Peggy Van de Plassche

Disappointing that the The Logic didn't do a bit more homework as all sectors are not equal. This week the Business Development Bank of Canada said its venture investments in life sciences have generated an average internal return of 22.6% over the past decade, well above levels for information technology and clean technology. While IRR out-performance is nice, what is even more important is DPI. On this measure it would appear, based on CVCA and Pitchbook data, that since 2019 CDN LS companies account for more than 70% of realized distributions to limited partners invested in CDN VC funds. That is performance you can put in the bank.

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Give this episode a listen! Would love to see more women interested in M&A and dealmaking!

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"I don’t speak ‘grant’!" - Leah Power of ICA - Institute of Canadian Agencies (Thanks for the inspo) When you're dealing with government grants you need to be able to speak ‘grant’. It's like when you're doing business in Japan, you need to be able to speak Japanese. I get it, ‘grant’ isn’t intuitive can be a barrier for many seeking funding support. Here are the five ways you can improve access to grants for your business: 1)   Decipher the guidelines: Application guidelines range from a few pages to dozens of pages and include grant purpose, eligibility, budget requirements, program rules, reporting criteria, and several pages of vocabulary to translate terms written in 'grant'. Don’t have time for this? Read our Grant Summaries in GetGranted (bullet points and in business jargon) to determine if a fit exists. 2)   Deadlines: While there are many programs that have specific deadlines, there are other also ones that are open until funding is fully committed. Understand the deadline for the program that you're applying for and how applications are adjudicated so that you know if you need to be first in line or if you have more time to prepare and submit your grant proposal. You can figure this out, or use Granted Starter with deadlines and Best Practices are built into our platform. 3)   Speak to the program manager: If you're curious as to whether your project would qualify under their funding program, AFTER reading through the application guidelines you may want to speak to the grantor and get their take on project fit. Or, you could speak to our team of experienced strategists (new feature being added in for 2025 to Granted Starter) to get you started on the right set of grants for your business. 4)   Understanding the finance terms: I love grants because they give you an assurance with a funding agreement once you have applied successfully to a program. So long as you complete the project and spend on eligible expenses, your funds are essentially guaranteed. However, you may need to have cash flow to cover these expenses before you can make a claim successfully. I always suggest that companies look at this to ensure that they can afford applying for subsidies to avoid cash flow issues post approval. How the reimbursement process works is outlined in each grant card in Granted Starter because no surprise, each grant is different. 5)   Find the right grant: Grants change all the time and it's important that you are staying on top of these changes as they may directly impact your ability to successfully apply for grants. If you don't have someone in your team dedicated to helping you access grants, consider Granted Starter as a tool to not only keep you informed, but also can provide you with support in the granting process. Ready to access grants for your business? Here is our solution to get you ‘granted’:

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Who are the best Trusted Advisors in Mid Market M&A in Canada?  Tag their name below in comments - we would love to talk to them! I'm working on my new start-up. We’re building an AI Co-Pilot that is revolutionizing value creation and M&A strategies, while redefining what it means to be a Trusted Advisor. Looking to connect with  #Bankers #Accountants #M&A #Valuation Experts #Advisors #PEs #VCs

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Proud to share the latest milestone resource created by the Canadian Purpose Economy Project. For all businesses who want take your purpose, and the impact you are creating, and share it with your customers, partners, investors, and team, we’ve launched the world’s first Guidance on Purpose Disclosures. Written by sustainability reporting pioneer and expert, Susan Todd, these guidelines offer practical advice for social purpose companies seeking to inform stakeholders about their purpose performance and progress. This is an opportunity to use this guidance to elevate your disclosures, build trust and customer loyalty, and attract capital, talent and partners to your impact agenda. Thank you to to Coro Strandberg and Tessa Vanderkop for leading the way, and to CPEP visionary partners for their support: BCLC, Coast Capital Savings, Co-operators, and TELUS. Access the Guidance here: https://bit.ly/4dRsR2X #purposegovernance #purpose #governance #socialpurpose #businessforgood #techforgood #impact #bethechange #whatinspiresme

