Rowan Cheung

Canada might be 1/10th the size of the US population, but Canadians still deploy capital into startups, but at 1/25th the rate of the US. If you're a Canadian founder you should meet some notable Toronto venture capitalists, ready to back your journey! 1. Relay Ventures-ventures Focus: Pre-Seed and Seed Stage Ventures Sector: Urbantech, Proptech, Fintech, Sportstech Top Portcos: Boomerang, Bird, Ecobee 2. Real Ventures Focus: Early-Stage Ventures Sector: Tech Enabled Businesses Top Portcos: Mejuri, Integrate AI, Unbounce 3. Radical Ventures Focus: Early Stage Ventures Sector: Artificial Intelligence, Disruptive tech Top Portcos: BirchAI, RoadBotics, Nabla Bio 4. Golden Ventures Focus: Seed Ventures Sector: Agnostic Top Portcos: ApplyBoard, Yesware, tacked 5. Alate Partners Sector: Real Estate, PropTech Top Portcos: Bird, Altrio, PadSplit 6. iGan Partners Focus: Seed Ventures Sector: Digital Health and MedTech Top Portcos: Meta, Akira, Think Research 7. Whitecap Venture Partners Focus: Seed and Series A Ventures Sector: B2B software and Med Tech Top Portcos: GoBolt, Real Matters, Clearwater 8. Ripple Ventures Sector: B2B Software Top Portcos: Wisely, Artemis, Plannuh 9. Loyal VC Sector: Tech Enabled Businesses Top Portcos: MyTM, ZestIOT, Avant Meats, BetaStore 10. Portage Focus: Seed to Series C Ventures Sector: Fintech Top Portcos: KOHO Financial, Albert, League, Clark Ready to connect with the perfect investor for your startup? Drop “LIST” in the comments, and I’ll tailor a personalized investor lineup just for you. Who’s your favorite VC firm in Toronto? Give them a shoutout in the comments! At Thunder.vc, we specialize in matching your fintech startup with venture capital firms that align with your sector, growth stage, and goals. Let’s find the right partner to fuel your growth!

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Canada's Brain Drain is undeniable! 🌍 Why are ambitious Canadian startup founders flocking to the US? 𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗖𝗮𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 The US economy is 12.5x larger but its VC industry is 30x larger. In 2023, US VC deals were $150-200 billion while Canada was ~$6 billion. 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗹𝘆 𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 In the US, speed and risk-taking reign supreme. It's a dynamic environment where ideas rapidly transform into reality, unlike the more cautious pace in Canada. 𝗕𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 With an economy 12.5x the size of Canada’s, the US offers unprecedented reach and potential for growth. 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗮𝘅𝗲𝘀 Although not the main factor, higher taxes in Canada add to the challenges. Recent hikes in capital gains taxes have not helped. For Canada to thrive in the innovation economy, it's time to tackle these hurdles head-on. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  Excerpt from a discussion I had with Mark Nashman. Link to the full video in the comments. #startups #venturecapital #investing #Canada #culture

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In honour of the epic 4-hour Acquired $MSFT pod that just dropped, here's a look at the key stats behind the 50-year journey to $3T → https://lnkd.in/eUyufRVT Most surprising stats: 1️⃣ As of 2020, Azure generates more revenue than the Windows/PC biz 2️⃣ Even at 221k employees, revenue per employee is ~$1m 3️⃣ At the height of the dot-com bubble in 1999, $MSFT was trading at 30x revenue ($20b revenue) 😂 Thanks to Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal for an awesome pod! Check out the episode and our full dashboard with more stats, links in the comments 👇

