Founders and Funders Toronto Wrapup

Founders and Funders Toronto took place this week and we had another sellout. We had just over 100 people who came out to hang out, pitch their startups and find fundable companies.

A lot of food went cold however, as people could barely stay in their seats. The room was buzzing and so far the reviews have been great.

Ali Asaria, from Well.ca, sent us a note that I think summed it up:

“This was the first time we as a company were approached by investors, instead of us having to approach them. The atmosphere was relaxed, but at the same time there were always four simultaneous, deep discussions happening at our table on the subjects of investment, entrepreneurial stories, and industry trends.

In one single night I was able to talk directly with five different VCs, and we had the time to talk about details of our business, without the “what’s your pitch?” awkwardness. I had the chance to sit next to some of Canada’s most successful entrepreneurs from whom I learned so many lessons. What a great event — it’s the next day now and I return to my desk energized!”

A big thank you to our sponsors

Founders and Funders Vancouver

Boris has announced Founders and Funders Vancouver for June 17th. If you would like to attend the dinner, please fill out the following form and let us know who you are.

As with the Montreal and Toronto dinners, Microsoft was gracious enough to sponsor Vancouver as well. These dinners really would not have been possible without them taking the lead and having a vision to help Canadian early-stage companies.

indochino.com takes new round of financing from Burda Digital

Shanghai (by way of Victoria) based startup, Indochino.com, who we first profiled in September, and who I finally got around to ordering from a few weeks ago, has announced that they have taken a new round of financing from Burda Digital Ventures, a German Venture Capital group who have been very active in Western Canada, getting a lot of deals that Canadian VCs are missing including TeamPages, Suite101.com and Nexopia

Indochino.com is a unique online retailer that specializes in custom-tailored suits, shirts and other apparel based on measurements done by the customer. I ordered a jacket and shirt from them a few weeks ago and I think I got a taste of both ends of the spectrum of ordering online.

The shirt came and right out of the package it was hands down the nicest shirt I have ever bought. The fit was perfect and it looked and felt great. The jacket looked great as well, but a few of the measurements are off. So I printed off their claim form and will take the jacket to a tailor tomorrow. For the price however, the jacket is great.

This round of financing is focused on building the operations back-end as well as scaling up to meet growing demand.

This is a long way from where they were when I first profiled them just 8 months ago and things are looking up. I am looking forward to seeing what they do in the next 8 months with new financing and some more experience behind them.

Back to Reality – Vancouver Enterprise Forum

While the rest of us are sitting around moaning about the state of canadian venture capital, it appears that Vancouver is so over it, the Vancouver Enterprise Forum is at least.

This Tuesday, November 27th, they are hosting “Beyond B.C. VCs – tips for Sourcing Tech Funding from American Venture Capitalists”

In the November VEF event, we?ll hear from experienced American venture capitalists as they explain the fundamentals they look for when investing in B.C. and Canadian companies. How do you approach American VCs? What kind of information and potential do they want to see? What approach is best? These questions and more will be answered by Geoff Entress from Madrona of Seattle, which made an investment in Victoria based PixPo in 2006, and by Alex Gove of Walden Venture Capital of San Francisco.

This is not a small matter for Vancouver, which has seen its share of startups heading south for funding.

The catch? How long will startups stick around beautiful Vancouver, or anywhere in Canada, when their Venture Capitalist investors are beckoning them to come south. It starts with “let’s move the sales office”, and soon enough everyone but the developers are gone.

This is a subject that we will be diving in to more here. Would you rather take funding outside of Canada, or would you consider it a secondary option? Considering how tightly connected Canada and the US are, does it even matter? Do we need to be doing more to make it easier for american funds to invest here?