Post on 08-May-2015
description
transcript
Angels and Academia:
Combining Two Worlds
Jonathan Rose
Professor, University of Toronto
Founding Member, Maple Leaf Angels
Toronto is a Hotbed of Entrepreneurship
Recently ranked as 4th Best Tech Hub in World
City has many advantages
– Size, dynamic economy; great education; peace
– Amazing diversity that connects it to the world
– Financial Centre
– Great University
(2)
Making it Better
One thing the even-better eco systems have:
– Strong connection between early-stage investors and University
– Compare to Stanford/Berkeley in Silicon Valley
– MIT/Harvard & Boston environment
Purpose Today:
– Describe this University to Maple Leaf Angel Investors
– Describe MLA to faculty & students in this University
– How bringing us together, can make it better
(3)
The University of Toronto
(4)
U of T Key Facts
67,339 Undergraduates
15,817 Graduate students
11,000 Faculty
$1.2B research funding
2nd-highest # pubs in the world
Commercializes more research
– than any other University in
Canada & among top in world
Many world-leaders
(5)
Professor Sorin Voinigescu
World-leading high-speed Analog
circuit designer
Regularly sets records for highest
frequency data transmission
Member of group that ‘predicts’
Moore’s law
Co-founder, Quake Technologies
– Another startup on the go
Recently working on 800GHz+
imaging
(6)
Computer Science Machine Learning
Machine learning has come to the fore in the last
decade, with particular interest in the analysis of big data
– UofT has one top Machine Learning groups in the world
Geoff Hinton
– ‘Godfather of neural networks’
– DNNresearch recently acquired by Google
Craig Boutilier
– Expert in decision making under uncertainty
– Presenting here today - Granata
(7)
Professor Moshe Eizenman
World-leading expert in Eye Tracking
– applied to aircraft simulators & driver alertness
– About to become huge in many other applications
• e.g. diagnosis of depression
– Eyes are the window to the soul!
(8)
Professor Joyce Poon
Rising star in optoelectronic devices for
high-performance communication
– Coupling-Modulated Microrings
– Hybrid high-speed coupling-modulated lasers
– Silicon nitride on SOI photonics
Participating in Startup
(9)
Goals and Language of Academia
Bottom line is to generate knowledge, insight, wisdom
– and people!
Time horizon is much longer than industry
Language is different
– ‘Translation’ – medical word for actually using medical research
Publish or Perish?
– But there are many who deeply care about having meaningful
impact in their field & world
A subset of academics are looking to startups
– Either directly or through graduate students
(10)
Commercialization and Entrepreneurship
The University has many activities underway
– Each take different perspective
(11)
UTESTJOL
T
Creative Destruction Lab
Mission:
– To create a dynamic learning environment for university-affiliated
entrepreneurs
Goal:
– Generate $50M in equity value within five years ++
Method:
– High-powered mentors; hard deliverables or get kicked out
One of the great ideas from fertile mind of Professor Ajay
Agrawal, Rotman
(12)
Creative Destruction: G7 Fellows
Dennis
Bennie
Daniel
Debow
Nick
Koudas
Tomi
Poutanen
Dan
Shimmerman
Lee Lau
Nigel
Stokes
The Engineering Hatchery
Goal: Fifteen Years from now, we will be able to point to a
number of very successful entrepreneurs, and say that they
had a formative and enabling experience in the Hatchery
We do this by having them create real business ideas,
some of which do turn into live startups
Joseph Orozco, Executive Director
(14)
Techno (Impact Centre)
Goal: turn revolutionary knowledge from the University
swiftly into products that benefit society
Trains graduate students in the basics of starting a
business
Houses an Incubator
One of several dynamic efforts from Professor Cynthia
Goh, Dept. Chemistry
– A serial entrepreneur
(15)
Other Efforts
JOLT
– Part of MARs Discovery District
UTEST
– From UofT Innovations & Partnerships
Next 36
– From Rotman & many other folks
Not enough time to describe!
(16)
Maple Leaf Angels
Investment Group
(17)
What is an Angel Group?
A Group of accredited investors that join together
– To jointly view opportunities to invest in early stage companies
– Willing to take risks
Individuals make their own investment decisions
– But the group creates infrastructure for groups of investors to
invest at the same time
– Individuals would invest $10K-$50K at a time
– The group as a whole might invest $250K - $400K
(18)
How Maple Leaf Angels Works
1. Early-Stage Companies apply to group
– Through web page or contacts within the group
2. Applications are reviewed
– By Director
– By Investment Review Committee
– Criterion:
• Fit within field of group
• Best opportunities to succeed!
3. Each month, 2-3 selected to pitch to group
– Will see 3 of these today
(19)
The Key Question After Presentation
Who is interested to Explore further?
– This question will be asked today, after all non-members leave
4. If there is interest among members, follow-on meetings
– To pursue deeper questioning
5. With sufficient interest, due diligence begins
– Deeper dive on quality of technology, people, company
(20)
Investment!
6. If result is good, negotiation!
– Over the pre-money valuation of the company
– How much money is sought
7. Investment
– Investment contracts signed
– Money paid!
(21)
Post-Investment
Some investors become board members
Advice and mentoring ensues
Communication between company and investors
maintained
– Investors continuously help companies
– May be more than one ‘round’ of early stage investment
(22)
Maple Leaf Angel Typicals
Startups based in Toronto & surrounding area
Seed and Early Stage companies
Total investment ranges from $250K to $1M
Pre-money valuation range $1M to $4M
– How is valuation determined?
Focus Areas:
– Information and Communication Technology
– Medical Technology
– Clean Technology
– Financial Services
(23)
Sentient Magnetic
22 Investments since 2007
Total Invested: $9.6 Million +
Investment History of MLA
Investments in 2012-2013 Year
Total Inbound Investment Requests: 250+
Number of Investments: 4
Total Group investment: ~ $2.73M
Total Follow on Investment: ~$2.5M
Total investment led by MLA in 2012-13: $5.25M
(25)
Sentient Magnetic
Successful Exits
4 Successful Exits
Follow on Funding: $20 Million
(26)
Acquired by
NASDAQ IPO
(MOTR)
NASDAQ IPO
(AMRS)
Secondary
Offering
(MMC.V)
Value of Angel Group to Startups
Investment
Mentoring – including prior to investment
Feedback from investor perspective
Networking/connections
(27)
Where Do Academics Fit In?
1. Start Companies, come pitch!
2. Participate in diligence as experts
3. Make connections for students
Viz: Band of Angels in Silicon Valley
– Has ‘book’ of 100+ diligence experts from the Valley
– Both local Director-level and Academic
(28)