links for 2009-05-28

• Symtext » NACO Co-investment Summit
  Symtext up. Raymond did a great job, quickly, and then I did my piece — ensuring to ad lib the connection between Symtext’s digital media Liquid Textbooks and Ryerson’s digital media i-Everything strategy. It all seemed to turn out alright, judging from both the feedback and post-presentation discussions.

  All in all, it was a great day. Seriously great work by the NACO, which all the startups hope to reward not just by our thanks, but by securing the financing needed to build some pretty spectacular companies.

  (tags: coinvestment angel symtext)

News Release: Announcing the Canadian Angel Capital Top Five Awards

For immediate release

Canadian Angel Capital Top Five Companies Recognized
Canada’s Drive for Recovery Seeded by Innovative Entrepreneurs and Bold Angel Investors

Toronto, May 27^th, 2009 – The Canadian Angel Capital Top Five Companies were chosen today from among Angel-invested enterprises pitching for capital today at the Spring 2009 Canadian Co-investment Summit.   Over 150 Angels and other investors attending the event were eligible to vote for these companies, which were awarded the distinction of “Canada’s best early-stage investment opportunities.”

“These entrepreneurs were hitting the ball out of the park today,” said W. Daniel Mothersill, President of the National Angel Capital Organization, and Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Ted Rogers School of Management.  “Canadians should be proud of their risk-taking investors and innovators, without whom economic growth, good jobs and stable incomes would not be possible.  I’m proud to have had a role in bringing them together today for everyone’s benefit.”

The Canadian Angel Capital Top Five Companies are:

Company Name Contact

Aeryon Labs Inc.                                            http://www.aeryon.com
Akoha                                                                  http://www.akoha.com/
Bayalink Solutions Inc.                                http://www.bayalink.com/
Quantum Dental Technologies                  http://www.thecanarysystem.com/
VanRx                                                                 http://www.vanrx.com/

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Media Contact

Bryan Watson, NACO Executive Director
T : 416-581-0009
E : bwatson@angelinvestor.ca
W : www.angelinvestor.ca

Photos

Dr Steven Gedeon with Chris Procyshyn of VanRx

Dr Steven Gedeon with Dave Kroetsch of Aeryon Labs

Dr Steven Gedeon with Mark MacLeod of Akoha

Dr Steven Gedeon with Trevor Dietrich of Bayalink

Dr Steven Gedeon with the principals of Quantum Dental

links for 2009-05-26

• StartupCFO: Twitter: The perils of too much capital
  Everyone's favourite startup Twitter is apparently demonstrating one of the many perils of having too much capital. Techcrunch reported yesterday that Twitter is in talks to create a TV show.
  (tags: investee startup capital)

Mind to Market Session 18: The Smart Grid

Mind to Market Innovation Series - Ontario Centres of Excellence

Take advantage of our sponsorship and come to the next Mind to Market session being hosted by OCE June 9th in Toronto.

What is Ontario’s position on the global smart grid road map? With expert insight into the activities of leading smart grid jurisdictions around the world, this panel will explore tangible opportunities for Ontario’s technology innovators and entrepreneurs. If our researchers and companies are to build the grids of tomorrow, what needs to happen in Ontario next?

Develop your own intelligent network. Join Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) and four smart grid implementation leaders as they explore the role that Ontario can play in delivering the grid of the future.

MODERATOR

DAVID MCFADDEN Chair, Ontario Centres of Excellence; Member, Ontario Smart Grid Forum

PANELLISTS

LARRY SOLLECITO President and CEO, GE Digital Energy

WADE MALCOLM Managing Director, Accenture’s North American Smart Grid Practice

DAVID COLLIE President and CEO, Burlington Hydro Electric Inc.

TUESDAY, JUNE 9TH
Breakfast Presentation: 7:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.

Toronto Board of Trade – First Canadian Place, 77 Adelaide Street West, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON

For more information about the Mind to Market Innovation Series, please visit http://m2m.oce-ontario.org, contact the event hotline by e-mail or at 416-861-1092 x1019 / 1-866-759-6014 x1019.

The OCE Mind to Market Innovation Series thanks its sponsors.

News Release: Angels Boldly Step Forward at Co-Investment Summit

For immediate release

Angels Boldly Step Forward at Canada’s Second Co-Investment Summit
Economic Confidence Embodied In Energetic Meeting of Investors and Entrepreneurs

Toronto, May 26^th, 2009 – More than 350 Angel investors and Angel community stakeholders from across Canada and the US registered at the Spring 2009 Canadian Co-Investment Summit, which took place Friday at the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University.  This full-day event, featuring 15 of the best Angel-backed companies in the country, was organized by the National Angel Capital Organization in partnership with the Ted Rogers School of Management.

