Venture capital site promises secure, private meeting space for new media ideas

Four Canadian entrepreneurs – including a former CRTC commissioner – are creating virtual meetings rooms on the Internet for new media producers and venture capitalists. Launched Sept. 14, VentureToronto.com is the second such Canadian portal to hit the web this year under the Ventureality.com banner. The first went live this spring in Alberta, and two more are scheduled to launch next month in Ottawa and Dallas. The Partners Behind VentureToronto.comRandy Thompsonpresident/CEOSteve Csorbaaa Smithsonian-award-winning multimedia designerPeter SenchukA former CRTC commissioner from AlbertaBob Vergidispresident of DevStudios Inc, an Edmonton-based ecommerce technology incubator"In Alberta, our pool right now is 48 investors with $690 million in private capital. That’s a good place to go hang out," says Randy Thompson, president and CEO of VentureToronto.com. "We don’t think it’s going to be too long before Toronto is there. I think we just crossed over 11 (investors), and we’re at about $240 million in capital in Toronto." Thompson says the funding crisis facing new media companies in Canada isn’t the result of a shortage of private venture capital. Rather, he says the problem lies in bringing content producers and financiers together in a productive setting. Thompson decided to get into the matchmaking game after shopping a concept for broadband new media around the VC community. As a principal of Khyber Pass with exclusive rights to the multimedia offerings of rocker Peter Gabriel, he found the pitch sessions tedious and inefficient. Now, he and three other principals have started a virtual meeting place for capitalists and entrepreneurs that promises a secure and anonymous environment to promote projects and listen to ideas. Investors that want to participate on the site pay a $50 registration fee, and are subject to a background check with Dunn & Bradstreet and the Ontario Securities Commission. The are also screened for a criminal record. Potential investors state the types of investments they’re looking to make, and at what level of financial participation. Entrepreneurs can pitch their ideas for $250 each. After filling out a detailed questionnaire about their idea, they are given access to the identities of those investors who have expressed interest in the idea. Once that identification is made, investee and investor can decide to move forward. Thompson maintains the risk of abuse is minimal. "The investor comes on and he does a filtering by clearing our legal checks and identifying what level he wants to do financing at. But, at the end of the day, it’s up to the entrepreneur to decide whether the (he or she) sends that plan or not…. "Our job is to create a table, put chairs around the table and let people come and talk to one another. Very early in the process people know whether they want to get serious or not. Our job is to give you a place where you can come, pitch an idea safely, and identify people who have said, ‘we want to look at your pitch.’ Beyond that, it’s ‘buyer beware’." Thompson says the portal won’t cater to the multimedia community exclusively. While it will be a focus, and has been extensively supported by Interactive Multimedia Arts and Technologies (IMAT), the site will try to put capital and ideas together wherever demand exists – an important consideration given the volatility of tech markets since this spring’s TSE and NASDAQ meltdowns. "I think we’re going to go through a restructuring…. But does that mean the capital’s dried up? It probably means that people like you and I, if we have fifty grand, probably haven’t walked down to our local (venture capitalist) and dropped it into his lap. Maybe the next big trend will be direct investment. Maybe it will be limited partnerships. We don’t know, but the money’s still there." This year and next, he predicts trendy investments will include new media, wireless application protocol and other information technologies. "The cool part about an Internet site like this is we’re not rigid. We can remain fluid. The trends will dictate where the money is going, but the money will still be available through our site." VentureToronto.com doesn’t expect to generate tens of millions of dollars in revenue from the venture, though Thompson says $6 million per year isn’t unreasonable as the service grows in popularity and expands into Ottawa and Dallas in November. Each site is run as a franchise with cost savings made possible by re-using the basic software engine.

Venture capital site promises secure, private meeting space for new media ideas

News | 10/04/2000 4:00 am EDT

To keep reading, get a free trial.

Already a Subscriber?

Reuse & Permissions

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us