Follow-on investment participation

We’d like to invite you to join us, your colleagues, and Prof. Wiltbank in an exploration of the risks, rewards, and opportunities presented in the current climate for informal private equity investment.

It is our great pleasure to invite you to join us for this complementary evening. The details are:

Date: Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Time: 5:00pm to 8:00pm (EST)

Location: The Marshes, 320 Terry Fox Dr., Kanata, Ontario

Please register by clicking the button below:

This invite open to Angels and accredited investors only

Presented by:

and

links for 2008-05-28

• Founders & Funders – Toronto
  The Toronto tech and community scenes have exploded over the past couple of years. We often hear about successful entrepreneurs or interesting startups but finding the time to attend all of the events and meet interesting people isn’t easy.

  The Toront

  (tags: foundersandfunders angel entrepreneur startup startupnorth investor)

East Coast Connected Hosting Atlantic Business Summit Tomorrow

Friends of the National Angel Organization (NAO), East Coast Connected, will be hosting their Atlantic Business Summit tomorrow at the Rotman School of Management in Toronto.

This event is great for anyone who is interested in knowing more about business opportunities in Atlantic Canada as well as those who are looking to connect with talented Atlantic Canadians who frequent Toronto.

Details below:

The Atlantic Business Summit will include panel discussions, a keynote address by the Honourable Frank McKenna and a reception showcasing innovative companies in Atlantic Canada. The half day event will feature four panel discussions with academic, industry and business leaders to examine key business issues and opportunities in the region

Registration closes today! Click HERE for full program details and registration.

The mission of ECC is quite simple:

East Coast Connected (ECC) is a non-profit venture that promotes brain circulation – allowing both Atlantic Canada and Toronto to benefit from the best of what each region has to offer through the free flow of capital, knowledge and creativity

Be reminded that the NAO will be hosting its own National Angel Summit in Halifax, Nova Scotia from Oct. 15 – 17!

For more information, please contact us at 416.581.0009 or email us at info@angelinvestor.ca

links for 2008-05-27

• StartupNorth » Angel Financing – Investor Management
  “Investor Management” is probably the area of most complaint that investor’s have about companies they are involved in.
  (tags: startupnorth angel investormanagement performancereporting)

links for 2008-05-25

• Wise words – Veterans talk about how to excel at investing and advising
  What makes a successful angel investor?

  “I would say a knowledge of the marketplace and respect for the marketplace. Private investments ARE a marketplace — not a very effective marketplace, but like any other they go up and down. And by ‘not very ef

  (tags: angel successstories experience)
• Get your house in order before asking for money – Mass High Tech: The Journal of New England Technology:
  “Are you interested in investing in my idea?”

  First, build something. In today’s high-tech environment, especially for those as focused as I am on the Internet, there’s really no excuse for not having at least a prototype created before you approach in

  (tags: angel sweatequity ideas)

Angels Recognized as Key to the Canadian Venture Funding Ecosystem But More Needs to Be Done

Early this year Deloitte released its “Global Trends in Venture Capital 2007 Survey” analyzing the trends in global venture capital.

The verdict: Outlook Grim.

“The outlook for the Canadian venture capital industry is bleak given its ecosystem is broken and there is no immediate solution at hand. The Canadian government and the domestic VC community must join forces to bring the industry back from the brink of collapse.”

Receiving a health rating of poor, both the Series A and B phases of venture capital represent massive breakdowns in the Canadian venture finance ecosystem.

This is, of course, of great concern to the Angel community as it increases the risk they face given there is great uncertainty regarding where the next round of financing might come from for their investments and is an oft cited barrier to initial investment.

This Seed-to-Series-B capital vacuum, has been one of the major driving forces behind the Angel community banding together and co-investing with each other. Canadian Angel investee companies with great potential such as Signallink or Origin Biomed have crossed the continent raising funds from multiple Angel investor groups. Other companies such as these have secured rounds of funding as high as $10 and $11 million in Angel capital.

