TiEQuest 2014 Gala – Come celebrate the finalists (Apr 2, 2014)

Come Celebrate the 2014 TiEQuest Finalists

TiE Toronto invites you to help us celebrate the 5 TiEQuest Venture Competition Finalists and crowdsource the ultimate winner.

Join us for:

• Cocktails and Hors d’oeuvres
• Pitches by the 5 Finalists
• A celebrity panel of judges
• Audience crowdsourcing of the winners
• $150,000 of cash and in kind prizes to the winners

When
WEDNESDAY
APRIL 2, 2014
From 4pm to 8pm

Where
ARCADIAN COURT
401 BAY STREET (8TH FLOOR)
Toronto, Ontario M5H 2Y4

REGISTER HERE

Register by March 31, 2014 

TiEQuest 2014 is now accepting applications!

TiEQuest 2014 now accepting applications

 TiEQuest 2014 is now accepting applications!

• Over $150,000 in prizes and an opportunity to win up to $1,000,000 investment from sponsoring funds
• Mentoring to all contestants from successful entrepreneurs and business leaders
• Opportunity to present to, network with and be judged by fund managers, angel investors and venture capitalists
• Multi-stage competition which encourages contestants to challenge their business model and success factors

Entry Deadline: January 31, 2014 @ 11:55 p.m. EST Enter the competition here: http://www.tiequest.org/

Competition is open to all in Canada and USA only

Previous Successes:

TiEQuest contestants have gone on to raise Angel & Venture Capital financing worth over $40 million, grown their businesses, and have been acquired. TiEQuest has over 25 success stories.Both our prior year winners, Rna Diagnostics (2011) and Simple Systems (2012) have each raised $2 million in funding since their participation in the competition. Our last year”s winner, Unhaggle, has seen their venture expand significantly since winning the competition.

Eligibility Requirements:
• The competition is based in Toronto and is open to all existing and aspiring entrepreneurs based in Canada and USA only.
• The competition is open to all types of entities (corporation, partnership, proprietorship, etc.) established by between 1 and 5 entrepreneurs or aspiring entrepreneurs.
• Contesting entrepreneurs may not be directors or officers of TiE, or family members of competition organizers or judges.
• Contesting entrepreneurs may not be members of more than one entity entering the competition; each entity may only make one submission.
• Submission must be the entrepreneur”s original idea – proof of origination should be available.
• The business idea may be new or already implemented. Business incorporation documents will have to be provided during the course of the competition.
• Total third-party funding raised in the business as of date of entry should not exceed $2,000,000.
• The contestants must have developed the business venture themselves and be serious about seeing the business venture through to reality.

A TiEQuest Finalist shares his experience and advice for future participants

The following is an interview conducted with Doron Barbalat, who was a finalist with Clear Path Robotics for the 2011 TiEQuest Competition. Doron was kind enough to share his experiences as he went through the competition and offered some insight for future participants and aspiring entrepreneurs.

How was your experience at TiEQuest? 
The experience was challenging but very, very rewarding. If you put a lot into TiEQuest, there is tons that you can get back out of it.

How would you say TiEQuest is different from other competitions?
TieQuest differs because of the length and involvement. Whereas many other competitions are quick, over a day or weekend, TiEQuest is a multi-stage process over many months, and includes time with mentors and a ton of feedback to help perfect your pitches and plans.

What do you think aspiring/current entrepreneurs stand to gain from this?
The entire process will expose you to mentors, expert judges and major challenges. It all helps you become confident in your abilities as an entrepreneur, gain real advice and experience, and improve your business plan. There is also an opportunity to earn real investment in your business.

What were you expecting of the competition? 
I was expecting an opportunity to test and prove our business plan, but the amount of feedback and mentorship involved was a positive surprise.

What really surprised you about the competition?
I was surprised by the size. TiEQuest attracts a ton of very interesting start-ups from many stages and a variety of entrepreneurs.

Any advice for upcoming participants?
My main advice would be to look at TiEQuest as a learning opportunity. There are considerable rewards in the finals stage, but all participants can take away the reward of being exposed to great mentors and judges.

TiEQuest 2012 winner – Simple Systems

Toronto, April 19, 2012 – At a glittering awards gala, on April 18, 2012, at the Delta Chelsea Hotel, TiEQuest announced Simple Systems Inc. as the winner of TiEQuest 2012.

The awards gala was attended by over 200 guests and many dignitaries from the Ontario and Federal governments, including Senator Asha Seth (Ontario) and Sam Boonstra (MEDI). The keynote speaker for the gala was Navneet Chugh, Managing Partner and Founder, The Chugh Firm.

