Bruce Croxon | |
---|---|
Born | |
Nationality | Canadian |
Occupation | Entrepreneur |
Bruce Croxon (born January 1, 1960) is a Canadian entrepreneur, television personality, and venture capitalist. Croxon is currently a partner at Round13 Capital and co-host of BNN's TV show, The Disruptors. Croxon co-founded the dating website Lavalife and joined the cast of CBC's Dragons' Den from 2011 to 2013. [1]
Bruce Croxon co-founded Lavalife in 1987 with partners, Nick Paine, David Chamandy and Ed Lum. Partner, chairman and CEO, Croxon helped lead the company's growth, achieving revenue of just under $100 million with over two million users. In 2004, Croxon led the sale of the company for US$152.5 million to MemberWorks Inc. [2]
Bruce Croxon was a Dragon on CBC's Dragons' Den from 2011 to 2013 alongside Canadian entrepreneurs Jim Treliving, Kevin O'Leary, Robert Herjavec, David Chilton and Arlene Dickinson. The program showcased Canadian entrepreneurs' business pitches to a panel of venture capitalists ("Dragons") for financing and partnerships. [3] [4] Croxon made several investments on the show including Balzac's Coffee and Custom Tattoo Design. Croxon left the show in 2013 because “Round 13 is ramping up and I need to focus" [5]
Round 13 Capital was founded in Toronto, Ontario, by Croxon and his partners John Eckert and Scott Pelton in 2012. "Round 13 Capital is a growth-stage venture capital firm that invests in Canadian companies with the potential of becoming monster hits. "The firm seeks to invest in technology and digital sector in Canada." [6]
The Disruptors is a TV show that airs weekly on Business News Network. The show follows the most exciting international business news trends, offering expert analysis and advice to smaller Canadian companies looking to expand fast. Bruce Croxon co-hosts the show alongside BNN anchor, Amber Kanwar. "The program promises to introduce viewers — traditional business leaders and investors — to the latest technologies from around the world as well as to Canadian tech entrepreneurs who are changing the way we live and work." [1]
Venture capital is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which have demonstrated high growth. Venture capital firms or funds invest in these early-stage companies in exchange for equity, or an ownership stake. Venture capitalists take on the risk of financing risky start-ups in the hopes that some of the companies they support will become successful. Because startups face high uncertainty, VC investments have high rates of failure. The start-ups are usually based on an innovative technology or business model and they are usually from high technology industries, such as information technology (IT), clean technology or biotechnology.
Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) is an American venture capital firm focused on investments in enterprise, consumer and disruptive technologies. In January 2019, DFJ Venture, the early-stage team, spun out and formed Threshold Ventures. DFJ Growth continues to be managed by co-founder John Fisher and the existing DFJ Growth partner team.
Dragons' Den is a reality television program format in which entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to a panel of venture capitalists in the hope of securing investment finance from them. The program originated in 2001 in Japan, where it is known as The Tigers of Money, a pun on "The Tiger of Malaya", which was the nickname of WWII general Tomoyuki Yamashita. The format was created and is owned by Nippon TV and is distributed by Sony Pictures Television.
Sean Wise is a Canadian mentor capitalist, international business speaker, business columnist for The Globe and Mail, author, partner at Ryerson Futures Inc, and as a consultant for CBC on the venture reality show Dragons' Den.
Timothy Cook Draper is an American venture capital investor, and founder of Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), Draper University, Draper Venture Network, Draper Associates and Draper Goren Holm. His most prominent investments include Baidu, Hotmail, Skype, Tesla, SpaceX, AngelList, SolarCity, Ring, Twitter, DocuSign, Coinbase, Robinhood, Ancestry.com, Twitch, Cruise Automation, PrettyLitter and Focus Media. In July 2014, Draper received wide coverage for his purchase at a US Marshals Service auction of seized bitcoins from the Silk Road website. Draper is a proponent of Bitcoin and decentralization. Draper was also one of the first investors in Theranos.
Terence Thomas Kevin O'Leary, also known as Mr. Wonderful and Maple Man, is a Canadian businessman, investor, journalist, and television personality. From 2004 to 2014, he appeared on various Canadian television shows. These include the business news programmes SqueezePlay and The Lang and O'Leary Exchange, as well as the reality television shows Dragons' Den and Redemption Inc. In 2008, he appeared on Discovery Channel's Project Earth. Since 2009, he has appeared on Shark Tank, the American version of Dragons' Den.
Founders Fund is a San Francisco based venture capital firm. Formed in 2005, Founders Fund had more than $11 billion in aggregate capital under management as of 2022. The firm invests across all stages and sectors, including aerospace, artificial intelligence, advanced computing, energy, health, and consumer Internet, with a portfolio that includes Airbnb, Lyft, Spotify, Stripe, and Oscar Health. Founders Fund was the first institutional investor in Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Palantir Technologies, and one of the earliest investors in Facebook. The firm’s partners, including Peter Thiel, Ken Howery and Brian Singerman, have been founders, early employees and investors at companies including PayPal, Google, Palantir Technologies, and SpaceX.