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bitsCrunch is making waves in the gaming industry with its Advanced Gaming Insights API. This powerful tool is designed to provide real-time data analytics for gaming platforms, Web 3 games, and gaming DAOs & guilds. Here's a breakdown of what bitsCrunch offers: 🚀 Player Acquisition & Retention: The API helps understand player behavior with key performance indicators (KPIs) like Daily Active Users (DAUs), Monthly Active Users (MAUs), Retention Rate, and Churn Rate. 🚀 User Behavior: It analyzes how players interact on-chain, including in-game item transactions, active times, and strategy patterns. 🚀 Smart Contract Interactions: Insights into how players and entities interact with smart contracts can identify areas for game mechanics improvements. 🚀 Economic Modeling: The API provides an analysis of the in-game economy, including currency flow, asset supply & demand, and the impact of economic factors on player behavior. 🚀 Wallet Analysis: Understanding the NFTs and tokens in players' wallets can gauge player involvement and inform necessary adjustments. bitsCrunch is tailored for various stakeholders in the gaming ecosystem, such as gaming aggregators, gaming platforms, Web 3 games & studios, and gaming DAOs & guilds. It offers a single API with custom endpoints for direct integration and dashboards with a trial to visualize the data you need. For those interested in taking their gaming platform to the next level, bitsCrunch's API documentation provides all the necessary information to get started. It's indeed a game-changer for those looking to leverage advanced analytics to enhance the gaming experience.

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Pudgy Penguins sold over 1M toys 🐧 What started as an NFT project has grown into a massive & profitable IP brand: 📈 $400M in NFT Trade Volume  Even if you hate the word “NFT”, $400M of anything is undeniably big 🧸 1M+ Plush Toys Shipped Diversifying into merch, they've already passed 7-figures in physical sales via Walmart and more 🛒 Retail Partnerships with Amazon, Target, GameStop… They're locked and loaded with the biggest retail distribution 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥: The Pudgys are just getting started - their new frontier is Pudgy World, a web3 gaming ecosystem: 🤖 Blockchain-Powered Open World blending NFTs, physical toys, and decentralized gaming 🌐 Global Gaming Community Designed to onboard millions into web3 gaming with an accessible experience From conquering the NFT market to achieving plushie dominance, Pudgy Penguins has executed a multi-phase expansion like few others. Now they're full-speed into gaming and I’m here for it. If you’re an IP wondering how to get into gaming, let’s connect :) #roblox #metaverse #gaming #IP #fortnite #nft #blockchain

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The top NFT KOLs on X we reference today, grew that account during the 2021 -2022 vibes. The biggest projects today/ blue chip NFT brands rode on the wave of the 2021 - 2022 bull run. If you are using these excuses as a founder or brand for your stunted growth.... You have missed it! Genuine growth on X is strategic and also deliberate. You must be ready for it. Your engagement game must be top notch. Your Content game must be an Algorithm Breaker. Don't forget you are not a shiller or an engagement farmer (Though engagement farming can be a part of the strategy but a minute percentage) Another Hint is Twitter rewards blue badge users with high visibility. As a builder who wants organic growth and humane interactions. It’s either you pay the price with your time or onboard a team of professionals. I am Abodunrin Festus, your go to guy if you need help with your content and social media. #web3marketing #nft #crypto #web3

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Would you move your startup for $10+ million benefit + 50% ish cap gains tax to the 🇺🇲? I did it before, why not again? #SiliconValley "Budget capital gains changes are a tipping point for Canadian #startups: survey." MaRS Discovery District, Communitech, Invest Ottawa survey of #Entrepreneurs and Founders. Canada is a great place to incubate companies with a huge quantity of early stage private and public capital and terrific policy support. So why go anywhere else as a founder once you have incubated in such a great place for entrepreneurs? #capitalgains, capital gains, capital gains. That's what this video is about. Thank you to Krista Jones and Christine Bomé and all my friends at MaRS DD for leading from the front. This survey gave me hope that Canada will once more be able to be an innovation champion. Please read the survey! https://lnkd.in/gqMm6yu7

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Earning money from social media: - Facebook reels pays creators between $0.01 and $0.11 per views. - Isntagram Reels creators can eran between $10 and $10,000 per reels through brand deals. - TicTok creators can earn money through the creator fund, which pays around 2-4 cents per 1,000 views. - YouTubers make average of $0.018 per view. - YouTube short creators earn between 1 cent -7 cent per thousands view , while long form videos earn between $1.61 and $29.30 per 1000 views. * The amount of money creators can earn depends on several factors , including audience location , engagement level and type of the content being viewed. #social_media #content_creators

