CEO of OMERS Ventures John Ruffolo explains why Canada's startups need to scale up into globally competitive firms that employ thousands.

1. TIME TO
SCALE UP
John Ruffolo  OMERS Ventures  CEO
December 2016

2. WE DON’T HAVE A START-UP PROBLEM
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3. STAGE OF DEALS
Capital raising has been consistently strong since 2012
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Illustrative Start-up Financing Lifecycle
Breakeven
Valley of
Death
Friends &
Family
Up to $500K
Angels
$500K - $2MM
VC Round B
$10MM - $30MM
VC Round C
$30MM - $100MM
IPO
$100MM +
OMERS Ventures Target Stages
VC Round A
$2M - $10MM
Early Stage
Year 2
Later Stage
Years 3 - 6
Liquidity
Event
Year 7+
Seed
Financing
Year 1
Start-up

4. We need Canadian start-ups to be able to scale up…
 Into globally competitive firms
 That generate revenue
 Employ thousands of Canadians
 And contribute to our tax base, maintaining public
investments
HELPING CANADIAN INNOVATORS TO SCALE UP
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5. “Extraordinary value creation cannot occur without
growth, and entrepreneurial growth, post-start-up,
has numerous challenges which can be an order of
magnitude more difficult than simply starting a
venture.”
- (Daniel Isenberg, Babson College)
HOW DO WE GET THERE?
Let’s recognize – this will not be easy:
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6. A GOVERNMENT POLICY PLAYBOOK
ACCESS TO
CUSTOMERS
ACCESS TO
CAPITAL
ACCESS TO
TALENT
Standard Setting/Regulation
Intellectual Property / Copyright
Global Trade, Government, Large
Corporation Procurement
International Corporate Taxation
Attract Domestic,
International Educate,
Retrain Hire,
Compensate
Personal Taxation
SRED
Risk-based capital
Incubators,
Accelerators
Lifecycle of an
innovation-based company
$0 $10MM $100MM $1BB+
Score = 0
Score = 8 Score = 4
REVENUES
Government Scorecard

7. • Taxation of stock option
• Temporary Foreign Worker Visa
• Immigration
• Government Procurement
• SR&ED
• More coming …
PROGRESS THUS FAR
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8. • More scaled-up Canadian innovation firms
competing on world stage
• And a better developed, more scaled-up
ecosystem
• This will position us to be acquirers, rather than
always the acquiree.
WHAT DO WE NEED?
When it comes to innovation, we need:
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9. With collaboration and bold
action, we can scale up!
HOW CAN YOU BE A PART OF THIS?
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10. John Ruffolo
Chief Executive Officer
 416-369-3725
 jruffolo@omersventures.com
OMERS Ventures
200 Bay St
Suite 1410, South Tower
Toronto, ON M5J 2J2
THANK YOU!
OMERS Ventures
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