StartupNorth

Category: You should meet…

  • My favourite flavour Vanilla Forums

    Vanilla Forums 2

    Congratulations to the team at Vanilla Forums. In the past year they’ve attended TechStars in Boulder, moved to Montreal, and released version 2 of Vanilla Forums. What is Vanilla?

    “Vanilla is an open-source, standards-compliant, multi-lingual, theme-able, pluggable community forum.

    Over 350,000 sites use Vanilla Forums to manage feedback, spark discussion, and make customers smile.”

    There are competitors ranging from bbPress, phpBB, and punBB (like others we’re torn between bbPress and Vanilla – the proxyConnect plugin allows us to integrate Vanilla with WordPress). But Vanilla is a leading solution offering a great user experience, simple customization and hosting with a large user community. Plus they’re funded by our friends at Montreal Startup which makes them an easy choice.

  • C100 sees the SUN

    The C100 is now coming at you live and in 3D right here on Startup North.

    What does that mean for you? Well, as if Startup North wasn’t already an indispensible source of news, insights and opinions on the rapidly expanding  Canadian start-up and venture capital scene, you can now check this space for regular news and views on innovation from the unique perspective of the successful Canadian tech entrepreneurs, company execs and VCs in Silicon Valley who make up the C100.

    What is the C100 you ask? Remember in Pulp Fiction when Jules Winnfeld (Samuel L. Jackson) refers to Vinnie Vega (John Travolta) as “my man in Amsterdam?” Well, that’s us. We’re your man in Amsterdam.

    Except we’re a group of men and women… and we’re in Silicon Valley.

    But more importantly, C100 is a huge fan of both technology and of Canada and we’re here to share our thoughts, insights and contacts with the established and the up-and-coming, with the best dreamers, entrepreneurs and innovators Canada has to offer.

    So check us out online, visit our blog, get mentored, but most importantly stay tuned to StartUp North where we’ll be looking for new ways to increase the connections and communications between Silicon Valley and Canada.

  • Network Hippo

    Congratulations to Scott Annan and the Network Hippo team for their great demo at Demo Spring 2010. Scott Lake wrote about the performance on StartupOttawa, and I’d agree it’s worth taking the 5 minutes and 24 seconds to watch a great demo.

    Funding Details

    Self-funded

    Competitors

    No direct competitors. Secondary competitors include Gist, Plaxo, Xobni, Highrise, and Batchbook.

    Product Description

    Network Hippo is the smartest way to manage your network. We help individuals and businesses manage and stay connected to people across social, professional, and business networks. Network Hippo aggregates and organizes contact information intelligently from email and social networking sites and has proactive, addictive tools to engage your network. Close more deals, crowdsource your next product design, or change the world: Network Hippo and your network make it possible.

    Market Opportunity

    Jack Myer’s Media Business report forecasts spending in social marketing to grow from $800 million to $3.2 billion by 2012. AMR projects CRM revenue of $22 billion in 2012 (up from $14 billion in 2007) and Gartner predicts 80% of the immediate growth to come from “social application vendors.”

  • Mantella Venture Partners Launches

    Mantella VP & Basecamp Labs

    Mantella Venture Partners launched today. It’s a $20MM early stage technology fund based in Toronto.

    “Unlike most venture funds that are supported by institutional investors, this one is backed by Mantella Corporation, a family owned commercial and residential real estate developer who has been entrenched in the GTA market since 1946. The fund is also focused on the concept of ‘hands-on capital’, ensuring that early-stage entrepreneurs get the hands-on support they need at every stage of a company’s creation and growth to help facilitate”

    The main investment partners are Robin Axon and Duncan Hill. Robin is ex-Ventures West and Ducan was an EiR at Ventures West and previously had founded Think Dynamics (acquired by IBM back in 2003). They also run Basecamp Partners/Labs where they have been incubating PushLife, Chango and a couple of other startups.

