The new fund on the block is Rho Ventures Canada, which announced a new $100-million vehicle backed by Teralys Capital, Northleaf Capital Partners and BDC.

This comes on the heels of Celtic House Ventures raising a $105-million fund earlier this week. Last December, iNovia unveiled a $110-million, while OMERS launched a $180-million fund last October.

This is clearly great news for Canadian entrepreneurs and startups, who have been grappling with a lack of venture capital to support a growing amount of activity. In some sense, it also reflects how VCs and institutional investors are starting to play catch up to Canada’s startup renaissance.

Here’s a quick Q&A with Rho’s Roger Chabra:

What is the new fund focused on?
It’s focused on early stage investing in Canadian companies within the technology and digital media sectors. Important themes for us currently include mobility, e-commerce, web services, advertising technology, big data, enterprise software and energy technology.

What will it invest in?
We will invest mostly in Series A stage companies but we will also do a selected number of seed deals. We have invested as little as 250k in an initial investment and as much as $7.5-million, but the typical initial investment for us is between $2-million to $5-million. We also look to participate in future financing rounds after our initial investment in companies that we believe strongly in – we can invest as much as $10-million in a company over time.

How was the fund-raising process?
Fund raising is an ongoing process and we began thinking about raising our second Canadian fund some time ago. In terms of formally marketing the fund to investors, we began about a year and a half ago. We are thrilled to have the fund in place, but the real work starts now. The work of finding great entrepreneurs to partner with and the work of adding value to their visions on a daily basis.

Is the Canadian VC landscape improving given the launch of new funds?
Yes. Venture capital is not for the faint of heart for either VCs or entrepreneurs, and it’s not for the faint of heart institutional investors either. We are incredibly lucky to have some very forward thinking investors in our funds. They share our vision of building billion dollar companies here in Canada. We all have a lot of work to do to convince even more institutions to invest in the venture asset class.

The fund will focus on early?stage investment opportunities in media communications technology, and focus on teams that have track records of innovation and entrepreneurial success. The investment approach is based on the idea the “existing Internet infrastructure is being taxed by the consumer?facing and mobility services that are changing the nature of social interaction and media consumption today”.

The emergence of new, large funds (at least by Canadian standards) is an encouraging sign the domestic venture capital ecosystem is becoming healthier. OMERS kicked things off last year with the launch of $180-million fund, while iNovia announced a $110-million fund last December. There are also several new funds on the horizon.

Celtic House’s current portfolio includes Vixs, Overlay.tv, Peraso, Movidisu and Redmere. Its exits include DNA13, Sandvine, eBillMe and Icera.

Nevertheless, we’ve had a healthy number of startup entrepreneurs during the initial mesh, which added a huge dose of excitement and enthusiasm.

Over the years, however, we’ve seen fewer entrepreneurs at mesh. It may have been the fact that two days can seem like an eternity within the startup world. It may be because mesh has become more expensive (although it’s still great value compared with many other conferences) at a time when startups are operating  lean and mean.

Whatever the reason, the lack of startups made it feel like something was missing. It was like having a great party but one of your best friends can’t make it. You have a good time but you know it could have been even better.

As someone who’s an ardent supporter of Canada’s startup ecosystem and who works with many startups, I’m excited mesh has reignited its love affair with startups this year.

With the introduction of the “Hosted Startup Scholarship” program, there will be 29 startup entrepreneurs attending mesh this week. The original goal was 20 but there were so many good applications, we had little choice but to invite more. The ability to invite start-up entrepreneurs to mesh was driven by generous sponsorship provided by Ernst & Young and Microsoft.

Another exciting wrinkle is a startup roundtable that myself and Stuart MacDonald will be moderating during mesh’s second day. We’ve invited four entrepreneurs – Evgeny Tchebotarev (500px), Aliza Pulver (Homesav), Heather Payne (Ladies Who Code) and Dups Wijayawardhana (Empire Avenue) – and a venture capitalist – Extreme Startups’ Andy Yang – to provide real-world insight into what it’s like to create, operate, finance and grow a startup. The format is interactive, which means attendees are encouraged to participate and provide their thoughts.

With Toronto’s startup community so active, it would be great to have even more startups at mesh so do not be surprised to see some new ideas and programs next year.

The first thing that strikes you about the XPS is how it’s a streamlined machine. It’s a long way from the image I had about bulk Dell laptops, and a lot like the MacBook Air – nicely packaged and designed, sleek, light and thin. For anyone like me who works everywhere and anywhere, the XPS 13 should be an attractive option.

With an Intel Core i5 or i7 processor, the XPS starts and reboots quickly, and easily handles multiple applications.

As a MacBook Pro user, it took awhile to get used to using Windows again – sort of like speaking a foreign language – but the transition was pretty quick, although it took some time getting used to the fact that hitting the “Delete” button works in different direction (forward) than on a Mac (backward).

It helps that so many applications are cloud-based, so it was easy to get up and running. To personalize the XPS, I downloaded Chrome and DropBox, and I’ll add 1Password soon.

