WATERLOO REGION — During the past 16 months, about $3.6 billion was invested in Communitech-member startups and companies, says Chris Albinson, the innovation hub’s chief executive officer.
The amount of investment is running ahead of the provincial and national trends. And now, Communitech can track investments in startups and tech companies across the country in real time.
The innovation hub marked its 25th anniversary Thursday, and announced it had acquired Briefed.in, a startup that was founded a little more than a year ago to track where venture capital is flowing.
Briefed.in was founded by Rob Darling (Darling North Ventures), John Clark (Just1Registry) and Raymond Luk (Hockeystick, Flow Ventures). It is branded as the only public, independent record dedicated to Canadian startups and venture capital.
That information will be as valuable to Communitech as the cockpit instruments are to the pilots of high speed planes, said Albinson.
“We can tell who is investing and at what stage,” said Albinson.
The acquisition is about making data-driven decisions to help startups grow. With that timely information Communitech can spot opportunities and problems much more quickly.
If there is a really interesting med-tech company that is ready for investors, Communitech can see who is putting funds into that sector. It helps to connect startups with the right investors.
“Before we had Briefed.in we couldn’t tell them: ‘Hey, these are the three investors who have invested in early-stage med-tech companies in the last six months, and they are probably really good people to talk to,’” said Albinson.
If the data shows that most or all of the investment is flowing to early-stage companies, Communitech can double down on the search for late-stage investors.
Economists predict a recession early next year, and the data from Briefed.in will help during the slow down.
If a venture capital firm has invested half its funds, and it’s not sure about the impact of the recession, it might invest in a smaller number of companies and keep some reserves on hand to help the companies it has already invested in.
Or, if a firm is having trouble raising enough investment for a new fund, it may use reserves to make investments over a longer period.
“The effect for venture firms is they slow down their investment pace,” said Albinson. “And that means fewer dollars for founders.”
So far the slowing economy has hurt e-commerce companies, such as Shopify, and cryptocurrency startups, he added.
“In other sectors we are seeing continued strength, like enterprise software, it is actually holding up really well,” said Albinson.
Some venture funds specialize in certain areas of tech, and if Communitech sees they are not investing any more or at the same pace, they can provide extra support for its startups in that sector.
Communitech’s fiscal year began in April, and more than $700 million was invested in its startups during the first half of fiscal 2022.