    It’s interesting to see an emerging breed of Canadian incubators and small funds like Mantella VP, Extreme VP/Xtreme Labs, Bootup Labs, Flow Ventures, Montreal Startup, Wesley Clover, LeadtoWin, and others. All of these have very different models and motivations. But they exhibit the need many startups have in both getting to Product/Market Fit and then the business development and go-to-market efforts. Both of these efforts require capital, and it’s great to see VCs that traditionally don’t get their hands dirty with operational details down in the weeds.

    Full press release below.

    TORONTO—March 2, 2010—Mantella Venture Partners announced today the formation and launch of a $20M investment fund to support early stage technology ventures in Ontario. Mantella Venture Partners is a collaboration between Basecamp Labs, a private early stage technology accelerator, and Mantella Corporation, an established family-owned commercial and residential real estate developer in the Greater Toronto Area.

    Mantella Venture Partners will invest in entrepreneurs who are building early stage mobile and Internet software companies, helping them to get their ideas from conception to market. Through the Basecamp Labs accelerator, Mantella Venture Partners will provide hands-on support at every stage of a company’s creation and growth – from business development and marketing to financing and team development – to help facilitate early market traction.

    Mantella Venture Partners is managed by Robin Axon and Duncan Hill, the founding partners of Basecamp Labs, experienced venture investors and company creators who have been involved in multiple successful venture exits to companies like IBM, Intel, Microsoft and Siemens.

    “For the past few years, we’ve seen a steady decline in Canadian venture capital deal flow, the number of VC-backed firms, and the average investment size,” says Axon.  “In fact, according to a recent CVCA report on the industry, investment levels in 2009 were the lowest they’ve been in 13 years.”

    “But innovation is still thriving,” says Hill. “With the venture market in such a state of flux, the timing could not be better for the launch of a new fund that is focused on both early-stage investing and providing the hands-on support entrepreneurs need to ensure market success.”

    The existing Basecamp Labs portfolio includes two companies: Chango, an ad buying platform for direct response advertisers; and Pushlife, a mobile entertainment platform for mobile operators.

    “The value of combining capital with guidance and support from a team with extensive experience building companies, can be seen in the progress of our first portfolio companies,” says Robert Mantella, president and CEO of Mantella Corporation. “Robin and Duncan are experienced investors and entrepreneurs who are passionate about technology and know what it takes for a start-up to succeed. Together we can breathe new life into a changing venture industry.”

    Duncan Hill was the Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Think Dynamics, a developer of data centre automation software that was acquired by IBM in May 2003. He spent two years at IBM driving strategy for early enterprise cloud computing. Most recently, Hill served as Entrepreneur in Residence at Ventures West; was an independent director for RapidMind (acq. by Intel August ’09); and was executive advisor to Opalis (acq. by Microsoft December ’09). He currently serves on the Chango board of directors and on executive advisory boards at Pushlife, ServiceMesh, Cirba, Embotics, and the Velocity program at the University of Waterloo.

    Prior to founding Basecamp Labs with Duncan Hill, Robin Axon was a partner at Ventures West on the IT and communications team. Before that, Axon was at MD Robotics (formerly Spar Aerospace) and the Canadian Space Agency, where he helped to prepare the Canadarm2 for installation onto the International Space Station. Axon has served on the boards of a number of technology companies including: QuickPlay Media, RapidMind (acq. by Intel August ’09), AudienceView, Fortiva (acq. by Proofpoint ‘08), Chantry Networks (acq. by Seimens ‘03), Belair Networks and Instrumar.

    About Mantella Venture Partners
    Mantella Venture Partners is a $20M early stage investment fund with a hands-on approach to building technology companies in high growth markets.  The fund invests in founders focused on creating market-altering mobile and Internet software businesses, and surrounds them with an ecosystem of passionate, experienced operators that drive early market engagement into sustainable business success. Mantella Venture Partners will invest up to $500k at inception with the ability to support subsequent rounds as required. It is managed by Robin Axon and Duncan Hill, experienced venture investors and company creators who’ve been involved in multiple successful venture exits to companies like IBM, Intel, Microsoft and Siemens. Additional information is available at http://mantellavp.com/.

