2. Innovacorp Strategic Goal
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.
3. Innovacorp Strategy
Innovacorp delivers business development support, venture capital investment
and incubation to Nova Scotia companies in early stages of development.
4. Why Venture Capital?
• 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
5. Why Incubate?
• 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.
6. Why Provide Support?
• 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.
7. Innovation ecosystem
Clients take advantage of ecosystem that includes opportunities for networking,
mentoring, customer acquisition, business development and funding.
8. 8
Venture Capital Operations
• 7 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 don’t invest in; help with navigation to other
support resources
Inv.
Source Screen DD Deal Close Mentor
Proc.
9. 9
Case Study : GoInstant
• 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
