Author Archive
The Fall 2011 issue of PRIVATE CAPITAL Magazine was mailed out to CVCA members last week. And the electronic version has been posted on the CVCA home page and here is the link http://tinyurl.com/Private-Capital-Fall-2011 .
Enjoy!
Curated content – frst published by Eric Brooke, Startup Visa Canada
When polled 72% of Canadians stated that Canada needs to stay ahead of the US in attracting entrepreneurial talent and two-thirds of Canadians (66%) think the US have the right idea with the Start-up Visa Bill. *
The Canadian start-up visa campaign wants to upgrade the immigration program to make it easier for people who want to create science and technology companies in Canada by reducing the funding needed to enter the country on the conditions that they have Canadian investors and create new jobs within a couple of years.
Eric Brooke, a campaign spokesperson “The end result should be more jobs for Canadians, stronger economic growth and a larger number of science and technology companies in Canada both large and small”
“There is a opportunity here for Canada to get ahead of the game, as the US political system does not seem to have the collective will to take this issue by the throat and encourage technology or science entrepreneurs from other countries to create businesses and jobs in the US.
Boris Wertz, an investor and co-founder of GrowLab “ Its worth remembering that 52.3%** of start-ups in the Silicon Valley are founded by immigrants, with an effective start-up-visa program maybe we can convince foreign entrepreneurs and job creators to build their companies here in Canada instead of the US. We are already falling behind countries like Chile, Singapore and Britain who have already upgraded their programs, but I believe we can learn from their programs and make ours better.”
One of Canada’s’ leading venture capital associations (CVCA) is onboard with the idea. “The direct experience of a number of our member funds that have been launched by immigrants in Canada; these funds have made enormous contributions to our industry as well as to portfolio companies and to the economic well-being of Canada” said Chris Arsenault, Director at CVCA. “Our belief that we must promote a culture of entrepreneurship in order to successfully compete in the new global economy; Canada can become a beacon, attracting the best and the brightest from across the globe”
Danny Robinson, BC Innovation Council member, Entrepreneur and investor believes there is an opportunity for the provinces to step up. “It seems to me there is a possibility for one of the provinces to create a pilot using their Provincial Nominee Program (PnP). I believe the province that upgrades their PnP first will be able to pick the best entrepreneurs. ”
Notes
In a poll conducted by Vision Critical conducted on the Angus Reid Forum, earlier this year the following results were found:-
A large majority of Canadians believe Canada could become a real hub of entrepreneurial activity in North America with the right policies in place (86%) and 72% think Canada needs to stay ahead of the US in attracting entrepreneurial talent.
Two-thirds of Canadians (66%) think the US have the right idea with the Start-up Visa Bill being introduced, with 72% agreeing that it will attract entrepreneurs to the States and 70% seeing that there could even be a risk of attracting Canadian talent as a result.
Just over two-thirds (68%) would support a Start-up Visa being introduced in Canada. (Almost three-quarters of those with University upwards education, 74%)
The majority of Canadians agree that securing Canadian investment is a reasonable alternative to requiring large sums of money in personal funs, and approaching half, 44%, realise that most start-up entrepreneurs would not have $300,000 in personal funds as per current requirements.
Half of those with university education upward agree that current processing times are too long.
Three-quarters of Canadians believe that the entrepreneur should retain at least a third of the equity in the business.
** 52.3% is from the following report page 10 table 4
Canada’s SR&ED program is currently being reviewed by the federal government and your input is important.
Help us keep SR&ED intact – tell the federal government how it’s important to your company
In December 2010, the federal government convened an Expert Panel to review federal support of Research and Development in Canada. Several organizations provided input earlier this year which, among several recommendations, included the need for continued support of the existing SR&ED program in Canada as a vital part of supporting early stage technology companies.
The Expert Panel is still reviewing the inputs and is open to further feedback from companies. There is still an opportunity for your feedback to ensure that there is continued, unwavering support for SR&ED and at a minimum, to preserve the existing tax credits We support program improvements that would decrease subjectivity of reviews, apply the rules consistently, and prosecute fraudulent claim submissions.
Your input is valuable to the expert panel and politicians. Here are two ways in which you can participate:
1. Contribute to an online discussion at the BCTIA LinkedIn site. BCTIA is seeking input from companies on how the SR&ED program has assisted them to grow and what would happen if it wasn’t there.
