Continuing with the shout-outs to the entrepreneurs in whom we’ve invested recently ……

Marc Lefrancois and Marek Krepec at Oneeko have recently (beta) launched the upgraded version of their software solution that enables "click-to-collaborate" screen sharing with the utmost simplicity.

We also have two previously unannounced investments.

Whatsnexx (no website yet) is building it’s business from some technology and talent that has been spun out of TSX listed Komunik. The software is still in development and more info will follow as the company comes out of development.

Yona Shtern and Robert Gold are the Founders of Beyond the Rack, Canada’s answer to Gilt or Vente Privée. The company offers its online members luxury brand clothing and accessories, via limited time "flash sale" events. This business model has proven to be extremly successful in Europe – to the point that we were able to attract european co-investors to invest "across the ditch".

With all this activity we had better spend some time putting our own pitch together so that we have some more money to invest in these "opportunity" filled times !

We’ve been pretty quiet on the blogging front recently. Whilst I can assure you that doesn’t mean we haven’t been doing anything – perception is reality !

The truth is that we’ve already made two more investments this year – giving us a total of 10 companies in our portfolio – and if we keep this rate up we will have invested our first fund in about six more months !

Most of our companies are still in development or beta so we aren’t trying to raise their profile yet but but over the next few days I’m going to give a quick shout-out to the companies we have backed so far.

To get the ball rolling i’ll start with the companies that we have announced:

Standout Jobs has developed a Saas platform that powers and centralizes companies’ online recruiting efforts. The company is being driven by Montreal tech community activists (Instigators) Ben Yoskovitz and Fred Ngo.

Akoha is a developer of online and real-world social games designed to make the world a better place. Alex Eberts and Austin Hill (the quiet guy in the background ) are Akoha’s Founders.

We quietly announced our investment in Evan Prodromou’s latest startup Identi.ca. Having started both Wikitravel and Vinisimo, Evan has proven his abilities to build communities and execute open source/collaborative projects.

And here are a couple more of our yet to launch investments:

Keenkong is currently in private beta so why don’t you sign up to keep posted of developments. The company’s CEO, Olivier Berger, is bringing his six sigma training to the startup world – watch this space.

The Book Oven is also in private beta but it wouldn’t take a genius to work out that Stephanie Troeth and Hugh McGuire’s latest startup has something to do with books – it looks like they are working on something very appetizing!

Whilst doom and gloom may be all around us, we continue to be excited by the entrepreneurs we meet and by the strength of their ideas – and we are happy to keep funding the best of them ! 

There will be more shout-outs next week.

It has been a busy few months behind the scenes at MSU and we’re really pleased that we are able to make the following announcement:

Montreal Start Up, a venture investor dedicated to supporting Montreal based entrepreneurs in their quest to create and build successful companies, today announced the closing of a $2 million investment in its venture capital fund by the Solidarity Fund QFL, bringing to $5M the amount of assets under management.

This extra $2,000,000 GUARANTEES that more Montreal entrepreneurs are going to get funded ! We would really like to thank Janie Béïque, Luc Couture at the Solidarity Fund QFL, as well as Jacques Bernier, for their support in making this happen.

Nous avons été très occupés ces derniers mois et en voici une des raisons:

Démarrage Montréal, un spécialiste du capital d’amorçage, dont la mission est d’appuyer les entrepreneurs montréalais qui bâtissent les succès de demain, a aujourd’hui annoncé avoir reçu du Fonds de solidarité FTQ un investissement de 2 millions $ dans son fonds de capital de risque, ce qui porte à 5 millions $ les actifs gérés par l’entreprise.

Ces 2,000,000$ de plus, garantissent que plus d’entrepreneurs montréalais vont recevoir des fonds! Nous aimerions remercier Janie Béïque et Luc Couture du Fonds de solidarité FTQ, ainsi que Jacques Bernier, pour leur aide à réaliser cet investissement.

Le fonds bénéficiera de l’appui d’une vingtaine d’anges financiers et d’entrepreneurs montréalais qui ont réussi dans le domaine.

