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BDC Venture Capital Backs Accelerators Across Canada With Follow-On Funding

BDC Venture Capital announced today that it will issue up to $6 million in convertible notes over two years to graduates of Montreal's FounderFuel.

Some 40 young enterprises from all over the country in the web, mobile, software as a service (SaaS), and gaming fields, will each be eligible for a $150,000 BDC convertible note upon their successful completion of FounderFuel's 12-week, mentor-driven business "boot camp".

The investment is part of BDC Venture Capital's larger commitment towards accelerators across the country. Vancouver's GrowLab and Toronto's Extreme Startups has also announced that a $150K BDC convertible note in follow-on funding will be available to successful graduates of their programs.

Startup Visa Program for Canada to be Announced Today?

11:30am EST Update: News Release - Minister Kenney launches consultations for a new “start-up visa” for immigrant entrepreneurs

According to an advisory issued by Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney's office yesterday, the Canadian government is expected to announce in Toronto today the next step in launching a Startup Visa program.

While the details are still vague, Kenney and Dragon’s Den TV star Kevin O’Leary are apparently scheduled to make an announcement today regarding a new system aimed at identifying and speeding the path for "high value innovators."

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Pushing $4 Million, Allerta's Pebble Becomes Most-Funded Kickstarter Campaign Ever

We've been following Pebble closely since it launched a seemingly normal Kickstarter campaign one week ago. But after reaching its original goal of $100,000 in just two hours, we knew this was going to be a legendary run.

Pebble, a smartwatch co-created by the Canadian entrepreneur who founded Waterloo-born Allerta (also the maker of inPulse, a BlackBerry watch), has seen its crowdfunding campaign soar off the charts. After hitting $1 million in a day, it hit $2 million in two days. Then $3 million, at which point we wondered - is crowdfunding the new venture capitalism?

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PlentyofFish Founder Invests in Dating Industry Disrupting Facebook App

Two months ago PlentyofFish Founder Markus Frind declared that the Web is dead and that the future of online dating is mobile. 

Since Frind hasn't figured out a way to monetize mobile yet he's been diversifying his portfolio by investing millions into other web properties with another $10 million set aside for acquisitions and investments in 2012.

Today TechCrunch reported on one of those investments and it looks like Frind may have found a winner.

TheComplete.me announced a $1.2 million seed round today from Intel Capital, PlentyofFish, CrunchFund, and a list of prominent angels. TheComplete.me is led by Brian Bowman, a former vice president of product at Match.com.

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Entrepreneur Returns from Silicon Valley After 14 Years: 'Vancouver Has Phenomenal Talent for Startups'

Yen Lee has worked in Silicon Valley since 1996. But after 14 years in the Valley—working for a variety of companies, include City Search and Yahoo—the Vancouverite is returning home.

Yen eventually ended his menial jobs to found Uptake, a startup that offers travel advice to users base on friend recommendations. His company was acquired by Groupon earlier this year. Even though he was a co-founder, Yen isn't sticking around for Uptake's integration into the group buying giant. He's moving back to Vancouver.

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There is Now an Accelerator Program for Aspiring Entrepreneurs Who Don't Even Have an Idea to Pitch

Toronto accelerator INcubes launched a new program today for aspiring startup founders without a business idea to pitch.

INcubes will be selecting from extraordinary applicants and building a startup team from scratch.

The NO IDEA Team will receive 3 months acceleration in the INcubes space, equity in the newly co-founded startup, an opportunity to pitch at INcubes Demo Day, and support from INcubes investors and mentors.

And if you do have an idea, you can still apply and be shortlisted for consideration.

Apply now online.

Pebble Raises $3 Million from 21,000 People in 5 Days. Is Crowdfunding the New Venture Capitalism?

Last week, we wrote that Pebble—a smartwatch developed by Canadian Entrepreneur Eric Migicovsky—raised $1 million from 7,300 backers in just 24 hours on Kickstarter. Then we went on to report that, by the end of day two, that number had doubled to $2 million from 14,400 backers. This, despite the campaign's original goal of only $100,000, and the fact that the campaign still doesn't end for over a month.

While the pledging has slowed somewhat, Pebble has now cracked the next major milestone: $3 million. It took only five days to reach this number, 5,000% of the original goal.

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