Valhalla Chairman on the Performance of Canada’s Startup Ecosystem in 2021

Emmet McGonagle

Jun 17, 2022

Randy Stewart Thompson – chairman of Valhalla Private Capital, managing director of Old Kent Road Financial and co-owner of Peterborough United Football Club – has discussed the performance of Valhalla’s chapters during the past year.


Randy remarked that both Calgary and Edmonton had “thrived in hyperlocal” consumer habits during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, “which is interesting”.


While Vancouver took “a little bit of a backseat” due to a change in regional support from Seattle and San Francisco - as opposed to Calgary’s relationship with Houston and Dallas, which Randy maintains is less dependent - Randy claimed that he saw “real focus and real attention spent on good companies being built in The Prairies”.


Likewise, Randy celebrated “really solid opportunities” for investors across Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina in Calgary, as well as BC’s success as signposted by November’s Valhalla Investment Summit BC, powered by Volition.

Over the past four years, Valhalla has managed and implemented four Investment Summit programs in provinces including Saskatchewan and British Columbia, each of which costs more than $100,000 to develop and nurture local investor communities to facilitate capital for early-stage entrepreneurs in their province.


Nurturing North American Startups in 2022

According to kwfinder.com, last year saw 18,100 searches on Google per month for “how to start a business” in the UK alone, indicating a strong uptick on the number of people starting businesses in the depths of the pandemic. However, figures from the Bureau of Labor indicate that two of every ten businesses fail within their first year of operations, while Startup Genome notes that 34% of startup failures stem from a lack of product market fit.


Product market fit is one of many topics addressed within Valhalla Private Capital’s Basecamp - an intensive hands-on bootcamp in which entrepreneurs can gain expert insight into the startup ecosystem in a bid to “get ahead” in today’s startup ecosystem.

To date, more than 1,100 entrepreneurs have participated in Valhalla Private Capital’s programs, helping those involved to collectively raise upwards of $500m in capital.


Do you have a question about angel investing? Get in touch with Valhalla Private Capital via our contact page.

Canadian Unemployment Grows in ‘Labour-Constrained Economy’

By Emmet McGonagle • 01 Dec, 2023
Canada’s unemployment rate has trended higher once again this month, according to the latest iteration of Statistics Canada’s November labour force survey.

Workers Call for Pay Transparency

By Emmet McGonagle • 29 Nov, 2023
More than half of workers believe that disclosing worker compensation details on job postings will lead to better equality in pay, according to the latest iteration of LinkedIn’s Workforce Confidence Index . The index - which is based on a survey of 3,302 members in Canada between June and September 2023 - found that 52% of people asked felt that people sharing their pay information (including salary and bonus) would improve workplace equality, compared to 48% in 2022. This number varies between different generations, with younger Canadians more likely to express support for pay transparency (73%), followed by 69% of Millennials, 46% of Gen X and 44% of Baby Boomers. However, 37% of those surveyed remarked that they felt anxious about sharing their pay information - a 2% rise from the year prior. Likewise, just under half (49%) said they felt well compensated for the work they do while 74% expressed that the pay gap between CEOs and employees had become too wide. The people of LinkedIn have come out in their dozens to give their two cents on the topic, with Adrienne Tom , executive resume writer for executives, saying: “ I'm all for salary transparency, so long as the number is clear and legit. Some postings list salary ranges so wide that the actual salary number isn't entirely clear, leaving job seekers confused.” “If you have a manager who is not advocating for the pay gap, you are working for the wrong manager,” remarked career strategist Sweta Regmi , while noting that women in Ontario earn an average of $0.87 for every dollar earned by men. On the topic, she added: “Salary ranges with job postings can help close the gender pay gap while allowing companies to find qualified candidates more quickly.” Do you have a question about angel investing? Get in touch with Valhalla Private Capital via our contact page .
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