What is the secret sauce behind universities that produce the most founders? This year, six Canadian post-secondary institutions made PitchBook’s list of the top 100 universities by number of students-turned-founders.
Andre Charoo believes it’s the Ivy-League-quality education students receive at Canadian institutions (often at a much cheaper tuition compared to the US). Charoo, a Canadian and general partner of San Francisco-based Maple VC (which primarily invests in Canadian expats’ startups), said that some of the biggest companies, like Uber, Slack, OpenAI, and Faire, had highly technical co-founders who attended Canadian universities. “We can compete against these [Harvard Business School] guys or these Stanford guys,” he told me. And the successful Canadians that try their hand at raising capital from US investors have already had to fight to get a seat at the table in, say, cutthroat Silicon Valley. That adds to their competitive edge, he said.
Aditya Mhatre, co-founder of FinTech startup Beacon, told me that his time completing the University of Toronto’s MBA program was instrumental in his founder journey. “Interacting with international students facing similar challenges validated my idea for Beacon, and working with local entrepreneurs at Rotman’s Creative Destruction Lab gave me the confidence to pursue this path. The community I built during my time at university has continued to be a tremendous support as I navigate my entrepreneurial journey,” he said.
A few of the Canadian universities that made PitchBook’s top 100 list this year have invested heavily in their computer science programs, ranking as some of the best globally. Moreover, some leverage their proximity to novel ideas by launching incubator and accelerator programs, such as the University of Waterloo’s Velocity. “[Students’] co-op experiences allow aspiring entrepreneurs to rapidly gain practical industry know-how and with Velocity we develop their skillset and mindset as a founder,” Adrien Côté, executive director of Velocity told me. Since 2008, Velocity has incubated more than 400 companies that are collectively worth more than $26 billion.
Why do you think these universities produce an outsized number of founders? Let’s talk. My inbox is open.
Thanks for reading on and ’til next week,
Bianca Bharti
Newsletter editor
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TOP STORIES OF THE WEEK
Recon Instruments’ co-founder wants to advance autonomous driving systems with latest venture Matt3r
Eight years after making waves in the wearables market with Recon Instruments, Hamid Abdollahi is back with something new.
A co-founder at Recon, which developed smart glasses and wearable displays for athletes, Abdollahi served as the company’s chief technology officer. Earlier this summer, his latest venture, Vancouver-based Matt3r, introduced K3y—a device that turns cameras in Tesla vehicles into a smart dashcam system that captures every honk and hard brake to make those events instantly accessible on the driver’s smartphone.
“It’s just straight math”: Assent CEO Waitman sets bar higher after hitting centaur status
It’s mid-August at the Ottawa headquarters of compliance software company Assent, where three giant numbers filled with deflated balloons have been left ajar against the cafeteria wall—‘1’, ‘0,’ and ‘0.’ The block numbers are remnants from a celebration in June, where the company officially announced becoming a centaur, after achieving the coveted goal of hitting $100 million USD in annual recurring revenue.
Armed with mandarin-flavoured sparkling water in one hand and sporadic movement in the other, CEO Andrew Waitman laid out how he thinks it’s possible to achieve his next goal for the company to hit $200 million ARR within four years.
Report: Québec venture ecosystem still “highly dependent” on public and para-public funding
Québec’s venture capital ecosystem has made impressive strides over the past decade, yet it remains heavily reliant on public and para-public funding to sustain its momentum, according to a new report from Québec-based investment industry association Réseau Capital.
The report, which traces the evolution of Québec’s venture capital industry from 2013 to 2023, aims to assess the outcomes of Québec’s long-term strategy to develop a stronger private investment sector. The report also identified potential areas for strengthening the ecosystem by analyzing its evolution over the past two decades.
Executive director Michael Buhr wants C100 to help Canadian tech startups scale
Seven months after taking over C100, Michael Buhr has set some ambitious new goals for the organization: by 2030, he wants the non-profit member association to help 100 companies reach $100 million USD in revenue, and at least 10 of them crack the $1-billion mark.
In an exclusive interview with BetaKit, Buhr laid out his plans for C100 in more detail, which include expanding beyond just early-stage Canadian tech startups through new programs and events, a renewed focus on connecting those companies to Silicon Valley, and greater attention on core markets.
Shopify to become Roblox’s first platform commerce partner
Shopify is set to pilot its checkout in Roblox, one of the world’s largest online games, the two companies announced Friday.
With this integration, developers, creators, and brands who are on Shopify can sell physical items to customers using real currency within Roblox games without ever leaving the Roblox platform.
For example, a Roblox player can interact with a shirt displayed on an in-game mannequin to summon a Shopify-powered checkout where they can purchase a real-life version of the clothing in addition to a digital replica for their character. Shopify said it plans to follow the soon-to-be-launched pilot with a “larger launch” in early 2025.
The most important work in tech is happening on-chain
When planes land in snowy conditions at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, they are guided by a machine learning system that makes sure they are positioned within two meters of a specific point 99 percent of the time, a process that requires the highest possible degree of accuracy and security.
It was created by two founders based in Hamilton, Ontario. “We did an aviation tracking project and no one really knew,” said Colin Gagich, co-founder and CEO of Inference Labs. “Canadian Web3 tech is highly undervalued. We’re like a sleeper cell no one knows about.”
BetaKit Talks: You Don’t Know Crypto, will take place on Sept. 24, in partnership with WonderFi, which hopes to engage a broader audience with the innovations of Canadian tech that are being built “on-chain.”
Here’s what will make or break the next wave of Canadian IPOs
The Canadian tech IPO market might seem like a ghost town right now, but Mia Morisset, Principal at Inovia Capital, is optimistic about the potential for a comeback.
After two years of wrestling with high interest rates, inflation fears, and global instability, going public has become a distant dream for Canada’s SaaS scale-ups. Many of those that squeezed through the door during the 2021 boom have seen their share values falter, with some even retreating back to private ownership this year.
Morisset appreciates the IPO landscape is still rocky, but she’s betting that the tide is set to turn.
Teladoc Health Canada releases study that shows over 78% of Canadians find accessing mental health support in the health care system a challenge
Teladoc Health Canada, a leading provider of virtual healthcare services, recently partnered with Modus Research to survey over 1,600 Canadians to shed light on the mental health needs of Canadians and the persistent challenges they face in accessing support.
Key highlights:
• 71% would be more likely stay with an employer who fully supported their mental health needs
• More than 78% who accessed mental health support report that navigating the health care system to find this support was “somewhat difficult” or “very difficult”
• 53% found it challenging to locate a professional who can effectively help them. Of those who received care, only 28% had high levels of confidence in their diagnosis
For more information, click here.
Funding, Acquisitions, and Layoffs
PAL – Safe Superintelligence – $1B USD
ON – FedDev issues $5.2M CAD
LON – Deep Breathe – $95K
TOR – Northside Ventures closes $15M CAD fund
TOR – Wombo – $12.2M CAD
The BetaKit Podcast
Shopify president Harley Finkelstein cautions Canadian entrepreneurs against “bullshit” narratives
“Using Canada as an excuse for why you didn’t get funding, you didn’t get to hire the right person … I think that’s bullshit.”
Shopify president Harley Finkelstein joins for a brand refresh Canadian entrepreneurship, pushing back against doom-and-gloom narratives before digging into his real issues of concern and offering proactive tips for entrepreneurs looking to scale globally.
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Feature image courtesy R.schneider101, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.