MediaMiser lands a cool Mil!

Yesterday local news aggregator and awesomator MediaMiser announced that it closed a million dollar in financing from the BDC and RBC.

From startup CEO Brett Serjeantson:

“This funding isn’t needed to keep the doors open,” stated Brett Serjeantson, MediaMiser’s chief executive officer and chief technology officer. “Rather, it’s needed so we can blow the doors off.”

What are they going to do with all that money in the bank?  They claim to be hiring 15 new staff to help drive more business.  But StartupOttawa insiders know that they’ve recently hired local newsy celebrity Jim Donnelly (formerly of the OBJ) and we also know that a million dollars will barely cover his annual expense account.

Still – it may be a good time to clean up the CV on Linkedin…

TiEQuest 2011- $150k in Cash Prizes

If you’re a startup looking to raise some startup capital, then it might be a good idea for you to start participating in a few Business Plan Competitions. TiEQuest 2011 has just started accepting applications and they are giving away ~$150,000 worth of prizes. On top of all of the prizes to be won, you’ll also benefit from getting some visibility with investors (VCs & Angels), potential partners and customers.

TiEQuest is a great opportunity for startups and is less restrictive in it’s requirements than most business plan competitions…You don’t have to have students on your team and don’t have to have a “tech” business in order to participate in TiEQuest… i.e. lifestyle businesses are welcome to apply as well.

TiEQuest is also well known for doing a great job at assigning mentors to teams that participate. They have a large pool of mentors to choose from and will do their best to match your team to a mentor that is experienced in your industry.

Time is limited so apply today! => http://tiequest.org/

Raising Venture Capital for Tech Startups

As an Advisor to SIFE Carleton (Students in Free Enterprise), I’m thrilled and proud to share with you an event that they have helped put together with Lead2Win and Carleton University

 Here’s the details! You won’t want to miss this exciting talk for students, faculty, and Ottawa-area entrepreneurs.

Raising Venture Capital for Technology Start-ups

Raising capital for your technology start-up can be an exhilarating experience—or an utter disappointment.  Why do some start-ups raise capital with ease while others have a long, drawn-out experience that never seems to get to the finish line?  Once the capital is raised, then the real work begins.

Meet speakers David Aronoff, Flybridge Capital Partners, and Carleton alumnus Charles Chi, Greylock Partners and Executive Chairman of Refocus Imaging, California, whose 30 years of combined experience in venture capital and start-ups will provide unique insights into this challenging issue. 

Tuesday, October 5, 2010
9:00 – 10:00 am
Carleton University, Loeb C164

The event is free of charge. To register, please e-mail: judy_cardo@carleton.ca or call (613) 520-2600 x1897 by October 4, 2010. 

Looking for cash for your startup? How about 100k

Received this from Ramzi Asfour information from the Queens’s School of Business, 2010 Tricolour Venture Fund which is awarding seed financing to startups:

I’m looking for new venture companies to participate in the Queen’s School of Business 2010 Tricolour Venture Fund program.  The Tricolour Venture Fund is both a hands-on learning tool for MBA students and a source of investment funding for early stage, technology-oriented companies.  MBA students participating in the program evaluate and perform due-diligence on companies targeted for investment by the fund.  At the end of the course, students make an investment recommendation for the fund.  Any company recommended for investment will be eligible to receive up to $150K in funding.

Some information is available here:

http://www.parteqinnovations.com/iandi-venture.html

The National Post also has an article about the program here:

http://www.nationalpost.com/related/topics/story.html?id=2069502&p=3

My role with the fund is to source, organize, and coordinate early stage companies seeking investment.  I want to compile a list of companies that are interested in participating in the program.  My initial list of companies will be set by mid February.  A filtered list will be passed on to the students by early March.  Pitch presentations and due diligence work by the students will occur around mid to late March with the final investment recommendations submitted in early April.

Interested companies are to send me a brief overview of their company and business plan.  Any brief document that they send to investment groups will be good.

I can be reached here:

Ramzi Asfour
rasfour@business.queensu.ca
613.533.3433