2. Send your comments directly to key politicians:
Four key Ministers to contact
Contact details:
Minister of Finance - The Honourable Jim Flaherty
Minister of National Revenue - The Honourable Keith Ashfield
Minister of Industry - The Honourable Tony Clement
Minister of State for Science and Technology - The Honourable Dr. Gary Goodyear
Thousands of high paying, high value jobs in the technology sector are dependent on the SR&ED program. Make sure your voice is heard by the expert panel and the politicians listed above directly on the impact this program has on your company.
Thanks for your help,
Gary Yurkovich
Espresso Capital Partners
Curated content from Rick Nathan of Kensington Capital Partners, August 9th, 2010
Investors have been on a scary ride in the public markets through the past few days. With near back-to-back 500-point drops, all of the major North American stock market indexes have turned decidedly negative for the year to date. The historic S&P downgrade of US Government debt adds to the weight of worry on investors, alongside falling commodity prices and the continuing risks in Europe and Japan. Most investors have suffered from these rapid and severe declines in public markets.
Private equity investors have greater stability in their portfolios. Of course, all markets are affected by a weakening economy. And if access to capital becomes restricted, the effects will spread to private equity dealmakers soon enough. We saw this happen in 2007-2008, when banks stopped lending, public equity markets fell, and private equity firms found it difficult to buy businesses at realistic prices through 2009.
The correlation between public and private equities is indirect. Private equity portfolios will obviously be affected if the current market correction leads to a sustained period of lower valuations, or a new recession. But only after investors have connected this capital market activity back to the real economy. Private equity portfolios are not seriously affected by day-to-day gyrations in the public markets that do not lead to new economic conditions.
When public market turmoil does foretell a slowdown in the economy, the impact on private equity portfolios is typically muted. The chart below shows the Net Asset Value (NAV) of the Kensington Global Private Equity Fund measured against the major public market indexes in the period from August 2008 through July 2010.
Kensington Global Private Equity Fund vs. Public Market Performance
July 31, 2008 – July 30, 2010
As can be seen in the chart, the sharp declines in the public markets in September 2008 and following did not have as significant an impact on the Fund’s NAV. The values of private companies were re-set more gradually over subsequent months as it became clear that a recession had begun, with weaker prospects for sales and profits across the Fund’s diversified portfolio of more than 100 companies. During that period, the valuations of private companies declined, but nowhere near the levels reached at the depths of the public market panic.
Private companies are valued on Main Street, based on the real economy. Their prospects change with the economic cycle, but not every day or every minute. This can create a sharp contrast to the valuations of public companies established on Wall Street and Bay Street, so heavily influenced by rapidly changing market sentiment, program trading and other immediate distractions.
One reason for the different valuation approach is the lack of liquidity in the private markets. Investors cannot buy and sell at will, and so they see no need to continuously revalue their portfolios. When valuations are prepared, they are based largely on business fundamentals or completed corporate transactions (such as the sale of the company), which results in much less volatile pricing.
An allocation to private equity can therefore act as a shelter from stormy public markets, or at least as a shock absorber. Large institutional investors such as public pension funds have learned this lesson, and continue to increase their allocations in recent years, now in the range of 10% to 20% of total assets.
Individual investors can find similar shelter through a similar allocation to private equity in their own portfolios. A diversified private equity investment such as the Kensington Global Private Equity Fund can add real stability during times of market stress.
Of course, a diversified private equity portfolio such as the Kensington Global Private Equity Fund is not immune to public market fluctuations. Many private equity funds hold a small portion of their portfolios in publicly traded stocks, typically as a result of an IPO of one of their portfolio companies. For example, our Kensington Fund currently holds shares in a company that completed its IPO on the NYSE in June. These shares remain restricted under standard underwriters’ lock-up agreements for a six-month period following the IPO date. As a result, the Kensington Fund will experience some volatility based on this exposure. Public market stress may also reduce our ability to sell additional portfolio companies into the public markets for some time. However, since most of our portfolio companies are in the mid-market where company sales are primarily completed through strategic M&A transactions, this impact should be relatively less significant.
Curated content: first posted by By Heri on June 14th 2011 for Montreal Tech Watch
A new initiative entitled Startup Canada Campaign aims to “celebrate, inspire, & accelerate” Canadian entrepreneurship, with 2 main initiatives: fostering first discussions about canadian entrepreneurship, and provides a marketplace of support services for startups.
For the past year, we’ve seen around the world different initiatives. There was first StartupAmerica, an initiative by Barack Obama to support entrepreneurship, mainly by early-stage & innovation funds, as well as partnerships with proven programs like TechStars.