  • We have maple syrup and beer

    I was reading Anil Dash’s New York City is the Future of the Web post over the weekend, and there is a great list of startups (and funders) based in NYC. The list is pretty impressive starting with the money folks including Union Square Ventures and Fred Wilson to Founders Collective and Chris Dixon. The startups Foursquare, Hunch, Etsy, Kickstarter, and 20×200. I was starting to think that the grass might be greener in NYC. But I was reminded of the great things going on in Canada when I was redirected to the 2009 Canadian New Media Awards finalists.

    cnma-finalists-announced

    There is a great list of companies that are finalists for the CNMA. You can round this list out with the great list of companies announced as part of the CIX Top 20.  There are a lot of great Canadian startups that continue to execute, find customers, and raise their profiles internationally.

    These companies show the breadth of solution and corporate development of the Canadian startups. The startups are spread across the country, but entrepreneurs in Canada are building great things. Feeling good about the state of startups, hoping that Canadian funding scene continues to evolve, and that these companies continue to have the opportunities to change the world.

  • VeloCity Start-up Day – Dec 1, 2009

    velocity

    We’ve written about the awesomesauce that is VeloCity in the past, and about the Project Exhibition. They have renamed the event Start-up Day. Huge improvement. I’m hoping that the quality of the projects and demos continues to grow. Velocity offers students at Waterloo an opportunity to really see entrepreneurship as a potential career path. Like the cooperative education program, VeloCity is leading here. This is a great opportunity to see the progress of the current crop.

    Velocity Start-up Day is a great opportunity to:

    • Connect with VeloCity students displaying current business projects
    • Interact with other UW entrepreneurial students representing their projects at our exhibition
    • Inform students about your company/services
    • Talk to students who may be interested in working for your organization

    Startups should be heading for the day to find talent. Funders should be heading to see if there are any opportunities. I’ll be heading there to continue to support my alma mater and this program. 

    Details

    What: VeloCity Start-up Day
    When:Tuesday, December 1, 2009 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM
    Where:Student Life Centre
    200 University Ave West
    Waterloo, ON   Canada

  • Rogers Ventures

    rogers-logo So what’s the story with Rogers Ventures?

    Mic Berman announced StartupCampWaterloo(Serious Edition) happening on October 20, 2009 in Waterloo, ON. Jesse Rodgers provided a little more detail about the event on the BarCampWaterloo Google Group:

    “Rogers Ventures has started an early stage/seed round investment group. They are looking to make several investments before the end of this year and they have  a strong commitment to fund and support entrepreneurs or post doc researchers who have great ideas and/or innovative technology.

    If are looking for funding and would like to pitch the Rogers’ team (Mike Lee, Nyla Ahmad or Jason Zan) and a few other local funders such as Tech Capital.”

    We’ve worked with Mike Lee to host DemoCamp Toronto 21 & 22 (an Evening with Yossi Vardi). Rogers Ventures has already demonstrated their ability and willingness to engage with the community. Rogers Ventures continues to reach out and engage with entrepreneurs across the country.

    Press Release

    Rogers Ventures publically launches on October 15, 2009. Here are the details provided by the consultants and public relations individuals helping Rogers Ventures engage the development community. 

    What is Rogers Ventures?

    Rogers Ventures is a new source of early stage seed level investment for technology start-ups. We find great talent with powerful ideas and we invest in their business success. We invest our money, leverage, experience and other strategic contributions to get our portfolio companies on the path of accelerated development and market growth.  Another part of the Rogers Ventures’ mandate is supporting the innovation ecosystem by providing direct funding to community programs that help create innovation momentum in this country. 

    Is Rogers Ventures a venture capital firm?

    We operate a venture-style funding mechanism (we approve investments on a case-by-case basis) but that’s where the similarities end. Our long-term objective is to develop a portfolio of high potential companies that capture the value created through wireline and wireless broadband networks. 

    Why was Rogers Ventures created?