David Chilton is a Canadian born author, investor, and television personality from Waterloo, Ontario. He appeared on television in the Canadian version of Dragons' Den.
BNN Bloomberg is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel owned by Bell Media. It broadcasts programming related to business and financial news and analysis. The channel is headquartered at 299 Queen Street West in Downtown Toronto.
Arlene Dickinson is a South African Canadian businesswoman, investor, author, and television personality. She is the general partner of District Ventures Capital and CEO of Venturepark. Dickinson joined the cast of the CBC business reality show Dragons' Den during its second season in 2007 and departed in the ninth season in 2015. She then returned to continue with the Dragons for the 12th season in 2017. She was selected to perform on the series after she won numerous awards, including Calgary Business Owner of the Year, PROFIT magazine's Top 100 Women Business Owners, the Pinnacle Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence, Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards and Canada's Most Powerful Women Top 100. The show describes her as a self-made multi-millionaire.
James Caan is a British-Pakistani entrepreneur and television personality.
Julie Marie Meyer MBE is an American businesswoman and the author of Welcome to Entrepreneur Country. She is the CEO and member of the board of Viva Investment Partners. She founded Ariadne Capital Limited and Ariadne Capital Malta Limited, and was a co-founder of the networking forum First Tuesday. In 2009, Meyer was a guest on the online edition of the Dragons' Den TV series.
Dragons' Den is a Canadian television reality show based on the internationally franchised Dragons' Den format which began in Japan. The show debuted on October 3, 2006, on CBC Television, and is hosted by Dianne Buckner. Aspiring Canadian entrepreneurs pitch business and investment ideas to a panel of venture capitalists in the hope of securing business financing and partnerships. The show also has a Quebec-only spin-off called Dans l'oeil du Dragon.
Michael Wekerle is a Canadian merchant banker and television personality, best known for being an investor on the Canadian reality show Dragons' Den for three years first appearing in the ninth season.
Manjit Minhas is a Canadian entrepreneur, television personality and venture capitalist. She is co-owner of Minhas Breweries & Distillery, manufacturer of beer brands such as Mountain Crest Classic Lager, Boxer Lager, Lazy Mutt Ale and Huber Bock. She specializes in marketing with interests in branding and sales. Minhas was announced as one of the new dragons on Season 10 of the Canadian reality television series Dragons' Den in 2015 for its tenth season. According to the Dragons Den website she has "been recognized for several business industry awards such as PROFIT magazine's "Top Growth Entrepreneur", Top 100 Women Entrepreneurs in Canada, Canada's Top 40 under 40, Chatelaine Magazine's "Top Entrepreneur Woman of The Year 2011", Ernst and Young's Entrepreneur of The Year Prairie Region and The Sikh Centennial Foundation Award 2015." Minhas's philanthropic causes include The United Way, which she co-chaired in 2017 and an engineering school for girls in India. Minhas joined the ATB Financial Board of Directors in 2017 and is on both the Governance and Conduct Review, and the Human Resources Committees. She joined the Calgary Airport Authority Board of Directors in 2020.
Michele Romanow is a Canadian tech entrepreneur, television personality, board director and venture capitalist. She co-founded Clearbanc, a Toronto based provider of revenue sharing solutions to fund new online businesses, and other e-businesses, and made the list of 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada in 2015. She was named as one of the Forbes Top 20 Most Disruptive "Millennials on a Mission" in 2013 and Canadian Innovation Awards’ Angel Investor of the Year in 2018. Romanow joined the cast of CBC’s Dragons' Den in Season 10.
Canada Drives is a Canadian online vehicle retailer founded in 2010 and based in Vancouver. The company allows customers to buy certified used cars online. Customers can also sell their vehicle to Canada Drives or trade it in.
Vincenzo "Vince" Guzzo is a Canadian entrepreneur, philanthropist and television personality. He currently serves as CEO of Cinémas Guzzo, Groupe Guzzo Construction inc., Guzzo Medical and Guzzo Hospitality. He has also opened a chain of Neapolitan pizzerias called Giulietta in Montreal. He and his wife raise money for charities through the Guzzo Family Foundation. Guzzo was a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012, he was knighted by the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic and is a member of the Order of Malta.
Mike Gettis is a Canadian businessman, entrepreneur and investor based in Toronto, Ontario. He is the founder and the former CEO of Endy Sleep, a Canadian-based, e-commerce company. He is also the co-founder and the current CEO of Kilne, a Canadian cookware company. During his time at Endy, the company was named the Fastest Growing Retailer in Canada by Maclean's and Canadian Business.
Eric D. Collins is an American businessman, serial entrepreneur, technology expert, former President Obama appointee. He is the CEO and co-founder of Impact X Capital Partners. In 2021 Collins was announced as the host of Channel 4 business reality show The Money Maker,. He has served on President Obama's Small Business Administration’s Council on Underserved Communities.