Another brilliant program is Startup Chile, which aims to propulse Chile into the 21st century. With open arms, Chile is inviting talent to come over & launch businesses, with funds to help the bootstrapping process. You can check out a video here to understand the motivation behind the program, and lots of hackers and entrepreneurs got the message by going there, even successful entrepreneurs based in California.
Startup Greece is another initiative led by the Greek government. It’s mainly a directory to help entrepreneurs “navigate” the troubling waters of greek entrepreneurship and how to do good business in Greece. It feels less empowering and less inspiring than Startup Chile or Startup america, but at least it’s an objective reference that you can consult regulalry.
On more questionable initiatives, Startup Britain was launched a few months ago. It’s a private initiative that was presented to inspire, support & accelerate entrepreneurship in the U.K., and it effectively got the support of the prime minister at its launch day. The program was heavily criticized though, since it was seen by many as a glorified link farm, i.e. nothing much more than few html pages pointing out to services and blog posts on the Internet. What was the added value? The step 4 in a series of steps to create your business was “Create a logo” (doh!). StartupBritain seemed to present only a very basic business crash course, which was too broad and wasn’t going far enough. The initiative was so laughable it inspired those two sites.
Now we’ve got Startup Canada campaign, which also aims to re-create the same Startup Britain initiative, as written in its about page. Only this time, it’s not supported (yet) by the Canadian government and as such, does not exist in a context of the U.K. government trying hard to help entrepreneurs start businesses in the U.K. So what does Startup Canada have? Unlike Startup America, there’s no investment fund. There’s no accelerator program like Startup Chile. Nor does it appear to have extensive ressources on how to launch a startup.
Of course, StartUp Canada is a nice idea and anything that spreads the word about entrepreneurship and the benefits it can provide isn’t entirely bad. But we do need more work that just mentioning Startup Britain or telling that you’ll aggregate links to partners. Or maybe I’m mixed up. I associate a startup with almost exclusively a tech-based, scalable, early stage business whereas this is for any type of business. Please help me understand StartupBritain.
Disclaimer: Heri owns doing enterprising.ly, a marketplace of service providers, to support tech projects
Ian Jeffery explains the value of FounderFuel from Heri on Vimeo.
Ian Jeffery, general manager of startup accelerator program founderfuel.com, summed up to me yesterday why you should join an accelerator program: it’s all about the networks and the connections.
Currently, it takes less and less resources to develop and launch a product. With $10,000, a startup team can take a few months to build a web or mobile app, and have enough to support an initial product launch. What matters though is access to markets, getting connected to network, or having first customers, and programs like FounderFuel can exactly do that: get your first foot into the door. FounderFuel has all the mentors you could need, such as successful entrepreneurs to mentor you in your startup process, executives to get deals, and access to investors. Moreover, Ian Jeffrey explains that those mentors will also introduce you to their network. And that’s something money can’t buy.Currently, it takes less and less resources to develop and launch a product. With $10,000, a startup team can take a few months to build a web or mobile app, and have enough to support an initial product launch. What matters though is access to markets, getting connected to network, or having first customers, and programs like FounderFuel can exactly do that: get your first foot into the door.
FounderFuel has all the mentors you could need, such as successful entrepreneurs to mentor you in your startup process, executives to get deals, and access to investors. Moreover, Ian Jeffrey explains that those mentors will also introduce you to their network. And that’s something money can’t buy.
The lesson here is that any entrepreneur (currently new or with an existing startup) can’t miss the FounderFuel opportunity. For those who were still hesitating, there’s only a few days left.
“We believe startups to be the driving force behind job creation and prosperity,” says [CVCA's] executive director Richard Rémillard. “We need to be more attractive to foreign entrepreneurs.” Thanks for supporting the Startup Visa Canada Initiative. It’s been about 5 months since we launched. During that time, the team has been busy reaching out to government officials, influencers and organizations across Canada to gather data and garner support for an alternative visa for entrepreneurs.
Here’s a quick update on our progress:
Chris Arsenault, iNovia Capital joins the Founding Team
Who’s In?
Supporting Organizations
Startup Visa Canada has also received some great coverage in CVCA Magazine, BC Business, Techvibes, StartupNorth and Hacker News. You can find links to more stories in the Press section on the Startup Visa website.
How You Can Help
- Tell your friends to endorse the Initiative, if they have not already done so.
- Tweet and blog about the initiative @startupvisaca
- Send your local MP’s a message with a link to the site and express your support for Startup Visa Canada
- Follow us on Twitter @startupvisaca and like us on Facebook
The Startup Visa Canada Team
by Chris Arsenault, iNovia Capital
No entrepreneur wants to start a business if he runs the risk of being expelled from the
very 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
I love drive and initiative. Don;t wait, do it and see what happens approach to life’s challenges. Ok, in this case, the deadline to apply is really short (May 25th) but you have to give it to these young entrepreneurs, they reached out and they are making things happen.