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As a founder, have you ever been curious about this whole angel investing thing? This week's findfunding.vc spotlight is on an investor who's an expert in it you simply have to know: Matt Wilson, MBA from Allied Venture Partners. He: 🇨🇦 Is Calgary based 😇 Manages one of Canada's largest angle investor syndicates (now at 1,800+ members!) 🏒 Worked as a professional ice hockey referee, which he says shares remarkable similarities with investing Amongst founders, Matt Wilson, is known for bringing empathy and perspective as a former founder himself. Aside from financial support, his goal is to be the 'right' investor - one that aligns with a founder's vision, shares his network, and provides strategic insights when asked. ✉️ Make sure to pitch him, invest, scout, advise and more at https://linktr.ee/alliedvc For more, check out our funder spotlight card below along with Allied Venture Partners' profile on findfunding.vc (link in comments).

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🇨🇦OH CANADA! WARREN HINTS AT A "WE THE NORTH" BIG BET 🇨🇦 BRK ANNUAL MEETING a bit of a snooze fest; a few intriguing nuggets/ dropped hints of coming bets à la their Japan sogo shosha foray. I. GENERAL INSIGHTS (CASH HOARD, SUCCESSION, MACRO): * BRK propping up T auctions (see below) in lieu of foreign direct bidders; reallocating out of equities; but a sudden retracement of rates would sting * a triumvirate will take over from WB (as I posted Friday) with final veto power from CEO Abel on future new positions * WB sounded hoarse, off his game--mistaking CEO Abel for Munger (R.I. P.) * "USA gov owns BRK in part" ascribed to the 21% tax rate along w exhortations for other corporates to pay fair share of Federal taxes * "primary investments only in USA" core names AXP, KO, GEICO; the most important business of the BRK empire? Clearly, I N S U R A N C E * railcar loadings trending down (key macro economic indicator)--BRK exposed * his cryptic comments around Canada: WB has invested in the Great White North before. What is this new play? Probably Energy BEFORE SPECULATING FURTHER, notable highlights as follows: I. APPLE: "2024 SHARE DECLINES YTD PARTIALLY DUE TO BRK SALES" * $189bn cash hoard, invested in "T bills and chill"---awaiting a big bet; a net seller of equities * trimmed AAPL stake (by 13%. 115mn+ shares) to lock in gains < CapGains changes 2025; BRK trim fueled NASDAQ: AAPL recent 2024 declines * fears that AAPL is "losing its moat" in China, Europe as competition intensifies and EU regulatory "takes a bite"; Cook's $110bn buyback a propping up tactic? II. RISK, INSURANCE AND AI: * "USGov = BRK's largest shareholder" begs a Q: would it ever be nationalized? * increased insurance unit exposure to FL last year in the face of others leaving "at the end of the day, still possible to make a decent profit" (in FL) * "in future, largest AI growth industry will be scams"---WB does not understand it, but knows it is potentially dangerous as well as beneficial * self driving cars w AI could be an unknowable threat to BRK insurance cash engine, e.g. GEICO which is in urgent AI catch-up mode (data analytics gap) III. BRK ENERGY: * "we have the money and the knowledge" to win in Energy * rebuilding utilities for AI, data centers is a massive undertaking along with wildfire and other risks to power generation * CEO Abel spent inordinate time on Energy indicating that might be the big bet ----------------------------- NET, BRK MORPHED into a quasi universal bank (asset mgt/money market, credit cards and insurance) with candy and tech sprinkled on top. Insurance alone generates $300bn in revenue: world's biggest insurance company by far. James Eagle has a fascinating visualization on BRK evolution here: https://lnkd.in/gNNRKYJM #BRK #risk #warrenbuffet #strategy #activemanagement #energy

