Goal Holdings portfolio company Thinware Media Ltd. launched its StudioCAP Asset Management System last month at Siggraph 2011 in Vancouver B.C August 7-11. The software as a service (SaaS) solution enables workflow automation and asset management for digital film and animation studios.

StudioCAP’s cloud-based architecture requires no dedicated or extra in-house IT infrastructure to run. The system reduces the time and cost of buying and maintaining hardware and software that can handle complex digital workflows and asset management.

We were pleased to see StudioCAP make its debut at Siggraph 2011, the long-running, premiere international conference on computer graphics.

Goal Holdings Group made a venture capital investment in Thinware Medial Ltd. in April 2011. We’ve committed $1.47 million to the company and look forward to seeing their upcoming second quarter results.

An event we think you should know about (maybe for next year as this one is sold out!)  is the second annual edition of Dealmaker Media’s Grow Conference. Grow 2011 runs this week at the Vancouver Convention Centre West Wednesday August 17th through Friday August 19th.

The conference features a day of small, interactive group sessions between new venture founders and experienced tech founders and investors, a full day of venture capital and startup founders speaking with networking breaks, and a post-conference decompression day of adventure and sightseeing.

Local flavour is provided by LaunchParty Vancouver’s opening reception on Wednesday evening at the Roundhouse Community Centre on False Creek North. The reception features startups competing to win one of four presentation slots on the big stage Thursday at the main conference. LaunchParty tickets are still available for a premium.

Whether or not you are attending, there likely will be good stories coming out of the event over the next few days.

Goal Holdings Group is involved with a new Vancouver investment fund. We are participating in the Vantec Entrepreneurs Fund in association with the Vantec Angel Network. The Fund will provide another local option for startups seeking funding for new ventures.

We believe the purpose, structure, and direction of the fund makes sense. Beside providing financial support, the fund will connect founders with a group of seasoned mentors and advisors. We’ve made a small investment in support of the Vantec Entrepreneurs Fund’s goal of furthering new venture development in B.C.

Back in January, we posted about 2011 shaping up to be a great year for our private investment financing efforts.
We’re more than halfway through 2011 and happy to report that we are very busy with angel and venture capital investment activities. Demand and enquiries for financing have been heavy enough that we will be busy through the end of 2011.

We will continue meeting with entrepreneurs at angel and venture capital networking events and competitions. We’ll also be working through due diligence to evaluate businesses at different stages of development.

Some ventures need more prompt attention to seize a market or technological advantage. And some projects require more time to assemble the information both we and the founders need to decide what type, level, and amount of financing will best serve business goals.

Now we may be busy, but don’t let that deter you from contacting us at our office or an event! We want to hear your ideas.

We attend a lot of startup-related investment events in Vancouver.
Sometimes we are a sponsor or part of the screening process for entrepreneurs wanting to pitch their ventures. Sometimes we want to network and meet and speak with company founders and fellow investors.
Once in a while we just try to relax and enjoy the event! Here’s a quick roundup of events we’ve attended over the last couple of months but didn’t post about.

- Vancouver Enterprise Forum BBQ on June 28th – featuring guest speaker Jonathan Ehrlich, former Head of Marketing at Facebook, barbecue, and networking.

- Vantec Angel Network on July 5th – another in Vantec’s ongoing series of events giving entrepreneurs a chance to pitch to potential investors.

- Startup Supernova on June 22nd – an evening of educational talks, startup showcases, and networking organized by The Bootup Entrepreneurial Society, Tech Co-founders’ Meetup Group, Contractually, GrowLab and Mozilla Vancouver.

The calendar slows down during the summer but you will see us again when event organizers gear up again in a month or two.

We are looking forward to attending the Agri-Investment Symposium in Vancouver on September 12th and 13th. The Symposium enables twelve agri-business ventures to make structured presentations to targeted investors.

The Vancouver symposium is the fourth in an ongoing series following 2010 events in Halifax, Toronto, and Saskatoon. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is organizing the series through 2013 so there could be a return trip to B.C. before the end of the run.

We are actively involved prior to the Symposium as a member of the Investor Advisory & Selection Committee. We reviewed presentation requests from agri-business entrepreneurs and helped select finalists.

Selection criteria include the enterprise, commercialization plan, return, environmental impact, and regulatory requirements. More detail is available on Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada website.

We’re excited to be the host city for the Agri-Investment Symposium. Agri-based ventures are a big part of our angel and venture capital investment goals so we will post again after the event with impressions and news.

We’re excited to see the 2011 New Ventures BC competition has carved a separate agri-tech stream out of the IT ventures they traditionally champion. The agri-tech stream focuses on three main categories: primary production, food, and bioenergy or bioproducts.

One key eligibility criteria is demonstration of environmental, social or economic sustainability. Detailed information about the competition rules and eligibility requirements are available on the New Ventures BC website.

We support this move. British Columbia is in an excellent position to become a leader in the promising and growing business of agricultural technology. BC has talented people who want to make a difference.

There is a growing market opportunity for new ideas applying technology to agriculture as people become more aware of the many benefits of a stronger local agriculture industry.

We see an interesting future in our role both as angel and venture capital investors and people who appreciate the social value of sustainable agricultural production.

We recently attended an interesting occasional event set up by The National Research Council Canada (NRC). designed to bring entrepreneurs and investors together. The NRC’s Industrial Research Assistance Program’s Lions’ Den on June 24th was a closed, invitation-only event. The Lions’ Dens aren’t publicized and you won’t find much information about them with a web search.

The event flow is modeled after the Dragon’s Den show on CBC. The idea is to introduce a handful of companies looking for investors to prominent local investment groups. We enjoyed participating and hearing the pitches from entrepreneurs working with the NRC.

We’ve mentioned our interest in green agricultural technologies that need angel and venture capital investment to  here over the last while. Let’s briefly define green and clean tech and why we are discussing equity financing deals with founders.

We’re talking broadly about new technologies that offer sustainable and clean alternatives to current farming practices. They must also be available at a competitive cost and a commercial scale. The ventures tend to require capital investment and the longer investment timeline that comes with development of infrastructure. Clean farming operations need land on which to build infrastructure to test, prove, and scale production.

A good example of an agri-science investment deal we’ve done is Water Working Wholesale. Their pilot hydroponics project growing micro greens fits the category in several ways. They produce food locally.

Shorter transport from field to buyers reduces carbon emissions. And they put fresh, high quality produce on the market.

They can operate on marginal land, produce multiple crops year round, and use less water than in-ground farming. Their edge is using sustainable methods to reduce the environmental impact of food production.

If you have a green or clean tech business that needs outside investment to move forward, please contact us. We’d like to hear about your innovation and your ideas for developing it into a business.

We will be joining the Vantec selection committee on June 21st to pre-screen presenters for the next Vancouver Angel Technology Network event. Selected  presenters will make their pitches at the Tuesday July 5th evening at the SFU-TIME Centre.

The event will continue Vantec efforts to expose entrepreneurs with promising ideas to local angel investors. The focus will be the backbone of Vantec’s calendar–traditional and mainstream business founders looking for equity investment to continue their work.

We look forward to assisting with selection and hearing the presentations at the event.