    We’re living at a time when technology innovation, new online services and shifts in consumer behaviour are being adopted faster than any other time in history. We want to be part of this innovation and the opportunity presenting themselves but realize that we cannot achieve success, as effectively, on our own. Rogers Ventures is our way of looking beyond the walls of Rogers for outside talent and ideas to fund. We believe that this will broaden our innovation horizons and keep us closer to the forefront of next-generation technology. 

    How will Rogers Ventures support the high-tech community?

    While we see a significant amount of energy and activity within the Canadian innovation landscape, we feel that there are opportunities for support for the Canadian ecosystem to accelerate momentum. We have been working to identify community-level programs or initiatives that require support – either money, a space large enough to hold events, someone to pay for pizza, participation in mentorship, contribution as a speaker, whatever – and we try to make that support happen. We know that our effort is not the total solution. We are contributing our part to build the necessary momentum and are committed to engage.

    Who runs Rogers Ventures?

    Melinda Rogers, senior vice-president, strategy and development with Rogers Communications, is the executive in charge of Rogers Ventures. On a day-to-day basis, the portfolio is run by Mike Lee, vice-president with Rogers Ventures, and Nyla Ahmad, vice-president, Rogers Ventures Operations.

    What are Rogers Ventures portfolio companies?

    There are currently three companies within the Rogers Ventures portfolio: Zoocasa,  a vertical search product focused on real estate; Thoora, a next generation news discovery service; and GridCentric, a solution for grid computing. We don’t discuss publically investment levels.

    Is Rogers Ventures a part of Rogers Communications?

    Rogers Ventures falls within Rogers’ corporate strategy and development group and it is legally part of Rogers Communications Inc. However, it operates as a separate entity on a day-to-day basis.

    Additional Team Details

    So who are Mike Lee, Nyla Ahmad and Jason Zan and others. We can start to piece together the players from web searches, management profiles of their portfolio companies, and social media tools.

    “Mike Lee, Chief Strategy Officer, Rogers Communications Inc.

    Michael (Mike) Lee is Chief Strategy Officer for Rogers Communications Inc. Mike is responsible for strategy development, new venture development, and strategic partner management for the Rogers Communications’ group of companies which include Rogers Cable, Rogers Wireless and Rogers Media. Previously, he held the role of Vice President, Strategy and Development for Rogers Cable.” Cable Congress 2009

    “Nyla Ahmad, Senior Director, Strategic Partners for Rogers Communications Inc.

    Nyla Ahmad is responsible for overseeing and managing key cross-company relationships. This includes managing the Rogers Yahoo! strategic alliance across the entire Rogers group of companies. Previously within Rogers, Ms. Ahmad held roles within Rogers Cable and the Internet division of Rogers Media. As Senior Director of Electronic Channels for Rogers Cable Communications Inc. she was responsible for the product development, online services strategy and customer experience for Rogers Yahoo! Hi-Speed Internet. As Vice President of Excite Canada, she oversaw the development of consumer online content and services across broadband, narrowband and wireless platforms.” 3rd Annual C-COR Global IP Summit – Executive Interviews

    “Jason Zan, Co-founder and adviser

    Jason was a Sr. Director of Business Development at Rogers Communications Inc. (NYSE:RG), the largest wireless carrier in Canada. Prior to that Jason was Director of Venture Investments at Rogers where he was responsible for managing the company’s private equity investment portfolio. Jason has a HBA from Ivey Business School, University of Western Ontario, Canada.” Tokia > About Management

    The team at Rogers also includes for former PlanetEye CEO Butch Langlois, who announced in Jun3 2009 that he was joining Rogers Ventures. Butch has a strong histo

    ry with Rogers serving as VP, Finance and Corporate Development in the old Rogers New Media group.

    The team has a very strong Rogers flavour. It will be interesting to see if they are able to break free from the corporate culture that tends to lead to “The Innovator’s Dilemma” to identify opportunities. Their current investments in Zoocasa, Thoora and GridCentric show a desire to commercialize research efforts, both Thoora and GridCentric are commercialized out of the University of Toronto projects and teams. Rogers Ventures seems to be making an effort to move beyond their traditional boundaries. 