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Eli’s op-ed shares some critical insights into the declining number of entrepreneurial startups in Canada. His opinion is dead on. Financing is essential yet it is not enough. Mentoring, providing guidance and business knowledge to young entrepreneurs is essential to their success. We often look to government to provide solutions through funding, tax breaks, and other policy measures. However, private sources can, and should, play an important role in solving this problem. On this front, Coralus (https://www.coralus.world/) does an excellent job helping women entrepreneurs create successful startups. Their success rate is higher than many financial institutions. The reason why is the global network of Coralus’ members that select ventures for investment. They select for investment ventures specifically committed to enhancing economic and social benefit. Then they share their knowledge through guidance and mentorship because each member is committed to radical generosity and finding a better way forward. The Coralus network Is the village that supports the success of entrepreneurial women-led ventures. The model works. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have more groups adopting the Coralus model so together we can reshape and strengthen Canada’s economy to the benefit of all?

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The Globe and Mail should be embarrassed by this reporting. I'll let you be the judge of how they should have positioned the impact of the CGT changes on public company options, based on their own examples. They paint two scenarios: a "low level" executive and a c-suite executive, the first of which is granted 100K of option value and the second who gets 1M of option value. First, let's just put on the table that this "low level" executive getting 100K in options is probably making 2-300K a year. 100K in options in one year is a lot. That said, in their example, if the share price goes up as much as 60 percent during the four year hold period, neither executive pays additional tax. Not one cent. 60 percent over 4 years would be well above the historical compound growth rate of the TSX. So, the company did amazing, no tax impact. If the company does super-duper amazingly well - 150 percent growth over 4 years - the "low level" exec pays about 30K more in tax, the c-suite Exec pays 80K. 150 percent growth over 4 years would be among the best performing stocks in Canada, and each of these execs would be very wealthy, since they'd no doubt also been granted options every year since. The low level exec would be in the top 1 percent, the c-suite person likely approaching 0.1 percent. The headline? "Budget change for employee stock options bites lower level execs not CEOs." Their reason? Given the extraordinary (and highly unusual) performance in one scenario, where both execs are now very wealthy, the lower exec's taxes go up by a higher percentage that the higher exec. Even though it's still a much lower amount. Wow. It would be laughable if this wasn't supposed to be Canada's top business newspaper. Brutal.

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It was such an honor to share the stage with leaders, including Minister François-Philippe Champagne, who are making such a great impact in Canada and the world. I spoke about the massive opportunity and advantage Canada has to capitalize on the opportunities at the intersection of the 4 Global Disruptions we wrote about in our recent report, with the AI revolution being at the core of it. We have all the ingredients from a highly educated and diverse talent pool to abundant natural resources, to a thriving AI ecosystem enabled by organizations such as Scale AI. Canada's leaders just need the courage and foresight to use these strengths to our advantage. Link - https://lnkd.in/gJ9fs--y Mukul Ahuja, Niraj Dalmia, Nihar Dalmia, Aisha Greene, Audrey Ancion, Wiam Ben Karroum, Sébastien BlaisTim Christmann, Blaine Woodcock, Anthony Viel, Ariel Vinizki, Katie Watkins, Dan Markham, Shannon Lundquist, Georgina Black, James Gordon

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From a product marketing point of view, the Canadian federal government's decision to raise the capital gains tax from 50% to 66% is a terrible pricing decision. Price increases should reflect the growing cost of doing business to preserve margins for investment and profit. Decreasing the funds available for investment will result in product stagnation, shrinking markets, and declining productivity. The last thing Canada needs right now is another reason for capital flight. The least Ottawa can do is fast track the ability for individual investors to participate in equity rounds through crowdfunding to increase access to capital, which will be sorely needed to offset the decreased access caused by this change to capital gains taxation. Smarter people than me will have much better ideas. Bad move, Justin Trudeau Chrystia Freeland #canada #capitalgains #productivity #gdp #investinourfuture