“The growth-oriented companies that presented for investment Friday made the event the spectacular success that it was,” said W. Daniel Mothersill, NACO president and Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Ted Rogers School of Management.  “We should be proud to have entrepreneurs in our country who can make such compelling pitches and innovative offerings – and equally proud of the Angel investors who are confidently taking stakes in them.”

He also noted the recognition that Canadian Angel investment is now receiving from government and the general public.  “With our increasing organization, formalization, and professionalism, Angels are doing their part to fill the capital availability gap that Canada’s early-stage enterprises face; a gap which is widening due to the withdrawal of venture capital from their part of the market.  As experienced serial entrepreneurs, many Angels also bring investees their advice and mentorship, which are the secret sauce of entrepreneurial success,” he added.

Addresses were also delivered at the Summit by the Honourable Michael Bryant, Ontario’s former Minister for Economic Development and newly appointed CEO of Invest Toronto; and Sheldon Levy, President and Vice-Chancellor of Ryerson University.   Further Co-Investment Summits showcasing Canadian companies are planned for the autumn of 2009.

Mark Kerbel, CEO of REGEN Energy said, “Thank you for hosting the Spring 2009 Canadian Co-Investment Summit.  We are now in discussions with a small group of potential investors that met REGEN at the conference, which is always a good sign of a productive day.”

Robert Ouellette, Zerofootprint Inc. said, “Congratulations once again on a truly memorable and useful event.  Maybe you’ve started the ball rolling again for early-stage investment in Ontario.”

-30-

About the National Angel Capital Organization

The National Angel Capital Organization (NACO – www.angelinvestor.ca) is the industry association representing Angel capital in all of its forms throughout Canada. NACO promotes a vibrant Angel community and culture through the development of formal Angel investor groups, best practices education and mentoring programs, and the formation of collaboration and co-investment mechanisms. Our mission is to increase the quantity, quality, and success of Angel investments in Canada, thus creating a greater pool of capital for innovative start-up companies.

About Ryerson University

Ryerson University is Canada’s leader in innovative career-focused education, offering close to 90 PhD, master’s, and undergraduate programs in the Faculty of Arts; the Faculty of Communication & Design; the Faculty of Community Services; the Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Science; and the Ted Rogers School of Management.  Ryerson University has graduate and undergraduate enrolment of 26,500 students. With more than 64,000 registrations annually, The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education is Canada’s leading provider of university-based adult education.

Media Contacts

W. Daniel Mothersill                                                                       Bryan Watson
President, NACO                                                                              Executive Director, NACO
Distinguished Visiting Professor,                                              T: 416-581-0009
Ted Rogers School of Management                                         E: bwatson@angelinvestor.ca
Ryerson University
T: 416-581-0009
E: dan@angelinvestor.ca

Sarah Hayward
Public Relations Coordinator
Ted Rogers School of Management
Ryerson University
T: 416-979-5000 ext. 7709
E: shayward@ryerson.ca

One Day To Go! – Spring 2009 Canadian Co-investment Summit: Funding the Future

With one last day remaining before the Spring 2009 Canadian Co-investment Summit: Funding the Future we are looking at an almost sold out event, with 6 Investor tickets and 2 media passes remaining. If your are an investor and still interested in attending, register soon!

Why would you want to attend? The group of high-potential Angel-backed companies that have been selected to present are some of the best we at NACO have seen in a forum such as this. To learn more about who will be presenting, click here!

NACO would like to thank the Co-Investment Task Force wish all the presenting companies good luck with their pitches.

links for 2009-05-17

• Quebec launches VC dream
  Two years ago, Jacques Bernier, then senior vice-president at the Solidarity Fund QFL, made a vow to himself. He had just spent an afternoon chatting with a number of institutional investors who were all bellyaching about the poor returns in venture capital in Canada.

links for 2009-05-16

• Venture funding continues to fall – San Jose Mercury News
  It was back in October, with the financial industry melting down and Halloween coming up, that Sequoia Capital delivered its notorious "R.I.P. Good Times" economic report to portfolio companies, scaring startup CEOs into a wave of layoffs.

  So it was hardly a surprise when the venture capital industry's latest MoneyTree Report, a quarterly report card, showed that overall venture investments continue to plunge. Such is the new "New Economy."

  Nationally, VCs invested $3 billion into U.S. companies, down 61 percent from the $7.7 billion invested in the first quarter of 2008. It was smallest quarterly sum since 1997, and the sharpest decline on record.

links for 2009-05-15

• StartupCFO: Is the worst over?
  Healy Jones, a friend who has spent his whole career in banking / VC wrote a frank and open post yesterday about why today is his last day as a VC. It's worth reading. He has a pretty bleak assessment of the current state of the industry right now:

  "VC is less fun these days. I went into technology banking @ H&Q because I loved the idea of working with young technology companies. And I still love the rush of hearing about a new technology and working with an entrepreneur building a dream. These days, there is a ton of effort is being spent re-sizing existing portfolio companies and doing downrounds. Sure, some new investments are still getting done (and Atlas is in a very solid state to make new investments, with a new fund and committed partnership). But all the Excel cap-table anti-dilution modeling and nasty negotiations with co-investors over companies that aren’t meeting expectations just isn’t enjoyable, and it isn’t really why I got into venture in the first place.

