The Return of Canada's Heavyweight Entrepreneurs

One of the key characteristics of a true innovation economy is the rise of the serial entrepreneur. Which is why it's good news to learn that the founders of two of Canada's most successful start-ups in recent years have quietly re-entered the high tech world. Jim Hjartarson, ex founder of Cadence Design and Catena Networks (sold to Ciena in 2004 for $480 M in stock, or 2.5x the $192 million invested by VCs), has worked his magic and transformed OneChip Photonics into a business that last week announced a raise of US $19.2 million from BDC, Growthworks and Californa's Morgenthaler Ventures.

In Toronto, Workbrain's David Ossip has rolled out his latest venture, Dayforce, a workforce performance management platform. Stay tuned.