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Last week, I helped a GameFi Founder raise $500K in funding. One key element we nailed? The HERO story. (1/7) 👇 You've heard it before - VCs don't just fund ideas. They invest in founders. Your HERO story shows why you're the one to bet on. It's your superpower. Here's the formula for creating yours: H - Heritage (Your origins) E - Encounters (Your battles) R - Rise (Your victories) O - Outlook (Your vision) Example: H: Grew up as the fat kid, always picked last for teams. E: Decided enough was enough, started working out. Nearly quit multiple times. R: Pushed through, lost 50 pounds, competed in a triathlon. O: Now building a fitness app to make health accessible for everyone. 15 minutes. That's all you need to craft yours. Want my HERO Story Worksheet? Drop "HERO" below. Next: How we positioned the problem/solution. Stay tuned. ------ Need help pitching your own project? Book a FREE 15-minute call. #StartupFunding #VCPitch #FounderSuperpower #web3 #fundraising #nfts

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Blink by FlareLabs Inc. just secured $1.1 million in pre-A funding! This is a huge win for any startup looking to scale. If you're navigating the CRM space, there's something you can learn here: 1. Prioritize product quality. FlareLane didn't rely on outbound sales—they focused on making a competitive product. 2. Keep it user-friendly. Unlike foreign alternatives, FlareLane | Backed by Primer Sazze Partners shines because it's intuitive and cost-effective. 3. Automate smartly. Their automated customer journeys mean even non-marketers can create impactful, personalized experiences. Simply simplify your product for users, and let quality drive growth. How are you simplifying your marketing strategies? https://lnkd.in/dxC8TbGX Alec Robins, Alec Ellin, Jason Boehle. Ketul Sheth, Manoj Palakkal, Gaurav Bhawnani. Josh Lyles, Uday Kotla, David Weinstein, Rick Hamilton. Mudit Agarwal, Shampa Bagchi, Mark Kofman, Howard Thai, Prashant Motewar, Geoffrey Chaney, Bill Hustad, Paul Whitley. Jon Ferrara, David Cahn, Oliver Dallas Wright. Yisu Jin, Dylan Conroy. Mark Hansen, Jeff Stibel, Bob McDonald #StartupSuccess #CRM #TechInnovation

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HeyGen Raises $60M in Series A Funding HeyGen, the innovative AI video generation platform, has just secured a whopping $60M in Series A funding, led by Benchmark. This landmark investment values the company at over $500M and brings their total funding to $74M. 📊 𝐇𝐞𝐲𝐆𝐞𝐧'𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡: • Skyrocketed from $1M to $35M+ in Annual Recurring Revenue in just over a year • Achieved profitability since Q2 2023 • Amassed 40,000+ paying customers globally • Supports an impressive 175 languages and regional dialects 🔍 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐇𝐞𝐲𝐆𝐞𝐧 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥? In today's video-first world, where we collectively watch over 1 billion hours of YouTube daily, HeyGen is revolutionizing how businesses create content. Their AI-powered platform allows companies to produce, localize, and personalize studio-quality videos without the need for cameras, cast, or crew. 💡 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐲𝐆𝐞𝐧 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞: • Create videos by simply typing a script • Localize content into 175 languages with AI voice and lip sync • Preserve speakers' natural voices in localized versions • Drastically reduce production time from weeks to minutes • Significantly cut costs (traditional methods average $1,000 per finished minute) 🌟 𝐒𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬: HeyGen's diverse clientele includes Fortune 500 companies, small businesses, and even world leaders. Some notable examples: • McDonald's sweet connections ad campaign • Salesforce's partner kickoff • Argentinian President Milei's address at the World Economic Forum 👥 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐭: To fuel their next growth phase, HeyGen has added key executives: • Dave King (former Asana CMO) as Chief Business Officer • Rong Yan (ex-HubSpot VP of Engineering) as CTO • Lavanya Poreddy (formerly of Match Group and Meta) as Head of Trust and Safety 🔮 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭? This funding will accelerate HeyGen's product roadmap, with a focus on: • Enhanced Avatar Video capabilities • Improved Video Translation • Advanced Personalized Video features • New Streaming Avatar technology • Strengthened Enterprise Security and AI Ethics As we enter a golden age of visual storytelling, HeyGen is at the forefront, empowering businesses of all sizes to tell their stories compellingly and efficiently. 💬 What are your thoughts on AI-powered video generation? How might this technology transform your business communications? #Heygen #AIVideoGeneration #StartupFunding #FutureOfContent #Innovation

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𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝗪𝗲𝗯𝟯 𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘆 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲; > right idea > right product > right team > right network and connections We all know connections is everything in web3.

