Michelle Sklar

MARKHAM, ON, December 5, 2024 - ventureLAB, Canada’s leading hub for hardware technology and enterprise software innovation, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Serbia’s Science and Technology Parks Belgrade, Niš, Čačak and Novi Sad. The agreement was formalized following the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) Summit 2024, marking a pivotal moment in fostering collaboration between Canada and Serbia to advance innovation in hardware technology and enterprise software.

23

It's the end of the year but far from slowing down, the AI-related news keep on coming. The AI Alliance was set up by a number of partners (IBM Canada IBM Canada Limitee among them) to ensure that the cowboy attitude of some AI startups could be reigned in with a scientific, ethics-based approach to developing and deploying AI models. It's great to see University of Toronto's Acceleration Consortium join the Alliance.

3

Last week I attended NEXT Canada's Venture Reveal event, where I was fortunate to witness some of Canada's most promising startups pitch their innovative companies to an audience of investors, academics, and fellow entrepreneurs. For those unfamiliar, NEXT is a powerhouse tech incubator committed to nurturing the next wave of impactful Canadian entrepreneurs. With an impressive track record of launching unicorns, facilitating over $2B in capital raises, and supporting countless entrepreneurs in their journey to improve Canada's competitiveness, they are highly valued in the early-stage tech community. Reflecting on the event, a few key insights resonated with me: -"There will be 100 problems in a startup, the ones who end up surprising us aren't always the ones who sparkle the most. They are the ones who keep crawling through." Ajay Agrawal's perspective on the nonlinear nature of startup challenges underscores the importance of resilience and adaptability. -As John Kelleher aptly put it, "The game of building successful tech startups is a game of outliers. Every year of the 130k businesses are started, 4,000 are capable of building and securing venture funding. Of those, 200 will raise funding from a top-tier VC and only 15 will generate almost all venture returns. -Despite Canada's GDP per capita experiencing a decline of 1/2% annually since 2020, it's imperative we foster an environment that cultivates high-growth ventures. Amidst these takeaways, I'm inspired by the resilience and dedication exhibited by entrepreneurs tackling real-world problems head-on, especially amidst today's challenging climate. Special kudos to my mentees, Nicole Baranowski at Hairstrong and Matthew Stevens & Mathew Chan at Tailwind, for their commitment to bringing their innovative offerings to market. Here's to celebrating the bold visionaries shaping Canada's entrepreneurial landscape. Onward and upward!!! #CDNtech #entrepreneurship #growth

28

2 Comments

INDUSTRY NEWS: Quebec digital strategy commits to digital ID by 2028 The #Quebec government has unveiled its 2024-2028 Cybersecurity and Digital Strategy, aiming to boost public confidence and lead in digital transformation. Key goals include launching a digital identity and digital wallet program within four years, inspired by global best practices. The strategy addresses the rise in AI, cyberattacks, cloud computing, and the growing demand for digital services, emphasizing responsible and ethical data use. A major focus is on creating a unified digital delivery portal and a secure digital wallet for personal information and certificates. The plan includes a single login authentication service for easier access to government services. The strategy stresses collaboration, security, and privacy, aiming to improve the citizen experience and build trust in digital public services. The collective effort of all public organizations, led by the Ministère de la Cybersécurité et du Numérique du Québec (MCN), is crucial for this transformation. Jonathan Kelly #digitalstrategy #digitalID #digitalwallet #digitalgovernance #cybersecurity #AI https://lnkd.in/g5NJwmpx

9

Collaboration is at the heart of everything we do at WEtech Alliance —it’s a core value that drives our mission to strengthen and grow the innovation ecosystem. Our latest collaboration with Communitech exemplifies this commitment, bringing the Scale-Up Platform, supported by FedDev Ontario, to our region. This partnership connects high-potential founders to critical resources, fosters stronger ties between the Windsor and Waterloo tech and innovation ecosystems, and prioritizes inclusivity by supporting women and non-binary founders. We’re especially grateful to Libro Credit Union for enabling us to leverage this opportunity. Their support underscores the importance of collective efforts in driving meaningful change and advancing innovation. Innovation ecosystems are ever-evolving, and a more effective, collaborative approach is essential to driving both innovation and long-term economic impact. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gVQaS6_E Jennifer Gruber CPA,CA Matthew Klassen Avvey Peters Christina Wood Angela Larraguibel Allison Mitchell, CLC Lori Atkinson Shawn Good Liz Arkinstall Adam Castle Susy Kustra Chris Albinson Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario | Agence fédérale de ...

