Sean Brownlee, MBA, CFA

I loved this conversation with Scott Duke from OpnRoad Mergers & Acquisitions and Josh Levine from Private Market Labs! Bottom line? Canadian search IS different than other geographical reasons. Some of the topics we covered: 💵 Bank financing - deal structure looks much different based on funding models. 🇨🇦 Approach - Be warm, friendly and polite. Canadian business is very community centric and showing up in this manner is key. 📖 Education - search is a newer idea in Canada. Take the time to ensure your owner conversations include the What and How and not just the Why of the acquisition. ☝ One thing that doesn't change no matter where you are searching? Personalization. Show the owners you know them and have taken the time to understand them and their business. #regenerativeleadership #canadiansmb #eta

16

1 Comment

Big news! 🎉 DealPoint Capital and Dealum have teamed up to transform #AngelInvesting in Canada. Our partnership enhances connectivity and efficiency for #investors and startups alike. By simplifying the capital-raising journey, we're maximizing access to top-tier investment opportunities. Learn more about this exciting collaboration! #Partnership NACO Canada Canadian Angel Investment Foundation Angel Capital Association Valhalla Private Capital HaloHealth The Canadian Angel Network Society Sandi Gilbert

11

3 Comments

“Generative AI has been a real step change in the ability to democratize technology.” As Chief Operating Officer at CPP Investments, Jonathan Webster is on the front lines of the technological change reshaping global investing.     Read his thoughts on how technology can be connected to value creation in this excerpt from his interview with the Technovation podcast. https://lnkd.in/gzrEpjJY

90

The size of Canada combined with the geographic distribution of health conditions make the country ideal for multi-channel healthcare (e.g., Telehealth). Despite the significant demand for healthcare broadly, those business models haven't been able to achieve exponential growth or ideal unit economics just yet -- they've certainly grown and many are profitable, but millions of Canadians still lack primary care. It's a problem that's on the cusp of being solved (e.g., AI, integrated care) and could unlock significantly more access to care for Canadians. 

19

🚨 Special News Rundown 🚨 Federal Budget Review now live with John Ruffolo and myself discussing how the new capital gains taxes are sending a clear message to entrepreneurs and investors: “We Don’t Want You!” Check out the full episode below ⬇️

37

1 Comment

As a founder, have you ever been curious about this whole angel investing thing? This week's findfunding.vc spotlight is on an investor who's an expert in it you simply have to know: Matt Wilson, MBA from Allied Venture Partners. He: 🇨🇦 Is Calgary based 😇 Manages one of Canada's largest angle investor syndicates (now at 1,800+ members!) 🏒 Worked as a professional ice hockey referee, which he says shares remarkable similarities with investing Amongst founders, Matt Wilson, is known for bringing empathy and perspective as a former founder himself. Aside from financial support, his goal is to be the 'right' investor - one that aligns with a founder's vision, shares his network, and provides strategic insights when asked. ✉️ Make sure to pitch him, invest, scout, advise and more at https://linktr.ee/alliedvc For more, check out our funder spotlight card below along with Allied Venture Partners' profile on findfunding.vc (link in comments).

24

4 Comments

Three crypto asset managers three different strategies. Should be a good one. Tune in in about 30 min.

13

The AI hype bubble is almost over. When investors refused to fund new AI startups because they know they’re going to fail, then the AI hype bubble is starting to fail. Even the most clueless, Investors now know that this is a bubble waiting to burst like the metaverse bubble and the dotcom bubble. And nobody wants to be left, holding the back on this bubble. The era of free money iis over with interest rates sky high. When big tech companies are losing money on AI and the bigger AI startups are demonstrating that they are all dead and struggling to even have revenue, then no one is interested in funding, smaller AI startups that they don’t believe will be profitable anytime soon. People aren’t waiting for an AI unicorn to break out. They are waiting for Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and similar to start buying distressed AI startups. Collapsing companies and minimal paths to profitability doesn’t help a space that was already overhyped. Don’t forget in all this mess that the unfortunate reality is that engagement and retention don’t match installs and downloads. What I mean by this is the most basic of mobile tracking were ignored. You don’t judge success in the mobile market based on downloads or installs, but rather based on retention and engagement. What this means is, it’s not actually impressive for OpenAI to get to 100 million users quickly if 2% of them retain. The question is not how many people signed up for a free account. The question is how many monthly active users and daily active users do AI startups like OpenAI, Anthropic, Perplexity, Stability, and others have. And how many are paying customers? And what we are finding is that retention is in low single digits. The reality is that AI startups are getting users the way that mobile free to play did. And they haven’t found a way to actually make money on that. Don’t ask an AI startup how many users signed up. Ask them how many DAUs and MAUs they have. Ask them what their ARPDAU is. What you will find is that every number is low. AI startups have no idea how to do monetization, and they don’t have regular active users in any volume. What this points to is that they’re all going to fold or get bought.

