Comments on: IAF announced funding 8 companies

By: davidcrow

davidcrow — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 20:58:19 +0000

Hey John,

Suzie Dingwall Williams provides some recent commentary on the make up of the investment committee shaping it's deals. Perhaps this will change with the announcement of Barry Gekiere who was at Ventures West previously.

I don't know a lot about the "new IAF investment committee". They have moved from OCE to MaRS. Looks like the have 3 Life Sciences and Healthcare companies:

* Atreo Medical
* eSight
* VitaSound

Craig Hiyashi wrote up the IAF on StartupNorth as a funding source in 2009.

Suzie's analysis is spot on. Her questions about the investment committee are not vertical based, but suggesting there is too high a concentration of Ontario VCs that might be shaping the investments.

By: John Wallace

John Wallace — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 20:36:55 +0000

Thanks David.
As far as I can tell, the IAF have only ever made 1 investment in the biotech sector. It has been suggested to me that their investment advisory committee has poor representation from that sector, which may explain, in part, their reluctance to make those investments. Of course, biotech is inherently more 'risky' than some of the other sectors, but that is exactly why funds like the IAF are needed.
J

By: davidcrow

davidcrow — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 20:26:29 +0000

Hey John,

It looks like April is the big PR month for the Ministry of Research and Innovation. At the Premier's Catalyst awards there was a lot of biotech:

* Spartan Bioscience
* Profound Medical

Which is not IAF funding but it is support. There is also the announcements of $21MM in support for HTX which is part of the $161MM program for Life Sciences Strategy [pdf] and McMaster based GL² program.

It's an area that I can honestly claim a little bit of ignorance.

By: John Wallace

John Wallace — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 20:01:36 +0000

Where has the IAF been when it comes to biotechnology investments?

By: » Weekend Reading - January 17, 2009 | StartupNorth

» Weekend Reading - January 17, 2009 | StartupNorth — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 17:05:33 +0000

[...] 8 companies were funded by the Investment Accelerator Fund including: C2C Link, Echologics, IPeak Ne… What a great way to start 2009! [...]

By: IAF Fund Jobs « Toronto Technology Jobs

IAF Fund Jobs « Toronto Technology Jobs — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:13:53 +0000

[...] Fund Jobs The Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation announced funding [via David Crow] in eight companies so I’ll do the usual and check to see which of these companies are [...]

By: Kevin Wong

Kevin Wong — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 04:13:30 +0000

Hey David, don't forget Nulogy! We make software for managing complex manufacturing businesses. (Just the tip of the iceberg, but it's pretty industry-specific stuff.) Thanks for the mention!

By: Kevin Wong

Kevin Wong — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 04:13:00 +0000

Hey David, don't forget Nulogy! We make software for managing complex manufacturing businesses. (Just the tip of the iceberg, but it's pretty industry-specific stuff.) Thanks for the mention!

By: Montreal Tech Watch » Community Updates: 5th Jan

Montreal Tech Watch » Community Updates: 5th Jan — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 03:22:35 +0000

[...] Ontario Ministry of Research And Innovation announced funding for of up to $500,000 for 8 new companies. What’s up, [...]

By: Steve_Dodd

Steve_Dodd — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 02:55:11 +0000

Thanks for the mention David! We're very excited and greatly appreciate the Ministry's assistance. Social Media is a rapidly growing environment and we provide a very advanced and unique solution to help companies quickly understand what millions of consumers globally are saying online (for all to see and discuss) about their products / markets / competitors and industries.
Steve Dodd
Business Development
http://www.sysomos.com