This presentation was the keynote address delivered by MLA Member Jonathan Rose at our U of T Innovates Event.

1. Angels and Academia:
Combining Two Worlds
Jonathan Rose
Professor, University of Toronto
Founding Member, Maple Leaf Angels

2. 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
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3. 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
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4. The University of Toronto
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5. 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
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6. 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
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7. 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
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8. 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!
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9. 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
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10. 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
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11. Commercialization and Entrepreneurship
 The University has many activities underway
– Each take different perspective
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UTESTJOL
T

12. 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
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13. Creative Destruction: G7 Fellows
Dennis
Bennie
Daniel
Debow
Nick
Koudas
Tomi
Poutanen
Dan
Shimmerman
Lee Lau
Nigel
Stokes

14. 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
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15. 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
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16. 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!
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17. Maple Leaf Angels
Investment Group
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18. 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
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19. 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
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20. 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
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21. 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!
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22. 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
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23. 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
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24. Sentient Magnetic
22 Investments since 2007
Total Invested: $9.6 Million +
Investment History of MLA

25. 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
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Sentient Magnetic

26. Successful Exits
 4 Successful Exits
 Follow on Funding: $20 Million
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Acquired by
NASDAQ IPO
(MOTR)
NASDAQ IPO
(AMRS)
Secondary
Offering
(MMC.V)

27. Value of Angel Group to Startups
 Investment
 Mentoring – including prior to investment
 Feedback from investor perspective
 Networking/connections
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28. 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
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29. Thank you!
www.mapleleafangels.com
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