38

7 Comments

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 17, 2024) - Toronto-based investment firm AIP Asset Management ("AIP") is pleased to announce the launch of a groundbreaking portfolio company: Access Pre-IPOs (TSXV: XIPO). This innovative TSX-V listed portfolio company is designed to provide investors with access to the largest US pre-IPOs in technology and other sectors. Investors will have liquidity because they can buy or sell their shares in XIPO, which will seek to invest in pre-IPOs such as Space-X, Open AI, Stripe, Epic Games, Stubhub and similar pre-IPO companies. https://lnkd.in/g46UVfYz #financialadvisors #privateequity #preipo #privateplacements #secondaryissues #wealthmanagement

20

1 Comment

The 2024 TSX Venture 50 rankings reveal impressive growth in the #tech sector, with an avg. share price increase of 178% and a market cap surge of 224% in the past year. The standout performers were companies involved in cryptocurrencies, with Bitcoin miners and blockchain developers seeing an average share price growth of 412% and a market cap increase of 428%. This growth underscores the ever-evolving tech industry, particularly in emerging fields like cryptocurrency, where transparency and regulatory compliance are increasingly essential. The TSX Venture Exchange remains a vital platform for companies undergoing rigorous application and due diligence processes, helping investors find credible opportunities in innovative sectors. For investors and industry observers, these trends signal the ongoing shifts towards more integrated and regulated investment environments. This year's Venture 50 is a compelling indicator of where technology and investment are heading, particularly in high-growth areas like blockchain and artificial intelligence. #capitalmarkets #innovation #technology

31

3 Comments

Canadian VC Financings - Revisiting & Updating the graph we posted 12 months ago. A few observations: - 1) Canadian VC financings are tracking back to 2019 levels 2) Despite a valuation reset on the public side, private valuations are slower to adjust - this may take another 12-18 months 3) Follow-on financings have been largely muted - as investors await maturation of pre-clinical or clinical data 4) Frontier modalities (such as Cell/Gene Therapy) have been put on the back burner - favoring small molecules and antibodies 5) Canadian Life Sciences M&A has never seen a better year than 2023 - driving liquidity for investors/LPs - the money will be poured rather selectively back into the system 6) "Capital efficiency" has become common place conceptually but still very few companies are practicing it - "high cash burn" companies with no imminent data inflection may have to make tough decisions Genesys is actively deploying its fourth fund. We will continue to leverage a proven early-stage investment strategy while maintaining the pricing discipline and capital-efficiency that is core to our strategy.

45

1 Comment

Come join the Future of Frontier Technologies AI & blockchain event panel in Santa Monica! ✨ We are hosting an event on Friday, May 3rd during @Farcaster's FarCon weekend. Which will bring many blockchain experts & builders to LA! Emerging LA is collaborating with Lightspeed's Faction VC as a co-host, with Partner Timothy K. moderating a panel. The panel will discuss the questions that you are probably wondering about these technologies: • How can AI and blockchain work together? • How will these frontier technologies impact industries today? • What are the real-world use cases that these technologies solve? • What are the current dynamics between innovation and regulation? ​One on hand, AI offers the promise of abundance, democratizing content creation but will open the door to (deep)fakes and mistrust. On the other hand, ​Blockchain offers digital scarcity, authentication, and trust in a world inundated with digital replicas. --- The audience will be filled with founders, technical builders, investors, and industry executives in sectors that are most relevant to these trends: Gaming, media, content, finance, social. The early bird ticket sold out quickly last week and the general admission tickets expire on Wednesday, so don't miss out and grab yours soon! Partners for this event include Sunset Ventures and AI LA as well as others in town: • LA schools & clubs: Wharton Club of Southern California, Wharton Digital Assets Club, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Blockchain , and Blockchain at USC • CPG startups & Brands: Studio TBD, doorsa, Red Bull --- PROMO CODE DISCOUNTS! If you are a student or alum from Penn/Wharton, Harvard, USC, reach out and ask for code!! 😉 See you on Friday! (Link to event in comments) #ai #blockchain #farcon #web3 #LA

62

16 Comments

Our view on the current venture capital markets. Curious to hear other investors' thoughts but I feel like seed stage valuation, at least in the gaming and entertainment sectors, has finally come down to the pre-covid level. Since February or March this year, we started seeing that the founders are willing to raise a $1-2m seed round at a $10m-ish valuation, not like $4-5m at $20-25m in 2022 and 2023. What are you guys seeing?

