Boast Capital Partners with Plug and Play Tech Center To Launch Startup Camp Canada
Boast Capital is proud to announce a partnership with Plug and Play Tech Center in Silicon Valley to launch Startup Camp Canada, an initiative to support and grow the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector in Alberta.
- (1888PressRelease) May 27, 2012 - Calgary, AB - Boast Capital is proud to announce a partnership with Plug and Play Tech Center in Silicon Valley to launch Startup Camp Canada, an initiative to support and grow the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector in Alberta.
The hybrid accelerator program will provide startups with acceleration time in both Canada and Silicon Valley with access to over 180 Silicon Valley venture capital (VC) firms and angel investors such as Accel Partners and Sand Hill Angels, world-class entrepreneurs from companies such as YouTube and Skype, and a community of leading universities and corporate partners.
Startup Camp Canada will be launched in two phases:
Phase one will be a 10-week acceleration program in Silicon Valley starting on June 18th that includes structured workshops, speaker series, mentorship sessions and active coaching.
Phase two consists of a 16 to 18 week Canada-Silicon Valley hybrid acceleration program starting mid-September. This Canadian portion will be held in Calgary, where the startups will participate in a Startup MBA curriculum comprised of weekly courses on topics including market discovery, business model design, sales and marketing, pitching and raising capital to name a few (more advanced startups or those who have been through other accelerator programs have the option to skip the Canadian element).
Qualified Startup Camp participants are eligible to receive an investment of $25,000 upon acceptance into the program with opportunities for follow on investments. There will be a demo day in both Calgary and Silicon Valley where the startups will showcase their technology and pitch to investors.
Over the past year, the startup community in Calgary has started to gel with organizations like Startup Calgary and the A100 collaborating to provide education, mentorship and support to entrepreneurs and working with the media to shine the spotlight on Calgary's technology sector. However, raising money has always been a challenge for entrepreneurs, particularly because local investors are more comfortable investing in oil and gas. This partnership with Plug and Play is a step in the right direction as it will help educate local investors on how Silicon Valley has seen success from investing in technology, in addition to providing a structured platform for starting and growing companies.
"The Canadian government ranks Calgary as having the highest number of tech startups per capita," says Alex Popa, Founder and Partner at Boast Capital. "That, coupled with a highly educated and motivated work force, strong tech ecosystem, low health care costs, better labor and facility rates, easily available government grants (in excess of $5 billion annually) and a quick flight between Calgary and the Valley, makes Calgarian startups quite intriguing to Silicon Valley VCs. We have some great success stories like Veer, Stumbleupon and iStockphoto to name a few. Our goal is to have many such successes by building a world class tech ecosystem in Calgary and driving startups from around the world to move here."
The first cohort for Startup Camp Canada starts on June 18th and will only be in Silicon Valley. The application deadline is June 5th and more information is available online at:
http://www.plugandplaystartupcamp.com/apply
About Plug and Play Tech Center
Plug and Play Tech Center is a business accelerator that specializes in growing tech startups. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, Plug and Play's global network includes over 300 tech startups, over 180 investors and a community of leading Universities and Corporate partners. For more information visit http://plugandplaytechcenter.com.
About Boast Capital
Headquartered in Calgary, AB, Boast Capital is a Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) consulting firm that helps companies secure government grants to advance innovation and technology. For more information visit http://BoastCapital.com, or send us a tweet ( @ ) boastcapital dot
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