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IT S A - AC / DC LONG WAY TO THE TOP If you want to rock, and grow an innovative community. 2
INSIDE Letter from the President & CEO and Chair venturelab Five Years of Growth Accomplishments IBM Innovation Space - Markham Convergence Centre IBM Innovation Incubator (I3) Project venturelab 2.0 Creating a New Culture Our Team and Champions Emerging Clusters 3
venturelab 2.0 BUT WHAT S IN A NUMBER? Letter from the President & CEO and Chair This past February venturelab turned six years old. Six years since being launched into the Ontario Network of Entrepreneurs. In that time we have served over 1,500+ entrepreneurs from one of the most vibrant tech ecosystems in Ontario. It is this ecosystem that s home to over 4,400+ ICT firms, is Canada s largest tech supercluster per-capita, and Canada s largest Enterprise Solutions ICT cluster. Also, home to 4IBM s largest software development lab outside the U.S, and, ranked top tech growth hub in Canada. Pretty impressive, eh? We are proud to be a part of this innovation community! And just as our region has seen tremendous growth, so too has venturelab. Our merry band of disruptors has grown in an effort to better connect and support our growing start-up, scale-up and homegrown success stories. Stories like ATI, a semi-conductor company, founded here in Markham and exited to AMD in 2006. Platform Computing, also founded in Markham and exited to IBM in 2012. Both of these exits were in the billions and created massive shareholder wealth. Our aim is to continue to ensure that our region is the brightest, best connected and most supportive in Ontario for tech entrepreneurs in an effort to create more stories like these.
This past year we took on our biggest opportunity yet and teamed up with IBM Canada and the City of Markham to create the IBM Innovation Space Markham Convergence Centre. We have built a first of its kind, technology accelerator inside IBM Canada s headquarters here in Markham to connect the best and brightest tech talent to the enterprise cluster of tech companies resident in York Region. Through this partnership, we can now offer our member companies unprecedented access to IBM talent and technology, in an effort to scale and develop more homegrown success stories here at home! venturelab 2.0. is a new organization, reimagined by our founding stakeholders, with an army of disruptors ready and well-positioned to take advantage of the incredible opportunities our region has. We are proud of our work, of our team, of our stakeholders, of our Board of Directors and most importantly, of the brave and inspirational entrepreneurs that we serve. On behalf of our entire team, thank you for another exceptional year! We re just getting started. Karna Gupta Chair of the Board Jeremy Laurin President and Chief Executive Officer 5
HELP! I NEED - The Beatles SOMEBODY! Not just anybody (or anything), we need to build a strong foundation that helps entrepreneurs! 6
FIVE YEARS OF GROWTH In the past five years, venturelab has tripled in size and served over 1500 entrepreneurs. The team has worked diligently to bring together an ecosystem that embraces, supports and celebrates entrepreneurship, developing partnerships along the way that have rippled beyond our expectations. We are honoured to be a part of many success stories, with each year bringing new opportunities that continue to support our development, and the development of our community. 7
8 venturelab 2016 AND BEYOND
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10 BECAUSE - Pharell Williams I M HAPPY! Clap along if you re excited about delivering results that contribute to the economy and community!
