Registration is now open for the New Venture BC’s Seminar & Networking Series.

Our first seminar, Assessing the Opportunity, will be presented by Bob de Wit and takes place on Wednesday, April 1st at the SFU Segal School of Business at 500 Granville Street. Registration & networking (with coffee & appetizers) gets underway at 6:30pm with the seminar starting at 7:00pm.

The full 10-week business seminar series schedule runs from April 1st to June 3rd and includes nine seminars and one networking event. Total cost for the series is $100 but that also covers your entry into the competition.

Alternatively, you can register for seminars individually for $20 each or attend for free if you’re a student (with a valid ID card). Register now online.

I sent the 2009 New Ventures BC Competition Brochure to the printers last week!

Here’s an electronic copy for you to read and send out to anyone that might be interested in this year’s competition.

NVBC Brochure

The folks from Fundfindr were responsible for a couple great video presentations at last week’s 2008 Awards ceremony. The following clip demonstrates why anyone in BC with an new business idea should seriously consider entering the New Ventures BC competition in 2009.

After five months of competition, I’m pleased to announce the 2008 top 10 companies!

Competition was fierce this year and it should be an interesting finish.

Next, the top 10 will give an oral business presentation to a jury of 15 angels, financiers, and entrepreneurs. The jury will then choose the winners for the 2008 competition and all will be announced at the awards ceremony on September 25th.

Please help me congratulate the top ten companies moving on to Round 4 (in alphabetical order):

If you’d like to contact any of these companies, email contact[at]newventuresbc.com for details.

1. Charge It! Payment Solutions
This Victoria company has developed a suite of faster, ultra-reliable and affordable data-encryption products certified to meet international Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance standards. Created by a software team with a military technology background, Charge It! is one of the first companies to develop PCI-compliant products that are also affordable for smaller businesses concerned about data security.

2. Echoflex Solutions
Echoflex Solutions has developed products and solutions using wireless, self-powered (no batteries, ever!) switches and sensors. Used in new and retrofit construction these solutions create smart spaces. These easily installed and commissioned products, optimize energy consumption through needs based lighting and space specific temperature control and provide for a very flexible and sustainable future for the building. www.echoflexsolutions.com

3. GR Building Materials
GR Building Materials Inc. has developed a proprietary process for producing ‘green’, carbon positive, roofing and siding materials that don’t crack when nailed, look remarkably like real cedar and slate, are fire-proof, impact-resistant and cost a fraction of the real thing. By ensuring nothing is wasted and considering the impact of a product’s life cycle on the environment and people’s lives, GR goes beyond sustainability, to environmental responsibility in manufacturing. GR Cedar and Slate are non-toxic, carbon positive and 100% recyclable, after 50 years of use.

4. Primisyn
Primisyn’s new Simplus software for financial institutions takes the guesswork and the risk out of product, loan and mortgage pricing. The system can review an institution’s entire relationship with a client, then calculate how an individual deal will affect institutional profitability—before the deal is made.

5. Pure Lignin Environmental Technology
Kelowna-based Pure Lignin Environmental Technology has patented a simple, efficient process for turning waste vegetation, such as beetle-killed pine trees and sugar cane waste, into three profitable products: pure lignin (used in many industries, including bio-degradable plastics), commercial cellulose and carbons for bio-fuels and protein. The company’s portable plant combines chemicals in a unique, low-pressure closed-loop steam process that transforms the waste into usable products without emitting pollutants or toxins. http://www.purelignin.com

6. Saltworks Technologies
Saltworks Technologies Inc. has developed a patent-pending solar process for desalination that offers significant electrical energy savings. The desalination market is estimated to grow by $56 billion over the next seven years and energy efficiency remains its greatest challenge.

7. Singular Software
Video professionals who currently spend hours and days setting up to edit video footage shot with multiple cameras can now do it instantly using Singular Software’s new synchronization plug-in for commercially available editing programs. With the touch of a button, Singular’s plug-in automatically synchronizes multiple camera and audio clips of the same event in just a few minutes.

8. Small Energy Group
Small Energy Group’s Energy Management Software communicates with a large number of building automation and metering systems to collect, archive, analyze and communicate energy information.
The system helps building owners and operators to quickly identify and resolve inefficient energy use, helps occupants learn how their buildings perform and ultimately helps to save money and reduce emissions.