Co-investment aside, Deloitte makes a number of other recommendations to make the Angel capital investment phase stronger, including:

• Further decreases in the capital gains tax rate
• Flow-through shares
• Angel tax credit for direct investment
• Retail venture capital program – tax credit for investment in funds
• Matching co-investment angel funds

The National Angel Organization recently made similar recommendations to the Federal Government. Watch this space for future updates!

links for 2008-05-22

• Fund raising: Ideas to beat the crunch! | Business Angel Blog
  Because of the credit crunch and the prevailing economic mood at the moment, it is harder for companies to raise money at the moment than it has been in the past. This might be a strange blog for a business angel to write – but here are some alternative
  (tags: angel fundingalternatives bootstrap)

Co-Investment a Hot Topic at International Angel Dinner

“Money doesn’t care what industry or what country it is found in.”
(San Diego Angel Investor)

San Diego, California – On the evening of May 8th, the National Angel Organization, the industry association representing Angel investors and Angel groups in Canada, in collaboration with the Consulate of Canada – San Diego held the first ever Canadian-International Angel Co-Investment Dinner.

The Goal: Build stronger international relationships between the Canadian and US Angel communities, discuss the state of Angel investing, trade best practices, and network to encourage foreign direct investment into Angel-backed Canadian companies and help them expand internationally with a particular focus on Southern California.

Attracting over forty Angel investors, high-net worth individuals who invest in early-stage high-risk ventures, and representatives of Angel groups from across North America and, indeed, the globe, the conversation was electric. Topics ranging from incubators, technology transfer from Universities, partnering with institutional investors, helping entrepreneurs successfully reach a liquidity event and the accessing of each other’s relationship capital networks to help grow and develop Southern California and Canadian businesses were covered.

By far the most discussed topic, however, was international co-investment between Angel investor groups in Canada and the US (specifically Southern California). Where Angel investors were once considered to invest only locally, the feedback from this group was that this was no longer the case.

As Doug Pennington, Executive Director of the Private Capital Network in Orange County stated, “Money doesn’t care what industry or what country it is found in.” In the past 12 months the Private Capital Network has hosted co-investment opportunities from the nations of Canada, Ireland, Sweden, and the UK, underscoring their commitment to explore opportunities from around the globe.

The enabling factors to co-investment were universally agreed to be that a local Angel group had invested in the opportunity, had conducted due diligence according to the agreed standards established in the Angel industry, and that the Angel group invested in and sponsoring the opportunity could monitor the local investment.

“Now that standards in Angel investing are being established and, by and large, Angels are singing off the same song sheets,” says W. Daniel Mothersill, President of the National Angel Organization, “collaboration and co-investment between Angel groups has become much easier. Angel companies are now able to raise significant rounds of financing, with numerous examples of rounds closing at levels previously reserved for Venture Capital”.

As the Angel capital industry has formalized over the last decade, with facilitated Angel groups forming across the globe, the barriers to co-investment have fallen away, creating an exciting opportunity for Angel groups and their investee companies across North America.

Angel Groups in Attendance:

Canada
First Angel Network
Okanagan Angels
Angel Forum
WUTIF Fund
Maple Leaf Angels
National Angel Organization
Saskatchewan Angel Investor Network
Newfoundland and Labrador Angel Network

US
Global CONNECT
Keiretsu Forum
Private Capital Network
Tech Coast Angels
Great Lakes Angels
Angel Capital Association
Health Advances LLC

International
Australian Association of Angel Investors Limited
LINC Scotland
European Business Angel Network
British Business Angel Association

links for 2008-05-16

• http://davidcrow.ca/
  Interestingly, angel investors in 2007 put $26 billion into 57,120 ventures according to a study by Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire!
• Communitech Blog » Iain
  Number one – you need money and you need people with money who are willing to take risks. On the first part, there is no doubt that we have issues. 116 certificates, access to the right venture exchanges, LP’s that are not motivated to invest in Canad
  (tags: angel taxcredit)

links for 2008-05-14

• The Angelsoft Blog » Article – How Angel Investors Get Their Wings
  (tags: angel)

links for 2008-05-13

• Appointing a Board | Business Angel Blog
  One of the areas where I am frequently asked to help small or fast growing businesses is in the area of putting a board together. Sadly, there are many people who are very good at self-promotion and are very believable.
  (tags: boardmembers angel)

links for 2008-05-12

• Read ‘Em and Reap: Decoding the VC Poker Face
  VCs are trying to get big returns for their limited partners. That’s all. If they can save the world or cure cancer in the process, even better — but that’s not their goal. Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, are trying to convert their dreams into re
  (tags: vc pokerface nonverbalcommunication)
• Investor Eric Janszen Says Clean Tech Is Only Hope for the Collapsing Economy
  Eric Janszen is an angel investor and founder of the contrarian market website iTulip.com, which The New York Times credited with “accurately predicting that the [internet] bubble would pop.” Now Janszen believes the American economy needs a fundamental r
  (tags: greentech cleantech angel)
• Angel Financing

More Publicity for New London, ON Angel Group

Recently launched, the Southwestern Ontario Angel Group (SWOAG), continues to generate a high-level of interest within the London Business community. Featured in the April 2008 issue of Business London, the group has already attracted 20+ members and is now accepting applications through it’s angelsoft portal at www.swoangel.ca

For a link to full article, please click the link below:

Spreading their Wings – Southerwestern Ontario Angel Group

Angel Insights From Andrew Wilkes

In a recent article featured in the Ottawa Business Journal, NAO Chairman Andrew Wilkes was asked to offer his expertise on the topic of Angel investing.