MONTREAL, Québec, 10 mars 2008 – Montreal Start Up, un spécialiste du capital de démarrage, dont la mission est d’appuyer les entrepreneurs montréalais qui bâtissent les succès de demain, a aujourd’hui annoncé le lancement d’un premier fonds de capital de risque de $3 millions, le Fonds-Soutien Montréal s.e.c. Parmi les investisseurs, on dénombre une vingtaine d’entrepreneurs et investisseurs montréalais qui ont connu du succès en affaires et l’appui considérable d’Investissement Québec.

Depuis 2005, près de $3 milliards de nouveaux capitaux ont été injectés dans l’industrie du capital de risque québécois; cependant, très peu de ressources sont allouées au financement et mentorat des jeunes entreprises. Le résultat final est que très peu de compagnies sont prêtes à recevoir du capital de risque et la plupart de ces nouveaux fonds ne sont toujours pas investis.

Démarrage Montréal investira temps et argent exclusivement auprès des jeunes entreprises. Elle mettra l’expertise que ses investisseurs ont accumulé en technologies de l’information, communications et medias au service des entrepreneurs qui bâtissent les succès de demain sur Internet, dans le sans-fil ou en multimédia.

“Bien que le Québec ne manque pas de capital de risque, Montreal Start Up se démarque en intervenant exclusivement à la phase de démarrage des entreprises. C’est une période où l’entrepreneur a autant besoin de conseillers de confiance que d’argent”, dit René Bousquet, associé chez Trio Capital et investisseur dans le fonds. “L’encadrement et l’appui financier initial du fonds permettront aux entrepreneurs de lancer leur compagnie et de valider son potentiel commercial. Ils seront ainsi en meilleure position pour obtenir du financement des fonds de capitaux de risque traditionnels.”

Austin Hill, un entrepreneur et ange financier qui siège sur le comité d’investissement de Démarrage Montréal, ajoute “Le logiciel libre, l’informatique sur demande et les outils de développement modernes font que beaucoup de jeunes entreprises sont capables de démontrer la viabilité de leur offre de service à partir d’un investissement initial modeste ».

“Si l’on veut collaborer étroitement avec des entreprises en démarrage, il est important de bien comprendre leur réalité” a dit John Stokes, associé principal chez Montreal Start Up, “Notre équipe de gestion et notre comité consultatif sont composés d’entrepreneurs chevronnés. C’est cette expérience que nous désirons mettre au service des entrepreneurs afin de les aider à bâtir la prochaine génération de compagnies montréalaises qui rayonneront mondialement. »

Jean-Sébastien Cournoyer, de Vantage Point Venture Partners et membre du conseil d’administration de Démarrage Montréal explique l’importance de la structure du fonds : « Dans les pôles technologiques les plus innovants, une partie importante du financement et du mentorat provient d’entrepreneurs devenus anges financiers suite à leur réussite en affaires. Historiquement, cette culture de réinvestissement a été faible à Montréal; la ville n’a donc pas profité des bienfaits qu’un pont entre les générations pouvait offrir. Cependant, le fait que des entrepreneurs appuient ce fonds de Démarrage Montréal montre que la culture d’investissement de notre ville évolue ».

Démarrage Montréal entend former des partenariats avec d’autres intervenants du milieu, tels les anges financiers, afin de former des consortium d’investissement et pour accompagner les jeunes compagnies jusqu’à ce qu’elles puissent être financées par les autres fonds de capitaux de risque québécois, créant ainsi des opportunités pour les capitaux non investis.

Les associés et conseillers de Montreal Start Up ont fondé ou occupé des rôles clés chez Terrascale, Microcell, Télésystème, AskMen.com, Génération Flash, RadialPoint, Canoë.ca, BCE, Nortel FremantleMedia, Rogers et Hewlett Packard entre autres. Les associés sont John Stokes, Alan MacIntosh, Jean-Sebastien Cournoyer, Austin Hill et Daniel Drouet.

À propos de Montreal Start Up
Fondé en 2007, Montreal Start Up est un spécialiste du capital de démarrage dont la mission est d’appuyer les entrepreneurs montréalais lors du lancement de leurs entreprises. Les investissements privilégieront les services innovants à base de logiciel dans les secteurs d’Internet, du sans-fil et du multimédia.