  • SmartHippo continues plot for world domination

    logo_smarthippo SmartHippo has named the former LendingTeam GM, Lori Collins, CEO. And they are expanding their European footprint through an exclusive license and partnership with Finacialred in Spain. This is definite traction and a step further down the growth path for George and the team in Montreal. A world-class CEO, a expansion into the European marketplace that allows a local entity to do the sales and marketing allowing the team to continue to work on the software platform. Super cool. 

    “As General Manager of the LendingTree Exchange, Collins was responsible for sales, relationship management, and product management for the LendingTree lender network. She was part of the executive team which increased revenues from $7 million to $476 million over seven years.”

    So what is SmartHippo?

    “SmartHippo.com uses the power of community to help consumers find the best mortgage rates and save money. SmartHippo allows any individual to post information and feedback on the rate they received, and to compare rates with other members of the community with similar profiles. Members of SmartHippo can see real rates reported by real consumers, and sort through banks based on feedback posted by other members of the community. “

    SmartHippo is an open, transparent marketplace where consumers help each other find the best financial products. Basically all of the those hidden gotchas, the little things that are often hidden in the fine print, that you only discover after a difficult situation. It’s about providing a platform that consumers can ask questions, share reviews, compare rates and experiences to make make informed financial decisions. SmartHippo is the underlying software platform that allows these conversations to take place.

    Huge day for SmartHippo. And there is an opportunity for local startups (well local to Montreal) to hear from a Valley veteran running a hot Canadian startup. Lori Collins will be delivering the closing keynote at StartupCamp Montreal on October 15. If you are in the Montreal area, the event takes place at the Society for Arts and Technology, 1195 Saint-Laurent boulevard, Montreal [map] from 6pm to 11pm. Make sure you take the opportunity to participate and meet George, Lori and the team.

  • Uken Games – Caution: highly addictive games

    This is part of a series on Extreme University and the first group of graduates from the Summer 2009 program (part 1: Assetize).

    superheroesalliance Uken Games is a social game developer based in Toronto. They build “highly addictive” social games on large social platforms including Facebook, Myspace, and iPhone. Their first game, Superheroes Alliance, has 50K active monthly users.

    Founders

    Founded by Mark Lampert and Chris Ye (Facebook). They are young developers and business school grads. Mark was one of the developers behind Twisted Trick-or-Treating and Twisted Gifts that are gifting applications that ran promotional campaigns for Nestle through the Halloween and Christmas holiday seasons where users could gift one another mini Kit Kats or a box of Turtles.

    Market

    “In 2009, an estimated $400 million to $600 million will be spent on virtual goods in the United States, and $5.5 billion globally, according to Brian Balfour, founder of Viximo. U.S. virtual goods spending was likely less than half that in 2008, and between $25 million and $50 million in 2007, Balfour said.” – San Francisco Business Times

    The opportunity behind social games and virtual goods is clear and doubling each year. “Mochi Media co-founder Jameson Hsu, reports that the company’s new virtual goods are earning at 10 to 20 times the rate of advertising” as reported by Virtual World News.

    Competition

    The competition in the social gaming space is high but given the extremely high rate of growth in the industry and the number of users who are just beginning to play games on social networks, competition is less of a factor. Because the games are generally free to play, users often play numerous games at a time, which expands the size of the entire market. The top competitors include Zynga, Playdom, Playfish, Serious Business, Hive7, and LOLapps.

    Zynga, Playdom, and Playfish are each very large, having user bases in the tens of millions across numerous games. Even so, they are all growing at tremendous rates. Zynga is rumoured to generate $200M in revenue by the end of the year according to a recent Inside Facebook article.

    Product

    Their first game, Superheroes Alliance, has 50K monthly active users on Facebook. In the game, users create a Superhero alter ego to complete missions, customize their super powers, hire sidekicks, and start rivalries with other superheroes. It’s free to play but for those users who want that slight edge and great customizability, they can purchase compelling virtual items (through a virtual currency) in the form of rare sidekicks/vehicles, special powerups, and bonuses.