94

6 Comments

Brilliant article on TheoryMesh that explains in few words both the company and why #foodtraceability is important, and should be simple. To learn more about what TheoryMesh can do for you, whether a farm, food manufacturer or retailer, don't hesitate to reach out. #foodtech #sustainability #meaningfulbusiness #fieldtofork Thanks North Forge Chris Bunio Stephanie Westdal

12

Such a great blog post which I suggest every founder read. So many golden nuggets in here. But one that stands out: What are some qualities that you see in the most successful founders? Well, I love smart people, with high IQs, and high EQs, that’s great. But, of the founders that I see, the highest correlation with success is with their grit quotient. They’re not necessarily the smartest people in the world, but their grit and determination are unbelievable. They never give up and always find a way to blast through any obstacle they face. It’s the mentality of “succeed or die” – it’s that kind of determination that wins. #gritcotient #grit #founder #highperformancemindset

8

If you're a Canadian entrepreneur, investor, or founder then this past week has made it painfully clear that when it comes to innovation and economic recovery the calvary won't be coming and is in fact running in the opposite direction. The federal government and associated regional innovation support agencies (ie Invest Ottawa) are failing to look at solutions aimed at effectively addressing an overall decrease in entrepreneurship and economic activity across the nation and it is now on us, as resilient Canadian entrepreneurs, to empower those who can bring the most value to the table if we are to strive for the quickest path forward towards economic recovery and helping the average Canadian family better their quality of life. I am proud to announce that RHA Ventures Inc. has answered that call 👏 In the face of rising costs for domestic businesses in Canada and competition from abroad, RHA Ventures, an Ontario-based venture capital firm specializing in cutting-edge technologies, announced today its investment in Real Life Robotics, a Waterloo-based company designing real robots for real businesses. This investment marks a significant milestone in the development of Real Life Robotics and underscores RHA Ventures' commitment to supporting true, tried, and tested founders and Ontario’s growing startup ecosystem despite an overall decrease in entrepreneurship across the rest of Canada. “Real robots, real people, and real-world challenges are what differentiate RLR as a technology company. We could not be more thrilled to have RHA Ventures, a group of experienced founders and problem solvers, on board as strategic advisors and investors as we help elevate Ontario globally as a home for first-in-class robotics and automation technology - empowering businesses with transformative robotics solutions that unlock new levels of efficiency, reliability, and scalability,” - Cameron Waite, CEO of Real Life Robotics. The numbers clearly show that the cost of getting involved in a business or launching a new product is too high for the average inexperienced Canadian and our economy has slowed in growth accordingly. On a macro level, we are placing too high an importance on new founders in a down market when we should be rewarding and doubling down on our true, tried and tested investors, founders and legacy businesses who have shown they are willing to take the risk. Thank you, Brian Foster and the rest of the team at RHA Ventures Inc. for taking this first step of the journey with us 🙏 https://lnkd.in/gSr5TP48

63

8 Comments

#Video content, #AI, and #personalization are, for me, top trends that will be driving travel startups in #2025. 

 What are yours? #video #AI #2025 #startups #traveltrends #awards #toptrends #traveltech

12

12 Comments

Does BC Tech have it right? Next week I'll be on stage with an amazing line up of leaders at the BetaKit Town Hall: Vancouver. From my conversations so far, some clear differences have emerged from the vibes of the Toronto tech sector. -Unequivocal in their belief that BC is where they want to live, and so no question about keeping their companies there. -Just as sick as everyone else with trying to sell in Canada, but seemingly much more at peace with straight to US sales approach. -Stymied in raising in Canada, much more likely to extoll the virtues of bootstrapping and to have avoided the pitfalls of irrational growth -Influenced by their natural surroundings and research communities, more focused on high impact verticals on life science and climate tech, and more likely to raise the potential of tech to address big challenges like forest fires -More likely to praise provincial government programs for getting things right (although quick to shred SR&ED) Not all rosy, to be sure, but some low key BC rizz I'm looking forward to hearing more about.

