Kootenay Investment Challenge

Apply as an Investor

Apply as an Entrepreneur

A place-based edition of Spring Activator’s Investor Challenge—building a culture of early-stage angel investing and purpose-driven entrepreneurship in the Kootenay Region.

Presented by

Delivered by

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

The Kootenay Investment Challenge is a 10-week program facilitated by Spring Activator and consists of weekly interactive sessions and a pitch night that will run from September to December 2022. This challenge will have two intersecting cohort streams: one geared towards investors looking to make early-stage investments into local tech companies and one designed for local startups looking to fundraise.

Accredited and aspiring local investors will be introduced to investment-ready ventures in the region, along with early-look companies with high future investment potential. Participating investors will learn how to evaluate prospective investments in emerging startups in and around the Kootenay region, and entrepreneurs will be guided towards being investment-ready for a chance to win $50,000 – $100,000 of investment funding from the investor cohort.

This collaborative initiative between Spring Activator, and the Kootenay Association for Science and Technology (KAST) is funded in partnership with the British Columbia Rural Dividend Fund.

At the end of the program, the investor cohort will award between $50,000 – $100,000 in investment to one Kootenay-based startup.

HELPING ENTREPRENEURS PREPARE FOR THE INVESTMENT CHALLENGE

To best prepare for the investor challenge, we have built into the program a 6 weeks Investment Readiness Training in September/Early October. These sessions will give you the tools to get ready to pitch, prepare your data room and be ready to pitch in front of the investors.

* if you have a data room ready, a full pitch deck, and do not wish to participate in this pre-training but go directly to the Investor Challenge please contact the team.

Objectives:

Understanding the funding fundamentals and how to pitch effectively
Learning how to prepare a good due diligence package
Learning how to share efficiently with your investors about your sales and growth strategy
Preparing for legal terms/deal terms/valuation

PARTICIPANT SELECTION CRITERIA

INVESTORS

This program is designed to serve investors and individuals seeking to make a difference through the power of capital.

Types of participants we are looking for include (but not limited to):

A seasoned investor curious to learn more about impact investing
An experience entrepreneur interested in investing
A corporate or new career individual, purpose-driven
Local professionals looking to stay up to date on innovation and learn about investing

ENTREPRENEURS

What does an ideal applicant look like?

Local Impact: place-based economic development
Stage: pre-seed to seed stage with indicators of traction
Team: strong team commitment and diversity
Potential for Scale: looking to raise between $100K – $1M on average
Location: your tech venture is based anywhere in the Kootenays or, if you are outside of the Kootenay region, demonstrated ties within the region

PROGRAM COST

COURSE FEES (FOR INVESTORS)

A one-time program fee of $1,275 + GST that covers
- All the administration, legal support, and course fee associated with the program and investment vehicle
- First year membership to the Spring Investing Collective ($500 value)
Early-bird: program fee of $975 + GST (if you register before June 30th!)
Paid upon registration to the program
Investor alumni can join any future Spring Investor Challenge free of charge (no program fee, only the investment commitment)

INVESTOR INVESTMENT COMMITMENT

An investment commitment of:
- $10,000 for accredited investors
- $2,500 for non-accredited investors

Example: An accredited investor would pay $975 early bird fee and then make a pre-committed investment of $10,000. The total cash participation of that investor will be $10,975