Even Great Ideas Need Help: UVic Hosts Angel Forum

When your business is just starting out, getting a helping hand from someone who believes in you can make all the difference. That’s why the UVic industry liaison office—the Innovation and Development Corporation—and VIATeC are bringing together budding entrepreneurs and angel investors at the fifth Greater Victoria Angel Network Investors’ Forum. The June 30 invitation-only event will showcase eight companies, including UVic spin-off company DuVax, which has already attracted attention for its patented technology used to create bacterial vaccines, including $100,000 support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. “We hope to make DuVax a world leader in the production of both human and animal vaccines, reducing the need for antibiotics and the risk of bacterial infection like tuberculosis,” says UVic PhD student microbiologist Barry Duplantis, who founded DuVax this year with his father, engineer Neil Duplantis.
        Local businessman and angel investor Barry Carlson has attended all of the previous sessions. “Forums like this are a good opportunity to make money. I know a guy who turned down a chance to invest in RIM when it was selling for just 25 cents a share. And if you’re an ex-entrepreneur who doesn’t want to put in 80-hour weeks you can invest and still get excited about possibilities of growing something from the ground up. It’s a bit like speed dating. Everyone who attends is looking for something they can get involved in but the fit has to be right.”
         According to the Canadian Angel Investment Network, it is estimated that there are well over 200,000 potential angel investors that annually invest approximately $3 billion in Canadian businesses and currently own over $12 billion in existing equity. This represents roughly seven per cent of what Canadian banks are investing. For more information about the Greater Victoria Angel Network Investors’ Forum call Nichole Zurek at 250-721-6095 or nzurek@uvic.ca

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