Fund aims to capitalize on the committed support of twenty of Montreal’s most successful entrepreneur and angel investors.

MONTREAL, Quebec, March 10, 2008 – Montreal Start Up, a venture investor dedicated to supporting Montreal based entrepreneurs in their quest to create and build successful companies, today announced the closing of its $3 million venture capital fund, Fonds Soutien Montreal s.e.c, the first of a number of funds it plans to establish. Participating in the fund are twenty of Montreal most successful entrepreneurs and investors, complemented by strong support from institutional investor, Investissement Quebec.

Whilst almost $3 billion of new capital commitments have poured into Quebec’s venture capital industry since 2005, the limited availability of funding and mentoring for seed stage opportunities has led to a drought of venture ready companies; as such, much of this capital remains un-invested.

Montreal Start Up will focus on deploying seed and advisory capital into early stage opportunities. By leveraging its capital with its investor base’s experience in building successful information technology, communications and media companies, it will be able to nurture ambitious internet, wireless and multi-media entrepreneurs in their quest to become venture ready.

“Whilst Quebec is not short of venture capital, Montreal Start Up is distinct in that it focuses exclusively on funding very early stage startups. This is the stage when entrepreneur’s financial needs are often smaller than their needs for strategic input or operational support.” said Rene Bousquet, a Partner at Trio Capital and an investor in the Fund. “By providing enough funds to allow a company to launch its offering and show initial signs of success, the company will be much better positioned to raise capital from more traditional VC’s.”

Austin Hill, a serial entrepreneur and angel investor who sits on Montreal Start Up’s investment committee added, “With the availability of open source software, utility based computing and simplified software development tools, many start-ups do not require substantial venture funding to prove their ability to gain market traction.”

These recent innovations in the startup environment, coupled with the energy coming from within the local Montreal technology community have created an opportunity on which Montreal Startup intends to capitalize.

“Working so closely with start up companies it is essential that Montreal Start Up embodies the entrepreneurial spirit.” commented John Stokes, managing partner, Montreal Start Up. “With a management team and advisory board full of battle hardened entrepreneurs we understand the risks associated with starting businesses, but intend to harness our collective experiences to create Montreal’s next generation of globally successful companies.”

Jean-Sebastien Cournoyer, Entrepreneur in Residence at Vantage Point Venture Partners and Montreal Start Up board member explained the precedent being set by the fund’s structure, “In the world’s most vibrant start-up hubs a significant amount of funding and mentoring comes from successful entrepreneurs turned angel investors.” he stated. “Montreal has traditionally lacked this culture of reinvestment and thus not benefited from this valuable bridge between aspiring startup entrepreneurs and some of the city’s most successful technology executives; the structure of Montreal Start Up’s entrepreneur backed venture fund provides a visible sign that the investment culture of our city is evolving”.

In addition to working with those individuals who have invested directly into the Fund, Montreal Start Up has committed itself to forming partnerships with other members of Canada’s venture eco-system:
• Co-Investment Partnerships; Its professional investment team will actively structure investment consortiums that will include angels and early stage investors.
• Venture Partnerships: Seed and advisory capital will be deployed to nurture companies for other venture capital funds operating in Quebec and thereby create opportunities to unlock and deploy the provinces un-invested capital.

Composed of former operational executives with entrepreneurial experience, Montreal Start Up’s partners and advisory board have held top roles at companies including Terrascale, Telesystem, AskMen.com, Generation Flash, Fox Interactive Media, Microcell, RadialPoint, Canoe.ca, BCE, Nortel, FremantleMedia, Rogers and Hewlett Packard. The firm’s general partners are John Stokes, Alan MacIntosh, Jean-Sebastien Cournoyer, Austin Hill and Daniel Drouet.

About Montreal Start Up
Founded in 2007, Montreal Start Up is a venture investor committed to supporting Montreal based entrepreneurs and their companies during their start-up phase, with the investment focus being on companies developing innovative software based services in the Internet, wireless and multi-media sectors.