  (tags: vc angel entrepreneur fundinggap)

links for 2009-05-13

• Announcing my new startup seed fund | Colorado Startups
  The new fund will invest in approximately 20 startups over a five year period. It will invest between $50K and $200K per company, with a typical “bite size” being $100K. While this new fund will choose the best available investments nationally, we believe that some of those will naturally include companies exiting TechStars. With this fund, I will lead some investments and will follow other funds or angels in other cases. I am especially honored that the advisors to the fund are Howard Lindzon, Brad Feld, Howard Diamond, Lisa Rutherford, and Jason Mendelson, so the range of experience represented by the fund is quite extraordinary. More information about the fund is available at DavidGCohen.com.
  (tags: angel angelinvestor angelfund DavidGCohen)

GrandBanks Capital (Boston) Invests in I Love Rewards (Toronto)

Boston-based GrandBanks Capital recently announced an investment in Toronto-based I Love Rewards, “the leading provider of web based rewards and recognition programs for the next generation.”

I Love Rewards (www.iloverewards.com), North America’s fastest growing rewards and recognition program provider, has secured a $5.7 million (USD) Series B financing round led by GrandBanks Capital with participation by prior investor JLA Ventures.

The investment in I Love Rewards marks GrandBanks Capital’s 5th investment in a Canadian based startup and sixth transaction in Canada overall.

The capital will be used to accelerate I Love Rewards’ growth by expanding its sales and marketing capabilities in the United States to capture a share of the $47 billion rewards and recognition industry.

Congratulations must be given to Razor Suleman, Founder and CEO of I Love Rewards for attracting such a round of investment in such tough economic times. Well done!

links for 2009-05-11

• reportonbusiness.com: Canada still in 'strong slowdown:' OECD
  Canada remains in the grips of a “strong slowdown” even as some major economies are showing tentative signs of recovery, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said in a report Monday.
  (tags: economy economicdownturn)

Approaching Investors: Executive Summary or Slide Deck

Mark MacLeod, writer of StartupCFO, conducted a poll today with interesting results.

“Following up on a comment to my earlier post today about executive summaries, I decided to do a quick twtpoll of investors to see what they preferred: a short written summary or a short presentation?

Between the poll and several e-mails we have a small but statistically relevant sample that is overwhelmingly in favour of presentations (25 out of 32 responses). One anecdotal observation: angels seems to prefer one pagers. Every VC who wrote me preferred the presentation.”

In my experience, I’d say that this poll accurately sums up the preferences of both groups. Angel groups in Canada (and indeed globally) are now almost all using Angelsoft, an Angel group deal flow management tool and community. The first step in using signing up on this platform for any angel group is the filling out of a form which generates a one-page executive summary.

The first step in The catch, of course, is that to produce either document, a one page executive summary or a slide deck, of any quality an entrepreneur really must work through all the logic involved in preparing a full business plan and the financials that accompany it.

My recommendation to entrepreneurs: Remember that they are engaged in a sales activity when they are raising financing. You are selling your company. Slides, executive summaries, business plans, your web site, etc. are all part of the collateral you need to help you close the sale. Take time when completing your executive summary to be sure you put your best foot forward.

links for 2009-05-02

• Angel Investor | Angel Investor Guru
  The AngelConf this year provided some great insights to angel investors. A great group of successful angel investors were the speakers at the conference and they imparted knowledge on other angel investors. Venture Blog shares the best of the advice that any angel investor would benefit from following: (1) It’s a small community — if you screw one entrepreneur, you’ll be out of the angel business because entrepreneurs talk (Conway)
  (tags: angel angelinvestor investment vc businessangel wordsofwisdom)

links for 2009-04-30

• Another Co-Investment for Scotland and the Par Syndicate
  FIFE firm Shaw Water Engineering has won £800,000 of funding from a business angel consortium, in a move that will create 14 jobs. The Dunfermline-based company, which creates technology to test water for bacteria, has agreed a deal with the Par Syndicate – the angel investor arm of Edinburgh-based Par Equity – and Scottish Enterprise's Scottish Co-investment Fund. The investment, which is to be made in stages over the next 12 months, will allow Shaw to further develop its "Crypto-Tect" technology, which allows testing of water supplies for contamination of cryptosporidium.