New private capital organization emerges from angel network with $65M under management

(15 August 2017: Calgary, AB) Valhalla Private Capital – a full service corporate finance firm – will officially open its doors to investors and early stage entrepreneurs on August 15 in Edmonton and August 16 in Calgary.

Valhalla is a local success story with global reach. Founded in 2003 as a single city angel inves-tor group by 2014 Startup Canada Investor of the Year R. Stewart Thompson, building investor and startup ecosystems at home and abroad is hard-coded in Valhalla Private Equity’s DNA. Valhalla brings a team together that expands the VA Angels investor and entrepreneur facing enterprises together under one umbrella. At launch, Valhalla Private Capital has $12.5M CDN under management, but is on track to have that at $65m by November.

“Valhalla Private Capital is the realization of a vision,” said Mr. Thompson, Chairman and CEO of Valhalla Private Capital. “For too long venture capital has been the domain of large institutional investors. I have a much more democratic view. Valhalla is all about inviting all people who care about their local business climate into the VC realm, giving them the tools and opportunities to participate successfully in both investing or building some great companies.”

Valhalla Private Capital will focus on a five-pillar business model:

• – Investor& Startup Programs – including the renowned BaseCamp offering, an exclusive investment seminar for startups where Mr. Thompson and other experienced investors provide insight from an investor’s perspective about how to understand how capital works.
• – Angel Investing – ongoing operation of the 100+ member, five-chapter VA Angels network that has invested $48 million plus in more than 170 deals since inception.
• – Family of Funds – The Old Kent Road fund and VA Angels Fund are targeting growth of $5 million a month and will have $65 million under active management by November 2017.
• – Global Reach – continued outreach, advocacy, training and investor and startup ecosystem building in emerging economies around the world through its highly successful and well respected international arm, The Seed Global.
• – M&A and Advisory Services – expanding on the foundations of Vario Ventures, a boutique mergers and acquisition firm focusing on entrepreneurs and specializing in identifying the right next step for small and medium companies and their investors

“We have very deliberately not used “equity” in our name as we believe investors and early stage entrepreneurs alike need tailored solutions and ownership is just one option, “said Valhalla executive Jan Lederman

 

“The angel world can sometimes feel like placing large Vegas-style bets” said VA Angels Presi-dent and Valhalla executive Kristina Milke,” but, at Valhalla, we believe a more sophisticated approach exists through our full suite of capital options coupled with education, training and ad-visory services.”

Valhalla Private Capital will host launch events for their new offices in Edmonton on August 15 and in Calgary on August 16. The investor and entrepreneur communities are invited to join the festivities and learn more. Visit www.valhallaprivatecap.com for details.

For more information contact:

Valhalla Media:

1-888-406-9005

media@valhallaprivatecap.com

BACKGROUND FOR MEDIA:

Members of the media are invited to attend either launch event. Please call the media line to register. We can also make Mr. Thompson available for one-on-one interviews.

New private capital organization emerges from angel network with $65M under management

(15 August 2017: Calgary, AB) Valhalla Private Capital – a full service corporate finance firm – will officially open its doors to investors and early stage entrepreneurs on August 15 in Edmonton and August 16 in Calgary.

Valhalla is a local success story with global reach. Founded in 2003 as a single city angel inves-tor group by 2014 Startup Canada Investor of the Year R. Stewart Thompson, building investor and startup ecosystems at home and abroad is hard-coded in Valhalla Private Equity’s DNA. Valhalla brings a team together that expands the VA Angels investor and entrepreneur facing enterprises together under one umbrella. At launch, Valhalla Private Capital has $12.5M CDN under management, but is on track to have that at $65m by November.

“Valhalla Private Capital is the realization of a vision,” said Mr. Thompson, Chairman and CEO of Valhalla Private Capital. “For too long venture capital has been the domain of large institutional investors. I have a much more democratic view. Valhalla is all about inviting all people who care about their local business climate into the VC realm, giving them the tools and opportunities to participate successfully in both investing or building some great companies.”

Valhalla Private Capital will focus on a five-pillar business model:

• – Investor& Startup Programs – including the renowned BaseCamp offering, an exclusive investment seminar for startups where Mr. Thompson and other experienced investors provide insight from an investor’s perspective about how to understand how capital works.
• – Angel Investing – ongoing operation of the 100+ member, five-chapter VA Angels network that has invested $48 million plus in more than 170 deals since inception.
• – Family of Funds – The Old Kent Road fund and VA Angels Fund are targeting growth of $5 million a month and will have $65 million under active management by November 2017.
• – Global Reach – continued outreach, advocacy, training and investor and startup ecosystem building in emerging economies around the world through its highly successful and well respected international arm, The Seed Global.
• – M&A and Advisory Services – expanding on the foundations of Vario Ventures, a boutique mergers and acquisition firm focusing on entrepreneurs and specializing in identifying the right next step for small and medium companies and their investors

“We have very deliberately not used “equity” in our name as we believe investors and early stage entrepreneurs alike need tailored solutions and ownership is just one option, “said Valhalla executive Jan Lederman

 

“The angel world can sometimes feel like placing large Vegas-style bets” said VA Angels Presi-dent and Valhalla executive Kristina Milke,” but, at Valhalla, we believe a more sophisticated approach exists through our full suite of capital options coupled with education, training and ad-visory services.”