“The Young Entrepreneurs’ Club is an initiative to help foster youth entrepreneurship in Canada. It is a 10-week launchpad program that brings Canada’s top young entrepreneurs together on a weekly basis to learn from an established expert. At the end of the summer, they will pitch their businesses to a group of investors. YEC will accept 10 young Canadians that are high potential founders to form a ‘class’ of other young entrepreneurs going through the same thing, connect them with 10 top Canadian entrepreneurs and CEOs (confirmed speakers include a founder of Grocery Gateway and CEO of Claymore Investments) who will provide weekly education over a 10 week period, and culminate in a pitch session where participants have the opportunity to pitch their refined business ideas to angel investors.”
Think of it as 10 x 10 x 10 + 1: 10 founders, 10 prominent speakers, 10 weeks, 1 culminating pitch session to angels.
Applications in the form of resume and cover letter are due May 25th. Please visit www.youngentrepreneursclub.ca for more information
More info on the Young Entrepreneurs’ Club:
The YEC team is currently made up of Jennifer Turliuk, Ahmad Iqbal, Jeremy Einhorn and Rameez Gulam. Jennifer, Ahmad, and Jeremy each at one point ran the Queen’s Entrepreneurs’ Competition, Canada’s largest international undergraduate business plan competition, which has been featured in the New York Times and has $25,000 in cash prizes. They are experienced with supporting entrepreneurs and know what is needed to make them successful.
Jennifer Turliuk
Jennifer Turliuk holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Queen’s University and is the Assistant Brand Manager of Tide at Procter & Gamble, where she leads the digital strategy for all the Fabric Care brands and the launch of the biggest initiative in 27 years on P&G’s biggest brand, Tide Pods (laundry unit dose). She has 3 years of experience organizing Canada’s largest international undergraduate business plan competition, the Queen’s Entrepreneurs’ Competition, most recently as Co-Chair. Jennifer subsequently developed a concept for a wireless internet startup while on exchange in Australia that led her to place second in two international business plan competitions (in Canada and Brazil) and be written up in the New York Times. She also has her own DJing business (www.djturly.com) and has DJ’d at many events and nightclubs including one of the top ten black tie events in the world (according to David Letterman). In her spare time, she enjoys kiteboarding and salsa dancing.
Ahmad Iqbal
Ahmad is a third culture kid, having lived in eight countries before arriving in Canada to attend Queen’s School of Business. During his schooling in Kingston, Ahmad invested his time and energy into the Queen’s Entrepreneurs’ Competition trying to help other young innovators achieve their business goals. It was here Ahmad was bit by the entrepreneurship bug and since graduating has embarked on his own journey to build a successful business. He is currently a partner in Atendy.com; he and his business partner have recently opened a satellite office in China. Ahmad has high hopes for YEC and would like to see it established as Canada’s premier club for business savvy risk takers.
Jeremy Einhorn
Jeremy received his Honours Bachelor of Commerce at Queen’s University where he specialized in Sales Communication and Strategy. He currently works at the Medcan Clinic where he is focused on exceeding client service expectations and business development. Prior to his time at Medcan, Jeremy helped jump-start a public relations practice that created and implemented customized advertising campaigns for small businesses. Jeremy recently chaired an advisory board at the Safehaven Project for Community Living, an organization dedicated to providing care for children with multiple disabilities and complex medical needs. He was also heavily involved with Canada’s largest international undergraduate business plan competition, the Queen’s Entrepreneurs’ Competition, most recently as Co-Chair.
Rameez Gulam
Rameez is currently completing a degree in Chemical Engineering at McMaster University. Simultaneously, he is currently working Full-Time at Unilever Canada in Supply Chain as a Planner for Hellmans and Becel. Rameez founded his first startup in 2009 where he implemented Small Business advertising strategies, and received an Ontario Summer Company Award. He has also competed in Impact’s Apprentice and been involved with several Undergraduate Business and Technology conferences. He is currently a mentor at McMaster where he emphasizes the need for students to complement their education by being involved and gaining experience. Rameez is an organizer for McMaster’s LipDub this summer. He loves volunteering; locally for the Toronto Raptors, and has also led students to participate in Habitat for Humanity’s Collegiate Challenge in Miami, FL.
Please visit www.youngentrepreneursclub.ca for more information
By Chris Arsenault, Managing Partner iNovia Capital
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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