Simple Systems Inc. is a privately held, early stage medical technology company located in Mississauga, Ontario. Simple Systems will commercialize RECLAIM, a new class of functional electrical stimulation therapy that promotes the restoration of voluntary movements such as reaching, grasping and walking in individuals paralyzed by stroke, spinal cord injury (SCI) or traumatic brain injury. The efficacy RECLAIM is supported by randomized controlled studies in both stroke and SCI patients. RECLAIM is the first therapy to promote significant increases in self-care independence in severe stroke and SCI individuals, thereby reducing the need for assistive care and reducing long term care costs. Simple Systems anticipates launching the RECLAIM treatment in Canada during Year 2 and expects to generate over $40 million in sales and achieve cash flow positive during the 3rd year of operation.

In addition to being declared the winner of TiEQuest 2012, Simple Systems was also awarded the Best Intellectual Property Award for this year.

The second place winner iGuiders Inc. was also the winner of TiEQuest Ohio 2012. iGuiders® has built a Web and mobile guided selling platform that expedites online and offline purchases by providing robust decision support on products & services. Trends show that hundreds of Billions of dollars are being lost online because searching online is such an independent experience yet people still need expertise in the purchasing process to make decisions. iGuiders” platform transfers the success of an in-store purchase of working with an expert into the online world which solves this multi-billion dollar challenge. The platform is so robust that Guiders can be automatically generated and optimized for clients, resulting in profitable recurring revenue opportunities.

The third place winner was OtoSim Inc., The OtoSim™ Otoscopy Training & Simulation System is a medical simulation platform developed out of the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), the University of Toronto Medical School, andMaRS Innovation for the purpose of effecting positive societal benefits through improved medical education.

We are also pleased to award the New Entrepreneur Award to Chematria Inc., a student team from the University of Toronto. Chematria makes software that helps pharmaceutical companies tell what molecules can become medicines. With Chematria”s molecular docking simulations, pharmaceutical researchers can confidently predict potent molecules for novel biological targets thereby enabling faster drug development, all for a fraction of the price and delay of wetlab experiments.

The other finalist in TiEQuest 2012 was uFluidix Inc., who have developed a disruptive technology (US patent pending) for scalable manufacturing of high-quality yet low-cost lab-on-a-chip platforms.

This year, TiEQuest awarded a new prize category, TiE Institute Participant, to Komodo OpenLab Inc., the team from the TiE Institute”s educational program who fared best in the competition.

TiEQuest 2012 is also proud to acknowledge the very generous support of our local angel investors, venture capitalists, fund managers and other business leadersin the corporate as well as government sectors in Canada for providing not only cash sponsorship but various In-Kind prizes, valued at over $100,000, and Expressions of Interests sponsorships, over $500,000, to all of our 5 finalists this year. We wish to thank them for their continued support of TiEQuest through all these years.

TiEQuest 2012 attracted a total of 155 eligible entries from over 225 entrepreneurs. More and more entrepreneurs were applying to TiEQuest as students comprises of about a quarter of contestants. ICT was once again the most popular industry category with 40% of entries, followed by healthcare with 21%, lifestyle 7%, clean tech 6% and others 26%. The contestants applied from 51 municipalities from Canada and US.

Deadline for TiEQuest 2013 is January 31, 2013 and registration will begin mid-November 2012.

Left to Right: Neena Gupta (TiE Toronto Board Member), Navneet Chugh (TiE Global Board Member), Senator Dr. Asha Seth (Ontario), Dr. Armen Baronian (Simple Systems), Diana Pliura (Simple Systems), Suresh Madan (President, TiE Toronto) and Haroon Mirza (Chair, TiEQuest 2012)

TiEQuest 2011 winner Rna Diagnostics receives investment from 4 angel groups!

Four Angel Group Close Syndicated Life Science Investment with Rna Diagnostics Inc., TiEQuest 2011 winner.

Toronto, Ontario, CANADA, March 14, 2012

York Angel Investors (YAI), announced today that an investment syndicate comprised of members of York Angels , the Golden Triangle Angle Network (GTAN), the Georgian Angel Network (GAN), and the Niagara Angel Network (NAN), has closed an investment in the amount of $ CDN 925,000 in Rna Diagnostics Inc. of Toronto Ontario.
“The investment in Rna Diagnostics is particularly significant, as the raise represents the collaborative efforts of members of four angel groups from across the province of Ontario,” said Rob Douglas, President of GTAN.

“We are pleased that we were contacted by Rna Diagnostics so early in their investment search and as such, we are today, very pleased to be involved with this very exciting and promising company. We would also like to thank Marc Castel of GTAN for his work in coordinating the investment process across the participating angel groups.” said Scott MacCannell, President of York Angel Investors Inc.

“We are delighted with the investment by the accredited Ontario Angel Investment Groups,” said Dr. Ken Pritzker, President and CEO of Rna Diagnostics Inc. “This funding will support the ongoing development of RDA a groundbreaking diagnostic test that will improve patient outcomes and reduce breast cancer treatment costs.”

About Rna Diagnostics: Rna Diagnostics Inc. (www.rnadiagnostics.com) is a molecular diagnostics company developing diagnostic tools to assist in the management of cancer chemotherapy. The company’s first product, RNA Disruption Assay™ (RDA™), is a novel test that helps oncologists to rapidly assess the effectiveness of cancer chemotherapy. RDA™ can determine whether chemotherapy is working effectively in the individual patient early in treatment thereby guiding clinical decision making.