22

5 Comments

I am super happy to see how economic development units are adopting AI to make life easier for entrepreneurs and startups. Here's the case from Economic Development Lethbridge and the Regional Innovation Network of Southern Alberta (RINSA), who are adopting AI Assistants for a more effective entrepreneurship support. Read the whole case and announcement here below #entrepreneurship #innovation #AI #Alberta #Lethbridge #startupecosystem

13

4 Comments

I think what we need in BC/Canada is support to get your idea to prime time. This is especially true for early stage under represented founders in games/IDM. How can we invest pre-seed amounts and have that strategy support for one of BC’s fastest growing sectors? Imagine what new worlds would be built and new audiences would support. Everyone is a gamer, let’s build for that. https://lnkd.in/gzXAnj7i

25

2 Comments

"Entrepreneurship is painful and sometimes rewarding." This quote naturally came out during a check-in call with my good friend and fellow entrepreneur, Gilad, who is building a great product at Sequence (I just wish they were available in Canada) 😢 As soon as I said it, both Gilad and I reflected on how true that statement is in describing the journey of building something. Shoutout to all the business owners and entrepreneurs out there taking the pain with a pinch of reward. #startupjourney #pain #entrepreneurship #grit

8

1 Comment

Good Morning All - I’m thrilled to introduce this years C100 2024 #C100Growth and #C100Fellows cohorts! These companies, executives, and founders represent the next wave of Canadian tech opportunity, each poised to make a significant impact in their respective industries. This year we had an incredible applicant pool of hundreds to select from and were blessed to make tough incredible selections. The 12 companies joining our Growth Program exemplify the deep quality of Canadian tech and the incredible repeat innovation that Canada has to offer, with more than half of the leaders being serial entrepreneurs. The cohort comprises pioneers in B2B SaaS, fintech, health tech, cleantech, and AI. This years 26 early-stage companies showcase Canadian ingenuity, technological advancement, and a commitment to social impact - it's also the largest cohort ever – and is characterized by its diversity, spanning B2B SaaS, deep tech, health tech, fintech, legal tech, and more. Congratulations to all and welcome to the C100 family! #CdnTech #Innovation #Entrepreneurship

31

My 7-year journey via Maple VC with Clay. Thanks Josh Scott at BetaKit for covering the story. I was first introduced to Kareem Amin through a fellow Canadian expat and now Maple founder, Michael Hershfield of Accrue Savings. They first met working at Sailthru in NYC where Kareem sold his first company. In 2016, Kareem started to tinker on new ideas with his cofounder Nicolae Rusan and I was fortunate to meet them at this time. This happened to align with me establishing Maple 1 in November 2016 on the simple thesis of backing Canadians building in America. We noticed that Canadian expats, who graduate from Canadian universities, go on to build some of the biggest companies in tech – Uber, Slack, Instacart, Notion, Faire, Databricks, Cloudflare, Roblox and most recently, OpenAI. Kareem and Nicolae seemed to match this pattern as two graduates from McGill University building in the US. In 2017, they landed on a very clear mission to make programming accessible to all. They painted a picture of replacing the black terminal that developers use, with a spreadsheet that is connected to the internet which could allow non-developers to automate work. What we saw immediately that gave us conviction was a very big ambition (making programming accessible to all) with a unique insight (using a spreadsheet) via a new method of no-code tooling. This reminded us of the early days at Uber: The promise to deliver you anything (big ambition) by starting with a black car that takes you from point A to point B (unique insight) via your phone (new method). We first committed to investing in Clay in Jan 2017 before the company had a lead. In June 2017, we were thrilled to learn that First Round Capital was going to lead their Seed. Sequoia Capital led the Series A in June 2019, which was surprising, since we had no revenue and were still figuring things out. However, the low-code no-code category was starting to take off. Then, they spent the next 3 years figuring out where to focus. During this phase it was fascinating to witness the many disbelievers. We had folks tell us that we should mark this investment to $0. In late 2021, they decided to narrowly focus on automating sales and this turned out to be the big unlock. Varun Anand joined as a cofounder leading their GTM efforts. The timing played out beautifully with new LLMs that we could use to automate growth in a way that hadn’t been done before. Clay relaunched in Feb 2022 with $0 in revenue and has not looked back since. We 10x’d two years in a row, all organically, achieving 100k users, 2500+ customers, and 11k people exchanging ideas in our Slack community. Maple has tripled down since the Seed through the Series B which was just led by Meritech Capital. We have a strong feeling that Clay has a real shot at realizing that vision they first shared with us 7 years ago.

