A Toronto venture capital company says it’s not one of the 300 VCs who are supposed to be members of a business plan clearing house announced this week.
Whitecastle Investments Ltd. is among several Canadian companies listed as members of the Venture Exchange Network in a news release issued
Wednesday. The exchange says it reviews business plans with the help of KPMG LLP analysts and software that tries to match plans with vencaps’ needs. If there’s a match the plan is forwarded to the VC for consideration.
But an executive of Whitecastle’s venture capital arm said Friday the company is not an exchange member.
“”We’re not affiliated with the organization,”” said Ron McKenzie, managing director of Whitecap Venture Partners.
“”I think you’ll see some statements correcting that”” from the exchange, he added. He wouldn’t elaborate.
Exchange chief operating officer John Kozak refused to comment, saying there were inaccuracies in a previous ITBusiness.ca story about the exchange. He wouldn’t give details.
“”There were numerous inaccuracies in the article, and we’ll point those out in writing”” next week, he said.
Whitecastle isn’t the only company surprised to see its name on the press release. Bernie Grybowski, president of HDL Capital, said he has no idea how his firm’s name was listed. However, he added, he’s flattered it’s on a list with some of the leading VCs in the country.
In an e-mail a public relations representative of the exchange said a list of its contacts with venture firms would be sent to ITBusiness.ca after the alleged inaccuracies in the earlier story had been rectified.
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