27

2 Comments

For many startups, the greatest sign of success is an exit strategy that gives shareholders a return on their investment. What many often overlook, however, is the impact of liquidation preferences on shareholder returns. For those unfamiliar, liquidation preference is an important term often found in investment agreements, determining the order in which proceeds are distributed in the event of a sale or liquidation. There are two types of liquidation preferences: 𝟏. 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: In a participating liquidation preference, the preferred stockholders are entitled to receive their initial investment amount back first, and then they also share in the remaining proceeds along with the common stockholders. 𝟐. 𝐍𝐨𝐧-𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: In contrast, with a non-participating liquidation preference, preferred stockholders must choose between receiving either their original investment amount or converting their preferred shares into common shares and participating pro-rata in the distribution of remaining proceeds. For a simple example, let’s say a VC invests $30 million in a startup for 30% equity at a valuation of $100 million. A few years later, that company is acquired for $150 million. If the VC has a non-participating preference, they can choose between either taking back their initial investment of $30 million OR converting their preferred shares and participating pro-rata in the distribution of the remaining proceeds. In this case that would be $45 million (30% * $150 million), the obvious choice. In contrast, let's say the VC has a participating preference. The VC gets both their initial investment of $30 million, AND a share of the remaining proceeds based on their ownership stake. In this case, they would receive an additional $36 million (30% of $120 million). So, in total, they would receive $66 million ($30 million initial investment + $36 million from the remaining proceeds). To summarize, non-participating liquidation preferences are advantageous to the founders, because they maximize their share of the proceeds, and increase their incentive to sell the company at a higher price. Participating liquidation preferences are disadvantageous to founders and employees because they dilute the share of proceeds for common shareholders. This is why it’s extremely important for founders and management teams to fully understand the implications of their capitalization strategy. If the startup in the example above used debt financing instead, they would have only had to pay back the principal amount of $30 million + interest (and likely a small percentage of equity < 2% in warrants). This would have resulted in a much more favorable outcome for founders, management and employees. 

55

1 Comment

Excited to share Marathon Venture Capital's investment in Eva Magnisali's DataForm Lab! Construction is large enough to be measured in GDP terms, yet remains a laggard in the adoption of automation. Our buildings are still constructed manually! Offsite manufacturing, i.e. assembling buildings in factories, provides the perfect canvas for putting automation to work – still, however, robots are nowhere to be seen... Eva studied architecture and robotics, and worked with design firms, developers and industry vendors, realising first hand what's keeping the industry stuck in the past. Then she got to work... Dataform Lab's software platform translates designs to production drawings and machine code, along with optimising processes and scheduling, essentially offering a modern operating system for construction factories. The company already works with some of the most prominent offsite manufacturers worldwide. Today it announces the completion of a GBP 1.1m Seed round led by Marathon. Eva and her team are on a mission to drive automation in offsite manufacturing. If you are excited about working at the intersection of technology and construction, get in touch! Building construction has been slow and expensive for far too long. Our next homes and schools may come from fully-automated factories, delivered at a fraction of today's time and cost. Keep an eye on Dataform Lab! https://lnkd.in/dVVfnudS

74

2 Comments

Freeline and Swan to Spur new AAV Development... I couldn't resist. Syncona announced they are combining Freeline and Swan Bio to create Spur Therapeutics to advance the most viable components of the latter two companies' pipelines. That pipeline will be headlined by Freeline's Gaucher program (on the cusp of starting Ph3), and Swan's candidate in adrenomyeloneuropathy. Syncona previously took Freeline private to create new optionality for the company. This was after AAV headwinds had battered the stock and other candidates reached approval first in their prior lead therapies (hemophilia). This shows there's still interest in AAV and its proven delivery capability to diverse tissues and cells. But there is continuing culling in the industry's pipeline. Want to take a look at that pipeline? or think about how it impacts your own prioritization? Reach out and we can discuss! #venturecapital #genetherapy #pharma https://lnkd.in/g8-ZKp4C

76

Data siloes stemming from incompatible ERPs prevent the real-time visibility and controls companies require to optimize production across multiple locations and departments. As industry migrates towards more data-driven decisions, finance departments are now being asked to reconcile data-informed operational decisions with financial outcomes tied to the entire product life cycle. Maxa solves this acute pain point by effortlessly blending multiple data systems as one, enabling automated, enterprise-wide, insight generation for decision-makers. Raphael Steinman and Alexis C. Steinman are building a world-class team and roster of partners. BDC Capital’s Industrial Innovation Venture Fund is thrilled to support Maxa towards their goal of becoming a global leader in ERP insights automation. Onwards! 🚀 Aditya A., Joseph Regan, Jim Texier

57

2 Comments