The first episode of The Disruptors is in the can. Last night’s episode of BNN’s show dedicated to disruptive tech innovation was filled with news, including Shopify’s impending IPO, the Apple Watch’s early pre-order success, and, of course, Periscope.
The anchor segment of the show, however, just happened to be a one-on-one interview with Bruce Croxon and OMERS Ventures CEO, John Ruffolo. In the interview, Ruffolo discusses OMERS’ Canadian investment ‘bias’ and dismissed the notion of a Canadian innovation crisis. “We had a funding crisis and a capital crisis,” he said. “We don’t have a shortage of great quality entrepreneurs.”
“I would say the strategy is own Canada coast to coast, and rifle shot U.S. opportunities where we have deep domain expertise,” Ruffolo continued.
Ruffolo also spent some time speaking about two of OMERS’ most successful investments, Shopify and Hootsuite. Want to know what he said? You’ll have to watch the first episode of The Disruptors below.