Andrew offered his unique insight into the topics of what it means to seek Angel investing as well as beneficial tax models for Angel investing.

See below for the full excerpt:

I would suggest that businesses need to look at potential financing sources as partners. A partner brings more than money, they bring advice and entrepreneurs should be seeking out these financing partners that can help their businesses be successful. It’s more than mentoring. To me, it is about seeking out a partner who is somebody who rolls up their sleeves and gets involved in the business and has capital at risk.

An angel investor will more likely invest in a company that has already been invested in by other private individual investors or people they know will invest alongside them.

One of the things that some provinces, states and countries have is programs to attract capital for small business. Many do this through tax incentives.

British Columbia has a program (where) an eligible small business can raise capital and the investors, as long as they are (at) arm’s length, can get a 30-per-cent tax credit on their money.

This program has provided to be very successful for all participants, including the government. They get a return on their investment usually in two or three years through job creation and taxes.

The businesses get their capital and investors tend to invest because they look at it as already getting a 30-per-cent return. It’s a good way to attract capital and its something the National Angel Organization has been promoting in the province of Ontario.

The full Ottawa Business Journal article can be found by clicking the link below:

Seed money: Angels in the Ottawa field – Scoring early-stage financing
By Peter Kovessy, Ottawa Business Journal Staff
Wed, Apr 30, 2008 2:00 PM EST

Canadian StartupCamps Announced

Last week the next round of StartupCamps, StartupCampWaterloo (June 5th) and StartupCampMontreal (May 15th), were announced in Toronto at StartupCampToronto.

What are StartupCamps?

StartupCamp, a.k.a “The Unconference for the Startup Community”, is an unconference-style event that’s dedicated to bringing together the various members of the startup community for a face-to-face collaborative meetup where its the attendees that drive the agenda (in true unconference fashion).

Often showcasing new and interesting startup companies these ‘camps’ are a great resource for Angels, helping them engage the startup community and overcome the adverse selection risk I examined in a previous post. Especially in the ICT space, these ‘camps’ are a great venue to gather context on the newest high-potential companies coming down the dealflow pipeline such as Tungle, Chide.it, or Podbean.com.

Also, it should be noted that NAO’s own President, W. Daniel Mothersill, will be one of the keynote speakers at the next StartupCampMontreal as will serial entrepreneur and Angel Austin Hill.

Toronto Angel Marnie Walker Featured by Enterprising Women

Entrepreneur and Toronto-based Angel Marnie Walker was featured in this month’s Enterprising Women: The Magazine for Women Business Owners.

Marnie founded, owned, operated (very successfully!) and, after many years, sold her Canadian school bus company, Student Express.

Not one to rest on her laurels, Marnie is now a guest lecturer at the Schulich School of Business, a keynote speaker on entrepreneurship, and is working on her next venture. To top it all off, Marnie is also an active member of the Toronto-based Maple Leaf Angels.

Congratulations, Marnie, on your continued success! Budding entrepreneurs could learn a lot from your experiences!

To read the full article, please click here.

links for 2008-05-05

• Enterprise White Paper: Access to Finance
  (tags: angel uk accesstofinance)

Founders and Funders – Montreal and Toronto

 

Over the last six months both Toronto and Montreal hosted the first ever Funders and Founders dinners, community mash-ups designed to:

Create a social environment where the people who fund companies and the people who start companies can begin conversations outside of the pitch.

The first two of these events were a great success, both attracting well over 75 attendees representing the high-potential company, VC and Angel communities.

Building on the success of these first events, the second round of Funders and Founders events have recently been announced:

• Founders & Funders Montreal - May 14th 
• Founders & Funders Toronto – June 4, 2008

Please note that these events are by invitation only. To recieve an invitation please visit the Founders and Funders website and fill out the appropriate forms for either the Montreal or Toronto events.