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Brilliant! - Joe nails it! …for decades, my core suggestion to move Canada from resource to technology-based economy was to promote capital gains to be re-invested (100% Canada) tax-free IF executed within 1 year. clearly, more than "2/3rds" of the incumbents don't understand risk/reward or really, really like wood?!? ;> @canada @nacocanada #gdp #startup #brokenangels #joecanavan https://lnkd.in/gr8S59Fm Joe Canavan

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There's nothing I enjoy more than a meaningful conversation, especially with those who are committed to challenging the status quo to create what is even better. That's why I volunteered to lead the Toronto chapter of the Advance Innovation Society. It's a unique international network of high achievers, both corporate and entrepreneurial, who are committed to innovation themselves and to sharing their insights and experience with fellow innovators. You can discover more about the Advance here: https://lnkd.in/gg-Q-atR. Many of the Advance events are virtual, allowing members to participate in events and build networks around the world. We also meet in person locally or by visiting any of the chapters around the world. Last night, I held our monthly Toronto chapter event at #Verity, the wonderful private women's club in downtown Toronto. Although our last event was comprised mostly of men, this one was a group of remarkable women. Each one shared what compelled her to innovate and the difference it's made: a charity that educates and certifies girls to install solar roofing in Nigeria and beyond, even Afghanistan; going far "outside the box" to address soaring rates of pancreatic cancer by giving vital support to neglected firefighters and raise more funding for research in return; creating a new talent-related process in a multi-national that replaced both the existing one and those mismanaging it; creating a foundation to address those who often get misdiagnosed with Alzheimer's while also running a company that brings the wellness and balance of the Mediterranean lifestyle home and abroad; and an investor who only invests in disruptors because she admires those who have the courage to challenge the status quo. I know Toronto is filled with innovators. If you're one, come join us at next month's dinner on Tuesday, November 5th and get a taste of the Advance Innovation Society. You can register here: https://lnkd.in/gwHie5-p #Innovators; #Toronto; #AdvanceInnovationSociety; #Changemakers

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What If Alternatives Aren’t So Alternative? This is something most private market investors and family offices think about on a regular basis. There is a level of simplicity that has been built into the public markets that makes them accessible to almost everyone. This is not the case in the private markets and if it is simplified then it’s likely that you are the one left holding the bag while everyone else is exiting. That is the feature and where the returns are. That’s why I allow other family offices to participate in my deals at F Partners as sometimes they’re so weird and wonderful that the average investor thinks we’re all crazy. Read The Full Article Here: https://lnkd.in/eeF5DrxX #singlefamilyoffice #familyoffices #familyoffice #privateinvestor #privatemarkets

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I'm not the only one sounding the alarm on what is happening in our entrepreneurial ecosystem. Ryan Osten is someone that I worked with years ago in the auto industry. He's yelling, too. But we don't have the numbers we once did. "Twenty years ago, there was three Canadians in 1,000 every year becoming an entrepreneur," Pierre Cleroux, BDC's chief economist, told CBC News. "Now we're down to about one for every 1,000 people." 1 out of every 1,000 Canadians. Yet, entrepreneurs tip the skills where it matters: #JobCreation: Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), often led by entrepreneurs, account for a substantial portion of Canada's employment. SMEs employ approximately 70% of the private sector workforce. #Innovation: Entrepreneurs are pivotal in driving innovation across sectors. They introduce new products, services, and business models that stimulate economic growth and competitiveness. #GDP Contribution: SMEs contribute significantly to Canada's GDP. They represent about 99.8% of all businesses in Canada and contribute over 41% to the country's GDP. #RegionalDevelopment: Entrepreneurial activity often fosters regional development by creating economic opportunities outside major urban centers, thereby reducing economic disparities. #ExportGrowth: Many Canadian entrepreneurs engage in international trade, boosting export growth and enhancing Canada's economic ties with global markets. Overall, entrepreneurs and SMEs are vital to Canada's economic fabric, driving job creation, innovation, and economic diversification across the country. But we are losing them every day. What is going to happen when we stop yelling? What does 0 in 1,000 look like then? #founderjourney #funding #support #wakeup