    Business Model

    They generate 100% of their revenues through virtual good sales without any reliance on advertising. 80% those virtual good sales are direct, meaning customers pay with their credit cards or PayPal accounts. The remaining 20% comes in the form of CPA (cost-per-action) offers such as filling out a survey or signing up for a service like Netflix.

    Barriers to Entry

    Uken Games is an execution play. They have built a successful gaming platform that leverages key content concepts (superheroes) and social gaming and reputation. The ability to attract, engage and entertain users is core to their business.

    • Intellectual property
      There is nothing that indicates that there is any intellectual property protection for Uken Games. Intellectual property protections are not required to build a successful execution company. The uniqueness of the gaming platform and the ability to quickly adapt the platform for new markets will help Uken Games adjust course and launch new games rapidly.
    • Customer loyalty
      A large 50k monthly audience of players is great. Metrics around user signup, retention, attention and engagement would be very interesting to see. It would also be interesting to understand the conversion rates for users sharing with friends. The “addictive nature” of these games puts customer loyalty at the centre of the design and measures of Uken Games.
    • Network effect
      It’s a social game where you play your friends. Network effect is based on enjoyment and value to include new friends in the interaction. It is key to the success of Uken Games as a platform. SuperheroesAlliance is a great first game, the question of moving existing users to new games and continuing to attract new users will leverage the network effects of social media.
    • Sunk costs
      Traditional games are expensive to build. However, Uken Games has built a skinnable version game engine that has abstracted the interactions between users and allows them to build new games using new metaphors. It will be interesting to see how long the current platform remains relevant with users.
    • Research and development
      Uken Games currently has new games in development, which they plan to launch by early October. They are also working to support other platforms including Myspace and iPhone so that their games can be accessed through more channels. Leveraging existing social networks along with mobility platforms offers an interesting method for longer engagement and new social interactions.

    Summary

    The Uken Games team report that “Superheroes has already officially been banned from 3 offices during work hours due to its highly addictive nature”. As Uken launches more titles, the founders hope to see that number go up. It will be interesting to see more game titles on more platforms.

  • Workbrain Children

    Joey deVilla, Austin Hill, and I (here & here) have written about one of the best indicators of a strong startup community is the number of repeat entrepreneurs and the number of successful follow on/spinout companies. It’s the “Fairchildren” principle that is one of the many complex factors attributed to the rise of Silicon Valley.

    Workbrain agreed to be acquired back in April 2007 for $227M. This was one of the largest software acquisitions in recent history in Toronto, Platespin’s $205M acquisition by Novell being the other. It has been 2 years since the the announcement, and it appears that many of the Workbrain’s ex-founders and senior executives are starting to turn up running the next generation of Toronto startups poised for massive success.

    • dayforce 
      Dayforce is an enterprise solution that enables companes to integrate performance with planning, scheduling and management of their workforce. The company’s management team is a mix of ex-Workbrain leadership (David Ossip, Paul Sandusky, Ozzie Goldschmied, Warren Perlman) and new blood (Bob Brooks & John Orr [Note: Andrew Giblon comments John Orr was previously the VP Industry/Retails Solutions at Workbrain]). The company is building a world-class enterprise application. Dayforce launched on April 16, 2009, roughly 2 years after the Workbrain acquisition. There’s no data about the funding, but one would guess that David Ossip is able to bootstrap.
    • rypple 
      Rypple is a bottom up solution to collaborative performance management. It is a collaborative tool that enables employees and managers to request and give near real-time feedback about their performance. The team is also a mix of ex-Workbrain founders (Daniel Debow, David Stein, Tihomir Bajic, David Priemer) and new talent (George Babu, Ryan Dewsbury, Jay Goldman, and others). Rypple is funded by Peter Theil, EdgeStone Capital, Roger Martin, Seymour Schulich, and others. That’s some heavy valley hitters and some of Canada’s most respected busines individuals.

    These are 2 very prominent Toronto-based startups that are poised to knock it out of the park (again). And it provides further proof, that one of the best training grounds for young entrepreneurs is to work in successful companies. By the way, both Dayforce and Rypple are hiring.

    Are there other Workbrain children?