One of the most exciting things about using the XPS was the ability to use Windows Live Writer to create blog posts. I’ve used a variety of blog writing software for Mac (e.g. MarsEdit)  but I have yet to find one that has the features and functionality of Live Writer.

The only quibbles I have with the XPS is how notifications for add-on services such as McAfee anti-virus software and Windows updates keep popping up.

For anyone looking for a light laptop, the XPS should be part of the mix. At $999 to $1,499, it compares in price to the MacBook Air, while offering a similar look, feel and design.

According to a new report from the Canadian Venture Capital Association, the amount of deals done in the first-quarter fell 34% to $263-million compared with a year earlier, while the number of companies attracting VC dropped 10% and the size of deals fell to $2.3-million from $3.1-million.

So, what’s the word from CVCA president Gregory Smith: “Perhaps the biggest single obstacle facing high-growth Canadian technology firms is difficulty accessing adequate value-added risk financing, in general and relative to competitors in the global economy. Even in 2011, when disbursements in the domestic market grew 37%, we did not see the needle move appreciably with respect to deal capitalization levels. The disappointing results of the first quarter of 2012 underscore the importance of taking steps to address this formidable challenge.”

Translation: There isn’t enough investment capital to support Canadian startups, and the size of the deals being done either suggest investors aren’t being aggressive enough or there isn’t enough deals being done beyond the seed stage.

As the CVCA holds its annual meeting in Montreal next week, the latest data provides even more food for thought about how the venture capital ecosystem can become more robust and healthier.

The online accounting service unveiled a $12-million series B financing round that includes The Social+Capital Partnership, as well as existing investors Charles River Ventures and OMERS. The deal takes place only eight months after the Toronto-based company raised $5-million

In a blog post, Wave CEO Kirk Simpson said: “We’re very proud of what we’ve accomplished at Wave since we launched at the end of 2010. We’ve had nearly a quarter of a million small businesses sign up, with tens of thousands of new businesses joining every month. But our goals are even bigger than this. There are even more features in Wave Accounting and Wave Payroll that we plan on developing, as well as other complementary tools we intend to release.”

Wave’s rise is impressive given how quickly the service has been embraced and the number of users it has attracted. The company was one of my first start-up consulting clients, and Simpson and I had lively discussions over Wave’s business model, its messaging and how it was going to be positioned in a competitive marketplace.

In hindsight, Wave has succeeded because it hit the market with a compelling and disruptive service – free online accounting – that resonated with small business owners looking for an alternative to Quicken or Excel spreadsheets. While I wasn’t a big fan of free, Simpson believed that Wave could monetize user’s data to create a viable business model.

The company’s ability to raise $18.5-million in financing, which includes an original seed round, is significant because it demonstrates that Canadian start-ups can attract the growth capital that is required to become a major player or, at least, drive to become a major player.

OMERS’ ability to provide and participate in series A and B round can’t be under-estimated given this is where the Canadian venture capital ecosystem needs to become more robust.

It means having strong messaging about what the product does, the value propositions and benefits, and then making sure enough people become aware of it through different marketing and sales channels. There’s a lot of moving parts to win over a customer.

The problem for many companies, including startups, is their marketing efforts stop once the user is registered and/or the sale is completed. All the marketing work to get someone to learn about and embrace a product is seen as work done in the past.

The reality is, however, their marketing and sales efforts have to continue to convince customers they have made the right choice and, as important, give them new and different ways to leverage the product’s benefits. Pre-sales marketing drives awareness and conversion; the post-sales marketing keeps them happy and in the fold.

So how do startups keep customers/users happy? It starts immediately after someone buys a product or signs up to use the service. The confirmation email that is sent should do more than simply welcome someone aboard; it needs to provide them with ways to get into and enjoy the product, and keep on selling them on its benefits.

Afterward, the same approach needs to be taken. Rather than leave consumers to their own devices, a startup has to keep them engaged on a regular basis. It could be  newsletters that offer tips, news and value-added content. It could be Webinars, case studies, whitepapers, videos, stellar customer service, or emails asking for their thoughts and advice. Whatever the marketing “weapons”, they need to consistently used.

The goal is not to overwhelm customers with information but offer them a steady flow of different content that they can pick from depending on their needs. Some customers may want to be left alone until they need support, while other customers want to be pampered post-sale and, in the process, may become brand evangelists.

Regardless of the approach, a startup’s sales and marketing efforts need to continue throughout the consumer life-cycle. This is basic blocking and tackling activity that applies  to most brands, but it’s particularly relevant to startups that battle so hard to capture someone’s attention that not doing whatever it takes to keep them aboard is like cutting themselves off at the knees.

What are your thoughts? What are some of the things startups need to do post-sales or post-registration to keep consumers engaged and sticking around?

While social media has become more entrenched as a marketing and sales tool, the common denominator is the importance of storytelling, regardless of whether those stories are told – be it Websites, social media, videos, brochures, case studies and white papers.

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