Fast 50 salutes four WF portfolio companies

We are seeing about 600 deal opportunities each year right now, split equally between Canada and the USA. And of those 600, we try to give each idea a careful look: some are an easy “yes”, others are an obvious “great idea, but too early” for a mid-stage fund such as ourselves. When a portfolio co. blows the doors off, you feel great about the modest contribution that your fund played in the team’s success.

Deloitte has just announced the Canadian Fast 50 winners for 2010, and we’re delighted to see four Wellington Financial Fund III portfolio companies on the list. We were floored in 2008, when 6 of the top 11 names came from our portfolio; but I’ll take four of fifty in this climate:

#2 – Real Matters
#12 – Vision Critical
#16 – Impact Mobile
#28 – Nightingale Informatix (NGH:TSXV)

Other noteable winners with venture capital backers included:

#1 – Clickfree (Tandem Expansion Fund)
#3 – Varicent Software (Edgestone, FTV, RBC Ventures)
#5 – Avigilon Corporation (Discovery Capital)
#8 – OmniGlobe Networks (BMO Capital Corp., FIER)
#10 – In Motion Technology (Discovery Capital)

At yesterday’s Fast 50 summit, a question came up about the relevance of venture capital to Canada’s entreprenuerial community. “Is the VC model broken?” served as part of the preamble. Fair question, given a 14 year low in VC deployment in Canada, and less than satisfactory investment returns in some corners…at least on an absolute basis. On a relative basis, they are fabulous (see prior post “VC returns trump all” June 2-09).

The fact that, once again, a majority of the top 10 Fast 50 companies have VC backers speaks volumes about the benefits of working with Canada’s venture capitalists. Good things can and do happen!

MRM
(disclosure – we hold warrants in NGH)