WE RAISED CAPITAL Whether funding is obtained through grant programs, pitch competitions, crowdfunding or our GENESIS program, we help our ventures find financial support as they grow. TOTAL 2016 FUNDS RAISED $20.7M $7.7M GENESIS $13M OTHER The GENESIS team works with selected ventures to syndicate investment opportunities broadly and ensure that the right amount of capital is raised at the right time, supporting long-term sustainable growth objectives. We achieve this by focusing efforts on assisting companies to build an initial case for investment, providing support through the due diligence process and working collaboratively with management and prospective investors. 2016 GENESIS PIPELINE COMPANIES SELECTED 11 COMPANIES APPLIED 20 FUNDS RAISED $7.7M TOTAL SINCE 2012 $37,723,590 11
WE SET OUT FOR BIG RESULTS IN HEALTH venturelab has seen the number of high potential healthcare ventures in its innovation portfolio triple in the last two years, with more than 270 companies working directly with health system organizations in York Region. The strong collaboration amongst healthcare stakeholders and their ability to test, pilot and adopt new technologies has created significant opportunities for venturelab companies. Our Health Cluster initiative focuses on a Continuum of Care: Better Care Closer to Home. With the support of an agile and connected ecosystem, our goal is to help companies get further faster. Hospitals Campus Accelerators Health Hubs Long Term Care Health Centres Smart City Leaders Post-Secondary Ventures Established Companies Agencies Organizations Thought Leaders Private Care Municipalities 12
WE ACHIEVED GREAT OUTCOMES venturelab spearheaded and partnered on a number of impactful external events and initiatives. The Health Ecosphere Innovation Pipeline with Southlake Regional Health Centre led to collaborative projects with venturelab entrepreneurs. Collision Days with Markham-Stouffville Hospital helped develop no less than twelve potential partnerships and MedEdge, saw over 550 attendees discuss the potential of our region s health cluster. This has resulted in more than $15 million of direct investments in 2016 through public grants and equity investments in the ventures working with the Health Innovation Cluster. 45% of venturelab entrepreneurs are in the health sector $15M funding and investment secured for health innovation clients 10 in-market ventures piloted with venturelab s hospital partners through FedDev HEALTH TECHNOLOGY EXCHANGE (HTX) GRANTS 3 of 5 provincial grants to venturelab entrepreneurs CANADIAN INSTITUTE OF HEALTH RESEARCH (CIHR) 2 of 8 national awards on youth mental health $1M+ each PROVINCIAL EMBEDDED EXECUTIVE GRANTS 2 of 3 provincial grants to venturelab entrepreneurs 13
WE CONTRIBUTED TO OUR COMMUNITY communitybuild was founded by a group of partners advocating for social enterprise and global solutions. As the lead partner, venturelab developed program delivery for a speaker series, pitch competition and two-day design lab, culminating in an accelerator and incubator. At communitybuild s heart is a community of mission-driven entrepreneurs focused on addressing major social issues and developing a social innovation ecosystem, on a local and global scale. FOUNDING PARTNERS SPEAKER SERIES 14 FIVE EVENTS GENERATE COMMUNITY SOCIAL IMPACT CROWDFUNDING B-CORP FINANCING EXPONENTIAL IMPACT 108 ATTENDEES SOCIAL VENTURE PIPELINE PITCH COMPETITION 26 APPLIED INTERVIEWS 18 8 PITCHES WINNERS 5 12 WEEK ACCELERATOR 4.5MONTH INCUBATOR
WE ADVOCATED FOR SOCIAL CHANGE Blueprint is an element of communitybuild that employs design thinking principles, facilitating the sharing of ideas related to a social issue affecting a particular community. Packaged in a two day event, participants learn how to use design thinking processes to approach challenges in their communities and create unique solutions. In 2016, Blueprint looked at affordable housing in York Region and four teams went on to work with challenge champions to implement solutions. 2 DAYS 3 CHALLENGES 13 TEAMS 4 WINNERS ORGANIZING PARTNERS CHAMPION ORGANIZATIONS 15
DON T STOP BELIEVIN! - Journey Hold on to that passion you have to build a support network for entrepreneurs and innovators! 16
WE SET A PRECEDENT FOR EXCELLENCE venturelab was selected as one of five innovation centres across Ontario to lead an arm of the IBM Innovation Incubator (I3) Project. The project will accelerate the adoption of advanced technologies by SMEs and provide direct support to entrepreneurs that are building their ventures. divided among 5 incubators Bluemix Watson Analytics IBM Health Cloud Soft Landing Funding Supports $5K IBM Global Partner and Client Channels TWO YEARS $360,000 venturelab support: THE GOAL 500 ONTARIO SMEs INCUBATED 2600 ONTARIO JOBS CREATED BUSINESS STRATEGIES SALES CHANNELS PROCUREMENT STRATEGIES 17
WE EXPANDED 2015 2016 18 In December 2015 we started a conversation that led to our move into the Canadian headquarters of IBM and the creation of the IBM Innovation Space - Markham Convergence Centre in 2016.
