Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Garage Canada: Failed Experiment?

Two years ago, much was made of the lunch of a Canadian affiliate of Guy Kawasaki's Garage Technology Ventures. Tom Sweeney (formerly of Bluetooth start-up Classwave Wireless) and Louis Desmarais(ex-Skypoint Capital) tagged to lead the fund, and spent the next 12 months or so marketing the heck out of the brand. A few investments were made - Group IV in Ottawa, Thermoceramix, Inscape, Lure Media. Then, about six months or so passed with a continuing silence.

Now, the Garage Canada web site is down, there is no reference to the affiliate on Garage's US site (although Tom used to be listed as an advisor) and there comes news that some of the former fund staffers are forming a new entity St Lawrence Capital(no website yet). What happened to the portfolio, and the undeployed capital contributed by Quebec LPs like Caisse and Soldiarity Fund QFL?