Vancouver Sun

AT LAST, A FREE DATABASE OF CANADIAN STARTUPS

Much-needed resource can provide help to entreprene­urs, VCs and angels alike

- RICK SPENCE Financial Post Rick Spence is a writer, consultant and speaker specializi­ng in entreprene­urship. rick@rickspence.ca Twitter.com/RickSpence

Canada’s startup ecosystem is winning raves. Just last week, Amazon pledged to create 3,000 jobs in Vancouver (“a city recognized worldwide as a first-rate global tech hub,” the giant retailer crowed), and Ireland-based Web Summit announced it was moving its North American tech conference, Collision, from New Orleans to Toronto.

The trouble with ecosystems, though, is they’re rarely easy to navigate. I learned that a few years ago, when I toured five provinces as part of Startup Canada’s introducto­ry cross-country tour. From St. John’s to Vancouver, entreprene­urs, mentors, investors and economic-developmen­t officials told us again and again that they couldn’t find each other.

“Siloed” systems are costly. Entreprene­urs barely make connection­s with each other, let alone investors or advisers. Angels and venture capitalist­s must work harder to develop relationsh­ips with founders. Government­s with limited databases create outdated policies.

But now a Toronto-based tech startup is aiming to reduce that friction. Founded in 2014, Hockeystic­k.co has built a private database on Canadian startups. Angels and VCs subscribe to the platform to track the progress of portfolio companies and analyze potential investment­s. But last week Hockeystic­k launched a spinoff project that’s been a year in the making: a free, opensource database that documents the entire Canadian startup landscape.

Hockeystic­k’s open database won’t include the private financial informatio­n the company’s clients currently pay for. But it already includes basic data — company name, industry, principals and funding sources — on 7,000 startups, as well as listings for 157 VC firms, 44 angel groups, 200 accelerato­rs and 600 government programs. Hockeystic­k founder and CEO Raymond Luk hopes the database will help founders locate support programs and angels in their own cities, while giving investors more accurate informatio­n on promising companies.

Much of this data is already available, somewhere, in private databases or online. But if you Google “venture capital” you’ll see the problem: search engines dump piles of illogical listings rather than giving you a clear, standardiz­ed data set you can analyze and compare.

Luk hopes this open database will build better connection­s faster. And as the data grows, it will become more powerful. Researcher­s can mine the database to discover new insights, such as the average valuation of companies in cities across the country, or predict the next trends in venture capital. Entreprene­urs can seek out the best incubators or government programs in their industry and/ or city.

“We need a common record of our ecosystem. We need to share more data,” Luk says. “People have always kept this informatio­n secret, because they think it’s intellectu­al property. But it’s actually a depreciati­ng asset.”

The new database is opensource, which means anyone can access it. Luk says his company already plans to mine the data for original research — most of it to be available for free, some for a fee. He hopes other users will create their own insights, lists and products: “If we’re the only people building on top of this database in five years, we will have failed.”

Hockeystic­k’s mission is to help companies achieve “hockeystic­k” growth through better data. With equity funding of $1.5 million and a staff of 20, its revenue has just passed the $1-million mark. Asked how much the open-source project has cost, Luk noted 10 people have been working on it for a year, and concluded, “I don’t want to know. We’re betting the company on this.”

As the innovation sector recognizes the growing benefits of shared data, Luk anticipate­s more investors will pay for specialize­d services. His company’s private data, for instance, can compare startups’ rental cost per square foot, or explore new trends in founder compensati­on. Executives and investors can make more decisions based on data rather than rules of thumb. “Our attitude is: don’t sell data. Sell technology. Sell insights,” says Luk. “This is the future of Hockeystic­k, because we are our own test case of how open data can power different software products.”

Luk says the ecosystem, led by the Canadian Venture Capital Associatio­n, has largely welcomed the database. Some firms with private data have been reticent, but Luk expects holdouts will be bypassed over time. He says government­s in particular support the initiative: “They spend millions of dollars researchin­g startups, collecting data and building databases. This will save them time and money.”

The new database is incomplete, and always will be. But Luk sees its presence as a beacon to those who have not yet shared their data. “It’s a call to action to the ecosystem,” he says. “If you don’t see your fund, program or company here, take action to get it there. Unlock the power of this database for everyone.”

Kevin Tuer is a longtime technology innovator who runs Canada’s Open Data Exchange, a Waterloo organizati­on that promotes the social and economic value of open data. He believes Hockeystic­k’s new database will trigger innovative change in Canada’s startup sector. “At the core of digital disruption is data,” says Tuer. “It creates new opportunit­ies and evidence-based decision-making. Putting more informatio­n into a community will result in better outcomes for all the parties involved.”

But Hockeystic­k won’t rest with transformi­ng Canada’s startup ecosystem. It’s already signed an agreement to access data from the Angel Capital Organizati­on, the U.S. body that connects 300 angel groups and 93,000 companies. Luk intends to build the same kind of database in the U.S., and he’s already talking with investors in Europe about documentin­g the ecosystem there. The puck has been dropped, he says: “We want to be the largest global data platform for every private-market company in the world.”

We need a common record of our ecosystem. We need to share more data.

 ?? JEFF VINNICK/GETTY IMAGES ?? Staff take photos as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announces Amazon is set to create 3,000 jobs in Vancouver. Although Canada’s tech ecosystem is growing, it is seen as difficult to navigate.
JEFF VINNICK/GETTY IMAGES Staff take photos as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announces Amazon is set to create 3,000 jobs in Vancouver. Although Canada’s tech ecosystem is growing, it is seen as difficult to navigate.

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