Valhalla Private Capital will host launch events for their new offices in Edmonton on August 15 and in Calgary on August 16. The investor and entrepreneur communities are invited to join the festivities and learn more. Visit www.valhallaprivatecap.com for details.

For more information contact:

Valhalla Media:

1-888-406-9005

media@valhallaprivatecap.com

BACKGROUND FOR MEDIA:

Members of the media are invited to attend either launch event. Please call the media line to register. We can also make Mr. Thompson available for one-on-one interviews.

VA Angels is pleased to announce a new initiative to increase the number of women angel investors and women entrepreneurs served by the group.

“VA Angels is a place where female entrepreneurs can expect to be taken seriously and funded accordingly,” says Randy Thompson, CEO of VA Angels. “We are working hard to ensure that when women-led companies do present at the form, they encounter an aware and diverse group of investors.”

Kristina Milke, President of VA Angels, leads the Deal Screening committee. “We are looking for great scalable business to present to our members. We would love to see more female-led ventures applying.”

Currently only four percent of venture capital goes to women in North America. If women were financed to the same degree as male-led companies, it would create six million jobs in the next five years in North America.(1) Venture capital firms with women partners are more than three times as likely to invest in companies with female CEOs.(2)

“The research is very clear that diverse groups make better decisions and out-perform non-diverse groups”, says Rosalee Gordon, Director of Diversity for VA Angels. “In VA Angels, individual angels make their own decisions on whether to invest each company and for how much. Yet we discuss each deal together and we do influence each other’s decisions. It’s very important to have female investors at the table.”

“The time is right for a focused effort on improving gender diversity in the angel community,” says Rosalee Gordon. “As we roll out this initiative at each of our chapters, I am encountering a groundswell of support from both our male and female members. Many of our angels are already working this issue in their own spheres of influence – in academia, in business, in professional organizations. We don’t like the statistics we are seeing. We don’t like the pace of change. We have daughters, we have sisters, we have strong female role models in our lives. For many of us we care, and we care at a very personal level.

For more information about the Diversity initiative at VA Angels, please contact:

Rosalee Gordon
Director of Diversity
VA Angles
rgordon@valhallaangels.com

1 SheEO Fact Sheet: Radical Generosity www.sheeo.world
2 Babson College Study 2014 “Women Entrepreneurs 2014: Bridging the Gap in Venture Capital”

eThor, the world leader in point-of-sale (POS) integration, has announced a partnership with MasterCard, as the global payments giant launches a new technical program to support loyalty initiatives across all channels.

Consumers and merchants alike have been looking for ways to make the payment and loyalty program elements of shopping more convenient and seamless. While online redemption of offers is commonplace for consumers, the industry is just starting to deliver the same functionality at point-of-sale checkout via a mobile app. With the introduction of a new technical specification, MasterCard is taking steps to deliver a unified, seamless check-out experience both in-store and in-app.

Read More

City officials held a press conference Tuesday morning to welcome the VA Angels, a Canadian angel investment firm, to its new location in Phoenix.

The Center for Entrepreneurial Innovation at Gateway Community College will house the VA Angels, said Jeff Saville, executive director of CEI. Saville said the firm will hold its monthly meetings at CEI and will also retain offices there.

Randy Lennon, co-founder and managing director of the firm, said it recently celebrated its 100th investment company and currently has 120 investors.

Read More

EDMONTON: Feb. 4, 2014

Two of Canada’s largest angel investor networks, TEC Edmonton and VA Angels Edmonton Chapter, are merging to become TEC Venture Angels.

TEC Venture Angels will build a bigger investor network, offer investment services and streamline connections between Northern Alberta angel investors and regionally-based early stage tech companies. A more sophisticated entrepreneur class and a healthier innovation ecosystem in Northern Alberta will result.

TEC Venture Angels will be run by not-for-profit innovation business incubator and accelerator TEC Edmonton. TEC Edmonton will initially screen, then assist start-up companies wishing to approach TEC Venture Angels for investment capital. No government money will be invested. Start-up companies will pay no fees or commissions to TEC Venture Angels.

Angel investors are so termed as they are usually the first providers of capital to early-stage companies.

In the last two years, operating independently, TEC Edmonton and VA Angels Edmonton have helped early stage companies raise more than $100 million.

VA Angels Edmonton leader Randy Thompson will be Director of TEC Venture Angels.

The bottom line is that deserving regional companies will access badly needed early-growth capital.

Please join  Alberta Deputy Premier and Minister of Innovation and Advanced Education, the Honourable Dave Hancock, City of Edmonton Mayor His Worship Don Iveson, TEC Edmonton CEO Chris Lumb and TEC Venture Angels Director Randy Thompson for more details on this unique public-private investment merger, believed to be the first of its kind in North America.

Date: Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Time: 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. (A light lunch will be available)
Place: The Westin Hotel, Manitoba/Saskatchewan Room, 10135 100 St., Edmonton