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Spent a wonderful week in Canada with family! Now back to business.. Here's your weekly AI update: 🔙 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐬: 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐈 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤 Week 51 | August 5 - August 11 The OpenAI Brain Drain Industry: 🚨OpenAI co-founder John Schulman leaves for Anthropic; President Greg Brockman is taking extended leave through the end of year. What's interesting is that three of their most technical co-founders (Ilya Sutskever, John Schulman, Andrej Karpathy) have all left the company now. This then begs the question - is this a result of natural silicon-valley attrition, or is there something deeper going on here? And moreover, how will this impact the technical moat that OpenAI has built over the years? (https://lnkd.in/gztRKhwV) 🚨Google announced that new Gemini AI-powered features will be incorporated in a variety of home devices, such as Google Home and Nest (https://lnkd.in/gV2QacAQ?). It also announced a significant reduction in token cost of Gemini 1.5 Flash (https://lnkd.in/gbNe6yNU?) 🚨Figure releases Figure 02, it's newest humanoid robot. Figure has been actively testing robots with BMW at a manufacturing plant. Figure last raised $675M Series B in February 2024, valuing the company at $2.6 billion. (https://lnkd.in/gZnPSke4) 🚨Mark Zuckerberg said on Meta's Q2 earning call that to train Llama 4, the company will need 10x more compute than what was needed to train Llama 3. (https://lnkd.in/g5pEPrTw?) 🚨Elon Musk filed a lawsuit against Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, renewing claims that the company is betraying its founding aims of benefiting the public good rather than pursuing profits. (https://lnkd.in/gAk5grU6) Financing and M&A: 🚨Groq raises $640m in Series D at a $2.8B valuation. The round was led by Blackrock Private Equity Partners with participation from other investors such as Neuberger Berman, Type One Ventures, Cisco, KDDI, and Samsung Catalyst Fund. (https://lnkd.in/gRtKQKvW?) 🚨Hugging Face acquires Seattle data storage startup Xethub. The HF team plans to integrate Xethub's backend storage technology, enabling developers to host more large models and datasets than currently possible. CEO Clem Delangue 🤗 confirmed this was the largest acquisition the company has made thus far. (https://lnkd.in/g8fJ-BjT) 🚨OpenAI is leading a $60m Series B funding round for Opal Camera, a maker of professional-grade webcams(https://lnkd.in/gMT9dkTG) 🚨ProRata.ai a company that has invented an attribution technology to properly compensate content owners, has raised a $25m Series A, led by Prime Movers Lab, Mayfield Fund and Revolution Ventures. (https://lnkd.in/gumjbWmj) R&D: 🚨Alibaba Group releases Qwen2-math, a SOTA model for math-specific tasks. (https://lnkd.in/g8Jh3M7T?) Other Interesting Resources: 🚨 Between May and August, more Humane AI Pins were returned than purchased (https://lnkd.in/gy56qpKm?). 😯

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It seems to me that the question should be ... can incubators identify/create/support/augment exceptional companies - who cares if they are just good at supporting more average or worse yet underperforming companies - We should be focused on the exceptional outliers and the encouraging part was the note "The highest revenue-generating startups were the exception, posting slightly more than non-BAI firms, but only in 2020" but .... unfortunately those positive revenue signals might have zero to do with the incubators and everything to do with access to a capital and a willingness/ability in 2020 to spend it on revenue capital at any cost. The other problem with this kind of a study is revenue is a MEANINGLESS metric for biotech companies. How the authors measured success/impact in this segment of the market would be of interest as I suspect access to wet labs, shared equipment and facilities, and in some cases corporate strategics should be highly accretive to these kinds of companies.

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Entrepreneurs! Ready, Set... READ THIS PAPER... and then Go! The tough questions (and some easy ones) you have to be ready for before you ask a VC to invest and increase your odds of success. #startups #entrepreneur #cofounder #vc #venturecapital #funding #startupfunding #investor #pitch

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