On November 9, 2020 Be-Hive Inc. competed as a finalist for the 4th China (Shenzhen) Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition in Shenzhen. Out of hundreds of applicants from 20 different countries, put through a rigorous screening process Be-hive was within 13 candidates selected to present its technology and business model and compete for $230,000. Although Be-Hive did not win this round, it received an impressive score of 83.44/100 and has received interest from a Chinese institutional investor for further discussion and to explore possible synergies.

Be-Hive is an Internet of Things (IoT) platform company that monitors and tracks environmental conditions and assets for manufacturing, warehousing, food services, agriculture and, commercial building applications using sensors, edge computing and AI.

Be-Hive helps users wirelessly monitor temperature, humidity, critical assets, location and much more without changing your existing infrastructure in a simple, reliable and affordable way.

How To Increase Your Chances of Securing VC Funding E11

In this episode, Chris Yap featured the CEO of Pycap Venture Partners, Stuart Browne. Stuart described how his experience as a CFO of a multinational company prompted him to establish his own VC company were evaluating multiple investment opportunities excited him versus focusing on only one.

Stuart articulated what entrepreneurs need to be mindful of when trying to raise capital from Venture Capitalists. Stuart emphasized the importance of having revenue traction prior to pitching to VCs.
This episode will provide entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs looking to secure VC funding practical advice on how to increase their probability of success in raising capital.

Pycap Venture Partners is a venture capital and corporate finance firm providing financing and value creating solutions for early stage companies, administrative, investment and management services for venture capital and private equity investment vehicles, and educational courses for universities, incubators, events and conferences

Stuart Browne is the CEO of Pycap Venture Partners, a venture capital and corporate finance firm. Stuart is also interim CFO of numerous tech companies and an Investment Committee Member of a $350M Ontario Government backed Fund.

In addition, Stuart instructs courses related to venture capital, corporate finance and entrepreneurship at the Schulich School of Business, MBA and MFIN programs, as well as UofT School of Continuing Studies. Stuart has been featured in news outlets including BloombergTV, BNN, Globe & Mail, the Toronto Star, and Techvibes.
Connect with Stuart on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

About From Zero 2 RevenueFROM ZERO 2 REVENUE is an avenue for successful entrepreneurs around the world to tell their stories on how they transformed their vision into reality.  We’ll learn about their products and services; and, the passion and character behind the leadership of the organization.  The show is designed to inspire and encourage struggling and future entrepreneurs to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams.
At the end of each episode, our listeners can expect plenty of takeaways! As the late Stephen Covey said, “All things are created twice – first in the mind, then in reality”.

The Host Chris Yap is a seasoned BPO executive with over 17 years experience in the industry. Chris came to the US in 2005 to actively promote the Philippines, a preferred outsourcing destination of the world. In doing so, Chris was able to help generate over 40,000 jobs in the Philippines for companies like Dell, Covergys and West Teleservices, which are now consolidated with other large BPO companies in the world.
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Chris has been happily married to Eizel for over 16 years and is blessed with 3 wonderful boys. In addition to his passion for business, Chris is also very passionate about helping to solve the child poverty problem. He is doing this by partnering with Food For The Poor where his company sponsors the feeding of children ages 5 and below on a monthly basis.

On Thursday, August 27, Pycap portfolio company Be-hive began work on a pilot project at Naru Izakaya restaurant to monitor the environmental conditions of its food storage units. Naru Izakaya is a Japanese restaurant serving sushi and other dishes. Because of the temperamental nature of the raw fish used in sushi, being able to monitor how it is stored is critical to ensure customers are served healthy and fresh food. 

Be-hive's solution provides real-time temperature and humidity monitoring inside coolers and freezers to prevent food spoilage and maintain food safety standards. In addition its' wireless sensors & Sensa Lync AI software platform will help monitor any fluctuations that happen in temperature or humidity levels and alert the staff before spoilage happens so appropriate actions can be taken in a timely manner. 

On average Naru Izakaya stores $40,000 per month of food ingredients including raw meat, fish, and vegetables. With Sensa Lync monitoring in place, the restaurant can now digitally monitor its products 24x7. The system will also allow restaurant owner & staff to remotely monitor data from their homes during the times the restaurant is closed.  

Software companies tap into export advantage amid COVID-19 restrictions
BRENDA BOUW

The COVID-19 pandemic hit at the worst time of year for Toronto-based agricultural technology startup Ukko Agro Inc.

Winter and early spring are when farmers make key decisions about what resources they need to plant, grow and harvest their crops in the coming months. It’s also an essential time for Ukko Agro to sell its digital tools that help farmers optimize pesticide, water and fertilizer usage to operate more sustainably.

“Agriculture is a high touch-point industry. A lot of farmers expect you to come to their fields, spend some time, explain what you do and then sign up,” says Ketan Kaushish, co-founder and chief executive officer of Ukko Agro, which has clients across North America and parts of Europe, specifically Belgium and Sweden.

With international travel complicated by the coronavirus and many farmers unwilling to take in-person meetings amid the pandemic, Ukko Agro – alongside many businesses – has been forced to shift its sales strategy online.
While online selling often isn’t the same as being there in person, businesses like Ukko Agro benefit from providing software that can be easily exported to new and existing customers around the world.

“The advantage is you don’t have to deal with export issues of physical product delays at borders, or stopped shipments,” says Stuart Browne, an instructor in the MBA and Master of Finance programs at York University’s Schulich School of Business.

Although many companies are spending less due to the economic uncertainty caused by the pandemic, Mr. Browne says there are more opportunities for Canadian software businesses at home and abroad given the global shift toward doing business online.