venturelab spearheaded the initiative, incorporating all of the elements of our thriving innovation ecosystem such as academic and government partners to provide best-in-class support to entrepreneurs. c c MARKHAM CONVERGENCE CENTRE We created an 18,000 square foot hub and collaborative space located in the building with access to entrepreneur support all in one place. Within two months of occupancy, the tenant space sold out, making way for phase two of the hub and an additional 15,000 square feet. 19
WE DELIVERED PROGRAM OUTCOMES 1914 MENTOR HOURS 40 EVENTS WORKSHOPS PROGRAMS 478 COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE HOURS VENTURE SUCCESSES $11.5M REVENUE 89 MILESTONES 261 EMPLOYEES $20M RAISED 20
NEW ENTREPRENEURS 122 13 64 19 17 DIGITAL MEDIA & ICT FINANCIAL SERVICES LIFE SCIENCES & ADVANCED HEALTH FOOD & BEVERAGE ADVANCED MATERIALS & MANUFACTURING 399 20 CLEAN TECH 3 AGRI-TECH 109 OTHER 6 TOURISM & CULTURE 26 EDUCATION 21
THEN I SAW - The Monkees 22 YOUR FACE, NOW I M A BELIEVER! Not a trace of doubt in our minds that we can tackle anything now, with our amazing team and supporters!
venturelab 2.0 venturelab continuously strives to build a culture of community, teamwork and personal growth. Our entrepreneurs inspire and motivate each of us to achieve our mission to build high-growth, innovative, scalable businesses. As a team, we push each other every day to continue to grow. Each experience our stakeholders have with venturelab is shaped by our values. Welcome to venturelab 2.0. RESPONSIVE GENUINE ATTUNED 23
OUR TEAM We are excited to announce changes in venturelab s organization for 2017. The new structure is a critical catalyst that drives our transformation to deliver rapid growth and significant economic impact at an accelerated pace. This will enable venturelab to continue to curate a world-class technology and innovation commercialization hub. By leveraging top talent, state-of-the-art resources and a connected ecosystem, we will enable entrepreneurs to get further faster. We look forward to this new phase of our growth! Jeremy Laurin President & Chief Executive Officer Melissa Chee Chief Operating Officer Rob Hall Vice President, Finance & Administration Janet Elwood Director, Administration 24 Mike Betts Vice President, Venture Services Teresa Chow Manager, Finance Rob Cattle, Director, Ecosystem Engagement & Programs Chris Cory Venture Services, Senior Analyst
Heather Crosbie Venture Services, Senior Analyst Mayavan Raja Manager, Innovation Space Justine Kintanar Director, External Relations Jane Gertner Vice President, Partnerships & External Relations Paul Rivett Director, Network Partnerships Mercedeh Andalibi Director, Impact Rachel Azagury Vice President, Culture & Experience Emily Milling Manager, Creative & Digital Marketing Jonathon Shore Director, Communications Lisa Shi Manager, Ecosystem Development Jeremy O Krafka Venture Services Senior Analyst 25
OUR CHAMPIONS Our board champions advocate for the growth and development of venturelab throughout their respective communities and industries. Helping us achieve new heights of success, through initiatives like the development of our health cluster and strategizing on the elevation of the venturelab brand. 26 Karna Gupta, Chair Janet Beed Stephen Chait Peter Pekos Sarah Prevette Robert Haché Scott MacCannell Anthony Gallo Ross Pellizzari Janet Bannister Doug Lindeblom David Agnew Dave Williams Paul Bradley Andrew Wilkes
OUR PARTNERS MEMBERS PARTNERS 27
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IT S THE EYE - Survivor OF THE TIGER. It s the thrill of making an impact. 30
WE ARE TAKING CHARGE OF OUR FUTURE Over the next year, venturelab will champion the intersection and collaboration of homegrown success stories and multinationals to create globally competitive organizations fueling economic growth, job creation and talent attraction across Canada. Our region, focused on deep technology infrastructure, is home to the best and brightest entrepreneurs, researchers, thought leaders and global industry players such as IBM, AMD, Qualcomm, Magna, Honda and GM Canada s new Canadian Technical Centre for autonomous vehicles. We compel our stakeholders to measure us against these statements and help us drive change through the opportunities that lie ahead. This is venturelab 2.0. 31
32 Find us at: IBM Innovation Space - Markham Convergence Centre 3600 Steeles Ave. E. Markham, ON L3R 9Z7 905.248.2727 www.venturelab.ca hello@venturelab.ca @venturelabca