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The overall tech sector is presently on a boom with blockchain-based Web3 making an entry across verticals. In a fresh development, G - https://lnkd.in/gnY83z8r

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The rise of NFTs signal a significant shift in views of value and ownership in the digital age. While the first ever NFT was created in 2014, growing interest and popularity of the NFT marketplace has only become evident more recently. In 2021, a new digital artwork by Beeple entitled Everydays: The First 5000 Days, sold for over $63million. That’s an astounding increase from 2014’s first NFT sale of $1.4million. Even though their long-term impact is yet to be understood, there is no denying the excitement and growing development of NFTs in the global art market. 1. 17 digital artists you need to know about https://lnkd.in/ehvighXc 2. Top 20 Most Famous Digital Artists Today A Reasoned Anthology https://lnkd.in/ew4R_SCf 3.Top 100 Digital Art Influencers in 2024-https://lnkd.in/e4BHF7cZ 4.Top 20 NFT Artists to Keep an Eye on in 2024 https://lnkd.in/egtRfEwH 5. 7 Best NFTs to Buy in 2024 (Popularity and Sales Volume) https://lnkd.in/e6y4QtSY 6.List of NFT Funds & Collector DAOs https://lnkd.in/eJYxRbgy 7.Non Fungible Token (NFTs): The Ultimate Guide 2024 https://lnkd.in/e-eAbYY3 8.Is there a bull market in NFT industry 2024? https://lnkd.in/eChwhW3r 9.The 18 Best Immersive Art Exhibitions in London (2024) https://lnkd.in/eyU8ZpCZ

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For everyone who has asked for help with their pitch decks, maybe this will dissuade you from asking: 10 page pitch deck with 20 investor contacts (seems to be a post-StartupFest / post-Collision activity every year)

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Angel investment is hard. Getting started is hard. Knowing what good looks like is hard. Parting ways with that first cheque is hard. Dealing with the immense amount of inbound is hard. Trying not to disappoint 99% of founders that come your way is hard. It's honestly one of the main reasons we started Table for Ten. We want angels, no matter how new or experienced to find a collaborative environment in which they can thrive - without the pressures of the label 'angel investor'. As our tight-knit community continues to grow, our vision does so too. If you're getting started or just keen to mix up your current angel journey, drop me a message or leave your details in the link below!

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Some VCs call it "diversification" when it is really just a lack of conviction.  They spread their investments in as many companies as possible and hope one succeeds—” spray and pray,” as it's called. At Bonfire Ventures 🔥, we do the opposite: Instead of chasing every shiny opportunity, we invest in fewer companies and go all in. We are a low-volume, high-conviction, high-support investor, and as Fred Wilson says, "That is who you want on your side." We invest in 8-10 deals per year, with a first check of $2-4 million each, and reserve plenty of follow-on capital. Why? Anyone can write a check. The real challenge—and the actual value—is in the subsequent and ongoing partnership. You can’t build meaningful relationships with founders, provide hands-on support, and be there for the good days and the bad if you're juggling a hundred projects. You need to know the founders, the market, and the business inside and out. That's what we do. During my investment banking days, I learned that you can’t work with every company that knocks on your door. You pick the ones you truly believe in, where you can see the potential in both the people and the product. Scopely is a prime example. We didn’t just invest in 2012. We worked closely with them and rolled up our sleeves. That partnership turned into a $5 billion cash exit in 2023. That’s what happens when you focus on quality over quantity. At Bonfire, our founders aren’t just another check in a portfolio. We’re not in the game of betting on every horse - we’re here to invest in the right ones - and then we go to work. How do you decide where to focus your energy? What drives your decisions, whether you're building a business, launching a project, or choosing investments?

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12 steps to Venture Studio epiphany (and 60% IRR)! However the very first one: “up front capital”, divide studios in two categories: with or without own post launch funding capability. Far too many studios are still stuck in a launch focused framework, where the individual ventures are still dependent on external growth capital and hit the wall after launch…. Own follow on funding completely change the ownership structure and ROI dynamics :) venturerock

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