“They don’t have any borders, which means anyone can access them for the most part,” says Mr. Browne, who is also CEO of Pycap Venture Partners, a Toronto-based venture capital and corporate finance firm. “What good entrepreneurs should be doing is going into the market and finding problems and creating solutions,” both now during the pandemic and in general economic times.

Toronto-based Act Analytics Corp., which offers an environmental, social and governance (ESG) portfolio analytics platform for registered investment advisers in North America, the United Kingdom and Australia, has seen its sales strategy interrupted by the inability to pitch its product in person at conferences and other events.
However, the company is taking advantage of more businesses operating online during the pandemic, as well as the growing interest in sustainable investing.

“People have used the recent market volatility as an acid test for ESG investing – and sustainability has never been more discussed in light of COVID and the Black Lives Matter movement,” says Act Analytics co-founder and managing partner Mike Unwin. “On the marketing and sales side of things, a new virtual world and a new focus on IT infrastructure have played into the hands of many SaaS [software as a service] and e-commerce companies like ours.”

Not having to cross borders with a physical product “is a huge advantage for us being exporters of cloud-based software,” Mr. Unwin says. “There’s no limit to the places we’re getting interest from. It’s truly global.” He says the interest is coming from places such as the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Switzerland, France, Hong Kong and mainland China.

Mr. Unwin has also noticed increased interest from existing and potential clients around the online customer experience, including the ease of use of the company’s analytics tools. Act Analytics is working on expanding its digital presence, including marketing, distribution networks and partnership opportunities.

“We’ve seen a lot of people coming into our environment, purchasing and trying the product,” he says. “People are having to rely more on their technology …. I think, generally, people are more comfortable interacting and doing commerce over the internet, which is favourable to us.”
Still, Mr. Unwin is looking forward to the day when his team can meet clients in person again as part of their operations.

“We’d like to meet the people we do business with,” he says. “Once the world opens up again we can do more of that … I think there’s little substitute for meeting someone in person and generating a genuine relationship. I think that’s still something that people crave. It helps them become comfortable with a new business partner.”
When the pandemic is over and business returns to relative normal, Ukko Agro’s Mr. Kaushish expects to find a balance between selling his software in-person and online.

“We have to figure out [the right mix] between using digital tools and meeting farmers in-person,” he says. “It might take some time for farmers to use digital tools to get acquainted with and purchase new products, but it will eventually happen.”

In the meantime, Ukko Agro is hoping to capitalize on the growing interest companies have in using online products to run their business. The company is building up its online sales tools and both improving and expanding its products to help reach new international markets.

“[The pandemic environment] has shown us that we don’t need to be on the ground to enter new markets,” Mr. Kaushish says, adding that his company is having discussions with companies in Brazil and Argentina. It also has its sights on potential customers in other parts of Europe.
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“The mindset is changing [around using technology], and hopefully we see the positive effect in the long term,” he adds. “If everything goes online, nothing stops us from working in South America and [elsewhere in] Europe … I believe companies that build simple and reliable technology-based products will be the ones that win in this new world.”

Harvard University's summer school Venture Capital and Private Equity class hosted Pycap CEO Stuart Browne as a panelist and judge for a startup tech pitch event.

The Harvard class saw presentations from companies in the fintech, proptech, and petech industries with technologies in artificial intelligence, internet of things, and big data.

At the event Stuart represented his VC firm Pycap as well as Canada, providing insight in how the venture capital landscape differs from that of the US.

Pycap Venture Partners had the pleasure of attending Startup Network’s annual Unicorn Cup, the largest global pitch competition. Pycap was invited to the 2020 competition to sit on the international judging panel. A culmination of finalists from Startup Network’s Unicorn Battles, start-ups competed locally in person in late 2019 and early 2020, and in light of the pandemic, some local competitions pivoted to an online format starting in March 2020.

Winners of the local Unicorn Battles progressed through to the finals, The Unicorn Cup, competing against start-ups from across the globe. The event streamed live in 67 countries with thousands of viewers tuning in.

The Unicorn Cup took place over three days in three time zones to accommodate judges in Asia, Europe and the Americas. Representing Pycap, senior consultant and strategy manager Kristen Ferkranus joined the Unicorn Cup judging panel on the American Day.

Each day, the 51 finalists had 5 minutes to pitch their offering and company, as well as field questions from the judging panel. The purpose of the pitch was to convince the judges in the viability of the idea and the strength of the team. As a rule of the competition, direct investments were not solicited from the judging panel and finances were not discussed. The start-ups were encouraged to integrate feedback from the Q&A sessions and make modifications to their pitch before presenting to the next group of judges the following day in the new time zone.
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Start-ups ranged from medical devices, to sustainable textile manufacturing to AI driven insurance providers. Judges were asked to rate each pitch from one through five, with a score of five being the most worthwhile for investment. The winner of the American Day who received the highest rating for the day was the start-up Biosolvit. Hailing from Brazil, Biosolvit created a technology to absorb oil spills and other derivates and is the only product that allows for the reuse of the spilled oil.

Totalling the votes from the Asian, European and American days, the following companies took home third, second and first place in the Unicorn Cup Finals:

Third Place: H3 Dynamics

Originating in Singapore, H3 Dynamics offers autonomous expert safety inspections and performance monitoring of dangerous and complex structures or sites through AI processing on cloud, using raw data collected by sensors and cameras on cellphones, aerial drones, and ground or marine robots.

Second Place: Biosolvit

(detailed above)

First Place: Submer NextGen Datacenters

Founded in Spain, Submer developed a highly efficient, ultra-dense and eco-friendly, computing immersion cooling technology that saves 50% of this electricity, 85% of the real estate, and it can be placed anywhere, even without the expensive buildings.