9. SoundofMotion Technologies Inc.
Cyclists who load SoundofMotion’s VeloComputer software onto their cell phone, coupled with a wireless sensor attached to their bicycle wheel, can transform their cell phone into an advanced cycling computer. The highly accurate sensor transmits precise motion data to the software, which then displays spot speed, acceleration, time and distance traveled on the cell phone’s display. The data can also be downloaded to a computer for training analysis.

10. TeraTek
TeraTek is developing new imaging technology that uses Teraherz (THz) frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum to see through non-conductive objects. The technology creates better-than-x-ray imaging for various characteristics such as density, moisture content and strength. The Prince George company plans to initially use its imaging system and software in lumber mills to analyze fiber structures and characteristics that can’t be seen using x-rays or microwaves.

New Ventures BC will be able to continue strong and expand it’s outreach thanks to new funding and resources from the BC Innovation Council (BCIC), the National Research Council (NRC) and Western Economic Diversification (WED). The funding is as follows:

• From BCIC: the funding of a half-time position in each of their regional offices to promote NVBC.
• From NRC: $55,000 for regional mentorship.
• From WED: $129,360 annually for three years.

This year has seen more competitors from outside the Lower Mainland than in any previous year. “We are absolutely delighted with the support we have received to more actively regionalize NVBC,” says NVBC chair Ernie Love. “Not only has it been validated by increased regional participation in this year’s competition, but we will spend time over the fall and winter working with the regional science councils to attract even more competitors from across BC.”

Bootup Labs’ Boris Mann, who participated in a recent New Ventures mentor panel, summarizes the event and shares his impressions:

My brain is still a little melted today from participating in the New Ventures BC mentor panel yesterday. 9am to 5pm, 8 presentations, 30 minutes for lunch, and short breaks between presentations. Wow.

For starters, let me say that this highlights the activity that is going on in Vancouver. Regardless of the specifics of the particular business model or idea, I was impressed by the way all the founders presented their companies and discussed their ideas.

…

NVBC is definitely a great event that provides real value to the local entrepreneurial community. I myself participated in it 4 years ago when I came back to Vancouver, not to launch a company, but to go to the various seminars and meet the local community. NVBC should be on every entrepreneur’s list to attend.

Thanks Boris for coming out!

If you’ve never heard of Bootup Labs, read about their startup accelerator model and how they work with founders and funders to cultivate startups.

Current New Ventures BC finalist DreamBank has had their web app in beta for just a short time, but today has sent out the emails announcing they are launching. Their tagline is “Give dreams, not gifts”, suggesting that contributing funds for peoples’ dreams is preferable to gift giving. DreamBank allows users to create a “dream” and they’ll handle accepting money for it. Dream progress is tracked on their site, with donors credited. The site uses PayPal for funds transfer, but have arranged their own fee structure. Cashing in your “dream” is subject to a 2.5% fee.

To promote their launch, DreamBank has done some social media outreach to local bloggers, giving $20 “dream certificates” to Miss604 Rebecca Bollwitt and Beth Snow, among others. Further, they are holding a “Win Your Dream” contest to fulfill 5 dreams of $1500, randomly selected from the first 5000 dreams submitted. There are still a ways from 5000 dreams on the site, so there’s still time to get yours on. Perhaps your dream is “fund my company”?

Congratulations DreamBank and good luck on your launch.

While filming elevator pitches at one of the seminars this year, the fine folks of Fundfindr shot some additional interviews and put together a five minute “webisode” video that gives a nice overview of the competition, its history, and its mandate. The video features Angie Schick, NVBC Program Manager, Dave Thomas of Rocketbuilders, competitor Boyd Cohen of 3rd Whale, and Ross Waddell of the BC Innovation Council.

Visit fundfindr.tv for more video on entrepreneurship topics. If you’re interested in professional video production for your event, demo, pitch, product or service contact shannon@fundfindr.tv.

Concurrent to the New Ventures BC Competition, Fundfindr (also a NVBC competitor), ran a competition of their own, called the Pitchies Warmup, exclusively for NVBC competitors. Entrants were challenged to submit an elevator pitch video to the Fundfindr site. Today, the winners of that were announced, with the grand prize of a weekend in Whistler being awarded to Nikki Layton of Volo Innovations. Unfortunately, Nikki didn’t make it through to round 3 of the NVBC competition, but with her pitching skills, should have no problem wooing investors. Runners up include Pneuvation, Cellmaps, and Adhack. You can watch the winning video here:

There’s still opportunity to enter into the Pitchies main event, already going on.