innovacorp overview

Innovacorp Overview

Paul Richards

November, 2012

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To fuel sustainable economic growth by enabling early-stage Nova Scotia knowledge-based companies to accelerate the commercialization of their technologies and increase competitiveness in export markets.

Innovacorp Strategic Goal

Innovacorp Strategy

Innovacorp delivers business development support, venture capital investment and incubation to Nova Scotia companies in early stages of development.

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Between 1993 and 2003, 967,000 net new jobs were created in Canada.

Small high-growth firms accounted for 585,000, or 60 per cent, of these jobs.

Knowledge-based sectors are over-weighted among high-growth firms.

Venture capital is critical for early-stage knowledge-based companies. In fact, venture-backed companies represent:

83% of the market capitalization of Canadian ICT companies

38% of the market capitalization of life sciences companies

34% of the market capitalization for clean technology companies

Why Venture Capital?

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Studies show that up to 90 per cent of small businesses fail in the first five years of their founding.

About 87 per cent of companies that graduate from a business incubator are still doing business today.

These graduates have seen an increase in sales of more than 400 per cent.

Incubation is an important tool that helps entrepreneurs
bridge the valley of death and develop sustainable growth.

Incubators are a critical part of the early-stage ecosystem in all North American centres with thriving knowledge-based economies.

Why Incubate?

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The development and commercialization of ideas requires careful planning and execution.

Failure to understand and implement a strategy will limit success.

Ensure you are following the right steps at the right time.

Exposure to the economic infrastructure design to support technology start-ups.

Why Provide Support?

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Innovation ecosystem

Clients take advantage of ecosystem that includes opportunities for networking, mentoring, customer acquisition, business development and funding.

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Venture Capital Operations

ScreenDDInv.Proc.DealCloseMentorSource7 investment professionals

Review ~300 companies/year

Investment criteria based on prospects for significant financial returns

8-10 investments/year

Created Scientific and Technology Advisory Council (STAC) to deepen technical due diligence capabilities

Try to provide advice and feedback to companies we dont invest in; help with navigation to other support resources

Jevon Macdonald joined Innovacorp as Entrepreneur in Residence in July 2010

Worked closely with the investment team while exploring opportunities of his own

Met a Sydney-based engineer (Gavin Uhma) who had developed a compelling internet infrastructure technology

Built the business case and go-to-market strategy for the technology

Co-founded GoInstant with Uhma in Spring 2011

Closed $1.7M seed round of financing in August 2011 from Silicon Valley-based venture firms

Freestyle Capital, Baseline Ventures, Embarcadero Ventures, Greylock, Innovacorp ($100K), friends and family

Successfully resisted investor pressure to relocate

Acquired by Salesforce.com in July 2012

Case Study : GoInstant

Thank you!

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innovacorp overview

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