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INcubes Demo Day: Five Innovative Internet Entrepreneurs Seek Funding

Three months ago, INcubes opened their doors to seven new companies for incubation in Toronto. INcubes evaluated the market potential of these startup ideas, and then off the startups went into a three-month qualifying curriculum program. 

In the third month - after business plan refinement, expert advice, market research and development facilitation, resource procurement, third party qualification, and product plan refinement - five of the seven selected startups created an investor package presentation and practiced their pitch before going live Tuesday at the Royal Ontario Museum before an audience of interested parties. 

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Canadian-founded Uptake acquired by Groupon

Silicon Valley based Travel search engine Uptake was acquired by Groupon yesterday.

AllThingsD reported that Uptake had been acquired by for something in the “teens of millions” (between $10 and $20). The company raised roughly $14 million from venture capital investors, so it was basically a break even transaction. TechCrunch is reporting this transaction as an "acqhire" with the Uptake team being integrated into Groupon's Palo Alto office and the existing service being shut down.

But why is Techvibes covering this acquisition?

Uptake co-founder Yen Lee is a Canadian and a C100 member and we got a chance to sit down and chat with him about Uptake during C100's 48 Hours in the Valley. Check out the video after the jump.

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CBC's Newest Dragon Raising $100 Million Fund For Digital Startups

Rookie Dragons' Den investor Bruce Croxon is ready to invest in Canada's digital startups and announced today that he is bringing other investors on board his new $100 Million fund.

Croxon co-founded online dating service Lavalife in 1988 — well before social networking took hold. After the company is sold for $170 Million, he built Vida, a chain of holistic spas on the West Coast and started venture capital firm Round 13.

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A Total of $20 Million Was Just Invested in Eight Toronto Startups

Today, more than $20 million was invested in eight Toronto startups. About $5 million of that is coming from The Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, which is vying to boost the local creative economy, with the remaining $15 million coming from venture capital groups. This is a rare but beautiful case of government and private capital working closely together to power budding companies.

1. StickerYou received $539,305 from FedDev, $500,000 from an unnamed venture capital firm and $1-million from IntelliVest.

2. Futurestate received $500,000 from FedDev, $1-million from the MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund and angel investment from members Maple Leaf Angels.

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Speakerfile CEO Peter Evans Talks About Participating in the CTA Initiative in New York City

Photo of Peter Evans

As a former CMO, executive speaker and organizer of events in the technology and healthcare sectors, Peter Evans, co-founder and CEO of Toronto startup Speakerfile knew that there must be a better way to connect corporate speakers to the $106 billion events industry. He was fascinated by the inefficiencies of the event organizer and speaker matchmaking process.

Together with co-founder Robert Carter, Evans developed an online platform that could help event organizers and media around the world connect better with an ever-expanding ecosystem of speakers and experts.

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Toronto Film Producers Launch Guidestones – the First Interactive Online Thriller

Guidestones LogoIf you’re a fan of the popular novel and film The Davinci Code, then you’ll definitely want to check out the first-ever interactive online thriller called Guidestones which launched in mid-February. Produced and distributed by Toronto-based companies iThentic and 3 o’clock TV, the 50-episode series (total running time of 120 minutes) was created and directed by Jay Ferguson.

Shot in Canada, the US and India, Guidestones combines scripted drama and documentary-style narrative. The lead characters, played by an all-Canadian cast, stumble upon an unsolved murder and discover a cover-up hiding a global conspiracy.

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TeamBuy raises $5 Million and settles down with Kids & Baby and Home categories

Toronto's TeamBuy.ca announced this morning that they have closed a $5 Million financing round from existing shareholders and will be using the funding to expand newly launched Kids & Baby and Home categories.

In July of 2011 TeamBuy raised $7 Million from an undisclosed institutional investor.

“We’ve re-imagined the daily deal business model to fit a customer who is demanding more comprehensive and customized shopping,” says Ghassan Halazon, CEO, TeamBuy.ca. “Our current vertical offerings already account for nearly 35 per cent of our business and with the launch of the new Kids & Baby and Home sections on TeamBuy, we anticipate that this will rise to at least half of our overall product mix in the year ahead.”

Venture Capital Activity Way Up, But Still Far From Pre-Recession Levels

Venture capital and private equity in Canada grew again last year, up for the third year in a row, says Canada’s Venture Capital & Private Equity Association and research partner Thomson Reuters. But while the volume of activity—235—was the highest ever, the dollar value still came up short of pre-recession levels.

2011 may have been out 2007's 229 transactions, but in that year, over $26 billion was invested. Last year, that number was only $11.5 billion. Still, it's up from 2009 and 2010, when the recession limited transactions to just $5.2 and $6.2 billion respectively.

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