Profound Medical, TiEQuest2010 finalist gets $9.63million financing deal!

In a statement on May 31, 2011, the Business Development Bank (BDC) announced a financing deal for Profound Medical, a TiEQuest2010 finalist, worth $9.63 million.

 

Profound Medical Inc. is a Canada based medical device company developing an MRI-guided trans-urethral procedure for the treatment of localized prostate cancer. The syndicate of investors includes BDC, Genesys Capital Partners and The Health Technology Exchange (HTX).

 

The funds will help Profound Medical to being the next phase of clinical trials on human prostate cancer in the US, Canada and Europe. It will also allow the company to appoint 15 new employees and support multi-site human safety/feasibility clinical trials and regulatory approval initiatives.

 

TiE Toronto wishes to congratulate its TiEQuest2010 alumni, Profound Medical,  for this wonderful achievement and a significant milestone in their venture going forward.

TiEQuest 2011 has a winner…..

….Rna Diagnostics Inc. has been chosen as the TiEQuest 2011 winner! Congratulations to the entire team!

Closely behind was NIMTech (second place winner) and Clearpath Robotics was chosen as the New Entrepreneur winner.

In addition to those awards, Rna Diagnostics also picked up the Best Healthcare Industry Award and was the co-winner of the Best Intellectual Property award.

NIMTech also won the Best Clean Tech award for this year along with the Best Intellectual Property Award as a joint winner with Rna Diagnostics.

In addition to these prizes, every finalist in TiEQuest 2011 (Avenir Medical, Clearpath Robotics, iRxReminder, NIMTech, Rna Diagnostic and Simpleafy) received significant In-Kind prizes and Expressions of Interests from firms such as MaRS, Best Funds, Growthworks, Fairhaven Capital, Maple Leaf Angels, McMaster University, Tabrizi Law Office, Fasken Martineau LLP, PwC, Gowlings LLP, etc.

View photos from the gala here

TiEQuest 2011 finalists chosen!

TiEQuest 2011 now has 6 finalists!

After nearly 8 weeks and 3 rounds of competition, TiEQuest 2011, on March 26, chose its 6 finalists. These finalists cover a variety of sectors and experiences. From Toronto, we have 5 teams – NIMTech, RNA Diagnostics, Simpleafy, Avenir Medical and Clear Path Robotics. This year, we also have a team from Cleveland, Ohio – iRxReminder, as TiEQuest 2011 is now global.

Final presentations by the 6 teams to judges will be held on April 6, 2011.The winner of TiEQuest 2011 will be announced at the TiEQuest Gala dinner and award ceremony,  to be on April 18, 2011.

TiEQuest2011 Business Plan stage

We would like to congratulate the 16 teams who moved from the Elevator Pitch stage to the Business Plan stage.

The elevator pitch round was held on March 5, 2011 and we had 31 teams participate. The pitches were mostly done in person with a few teams sending online video pitches of their projects. The judges found most pitches enjoyable, informative and of a high caliber. There was a very active discussion on the selection of teams to send onto the next round of the competition. Ultimately 16 teams made it through!

The next round is the Business Plan round, where the contestants have to provide detailed business plans of their ventures for the judges to evaluate. The teams will then meet face-to-face with judges, many of whom are investors and VCs, to discuss and defend their proposed business plans. Judges will then choose teams who will be sent onto the global team of finalists.

Contestants should submit all business plans online by March 15, 2011 and then meet with the judges on March 26, 2011. The global finals will then be held in Toronto on April 6, 2011. Final winners will only be revealed at the TiEQuest gala dinner on April 14, 2011 in Toronto.

TiEQuest 2011 update

TiEQuest 2011 received a total of 98 and eligible entries from over 200 entrepreneurs. More and more entrepreneurs are applying to TiEQuest as students comprises of about a quarter of contestants. ICT is once again the most popular industry category with 39% of entries, followed by healthcare with 15%, lifestyle 18%, clean tech 8%, lifestyle 9%, and others 23%. The contestants are coming from Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, New York, Massachusetts, Ohio, Florida, Kentucky and California. Over the next ten weeks, these entrepreneurs will be pitching to a panel of judges comprised of angle investors, venture capitalists, fund managers and other businessleaders.

In the first round of competition held on February 7, 2011, judges evaluated the contestants initial business proposals and due to a high caliber of contestants and enhanced judging criteria a deep cut was made. Contestants were narrowed from 98 teams to 31 teams.

We have just completed the 2nd round of judging on March 5, 2011, whereby contestants were asked to provide a 4min elevator pitch either in person or through an online submission. Many contestants showed up in person to pitch their concept to the judges and we have now reduced the field from 31 teams to 16 teams.

In the next round coming up on March 26, 2011 remaining contestants will have to present a detailed business plan which will be reviewed by judges.

For regular updates please follow us on Twitter (@TiEQuestBVCs)