332

25 Comments

GenAI Grants Available 👇 This is a prime opportunity to advance your AI initiatives and contribute to Canadian innovation! 🇨🇦 SCALE AI | Canada's AI Global Innovation Cluster has launched a new Call for Proposals for projects focused on commercializing and adopting generative AI solutions. Here’s what you need to know: 🔹 Commercialization Projects: Ideal for companies aiming to enhance their existing products or services with generative AI capabilities. 🔹 Adoption Projects: Perfect for companies looking to improve operational efficiency by integrating generative AI solutions. 💡 Deadline to Apply: November 8, 2024 👉 Find out more and apply here: https://lnkd.in/dcFzXTTW I encourage Accelerate Okanagan members and AI innovators to apply. #AI #GenerativeAI #ScaleAI #Innovation #AccelerateOkanagan #CanadianTech #Okanagan

29

1 Comment

📟"The semiconductor sector is viewed as an isolated industry while the reality is that semiconductors underpin every industry you can name. They are the engine for many critical sectors, namely AI, advanced manufacturing, smart city, mobility, renewable energy, and health care—all of which are leading industries in Canada. They are everywhere, and Canada requires this ongoing support and a comprehensive strategy to compete globally in semiconductor design and fabrication." 𓇲 Read ventureLAB's latest #thoughtleadership piece by Avinash Persaud

10

I had a great conversation with Evan M. about my career and entrepreneurial journey, including getting into the venture capital industry and why I founded Staircase Ventures with a unique philosophy and approach. Some quotes: "We benefit in Canada from terrific technical talent. In addition, we are seeing more repeat entrepreneurs and more experienced start-up leaders than we did 5 to 10 years ago... The other thing is that US investors want to invest in Canada. Ten years ago, US investors were reluctant to invest in Canadian companies and if they did, it would be on the condition that they move to the Valley. That is no longer the case." "I started my own fund not for the sake of starting my own fund, but because I wanted to devote my time to working with entrepreneurs and to serving them, helping them to build impactful companies. I had some ideas about how venture could be done differently and I wanted to put those ideas into action. That is what led me to start Staircase Ventures... There's three unique aspects of Staircase Ventures. The first is our founder development platform which is designed to help accelerate founders' development and help them perform their best every day." "Life is long and how you treat people and how you perform really, really matters in the long run. Life is not a short-term game; it is what you do and how you show up, day-after-day, over a period of many years that will determine your future." Listen here: https://lnkd.in/gpHprCt8

68

4 Comments

I recently read this article by Sam Sebastian, the head of Google Cloud Canada, and it got me thinking about the future of #AI in #Canada. He makes a strong case that AI will be a major force in Canadian business by 2025. He believes that AI will be used to optimize back-end processes, enhance customer-facing platforms, and even create entirely new products and services. I think he's is right! AI is already having a major impact on businesses around the world, and Canada is no exception. In fact, I believe that Canada is well-positioned to become a leader in AI innovation. We have a strong talent pool, a supportive government, and a thriving tech sector. I am confident that Canadian businesses will be able to use AI to achieve great things in the years to come. I encourage you to read the article and learn more about how AI will reshape Canadian business in 2025. #AI #Canada #business #innovation #technology #future https://lnkd.in/gXqr5yCf

16

1 Comment