The Value of Fundica

A Comparison of Three Online Funding Identification Systems

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Background
There are many funding opportunities available to companies in Canada, so the real challenge for entrepreneurs is finding and identifying the right opportunities without neglecting their core business. They must select the most advantageous funding options from whatever grants, tax credits, loans, loan guarantees, and equity funding programs they can find. Obviously, access to information is a key determinant of funding success. Entrepreneurs who can efficiently identify the most, relevant opportunities are more likely to make well-informed choices that yield maximum benefit. Three Canadian online funding identification systems are available to entrepreneurs: Fundica, Canada Business Network (CBN) and The Funding Portal. This report compares these systems and analyzes how each one performed in three test scenarios.

Methodology
To help us assess the effectiveness and value of the three Canadian online funding identification systems, we created three distinct company scenarios representing typical clients of these funding identification systems. Here are the three scenarios that we chose: 1. An Ontario IT company established in 2010 having six employees and $10K$100K annual revenue. They intend to do some R&D and hiring. 2. An Alberta oil and gas company established in 1990 having 500+ employees and $50M+ annual revenue. They are seeking funding for projects in several areas of operation. 3. A Quebec aerospace company established in 1990 having 100 employees (max) and $10M+ annual revenue. They are also seeking funding for projects in several areas of operation. We tested the online funding identification systems with these scenarios between January 22nd and January 25th, 2013, and tabulated the results below.

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Tabulated Results
Table 1a: Ontario IT Company Scenario
Year Inc. 2010 Province ON (N1R 1S3) Number of Employees 6 Industry Sector IT Areas of Operation R&D, hiring Ownership Type Young Entrepreneur, CCPC* Annual Revenue $10K$100K

* CCPC: Canadian-Controlled Private Corporation

Table 1b: Number of programs per database

Programs Applicable [A] Grants Tax Credits Public loans Private loans Equity Not Applicable [B] Grants Tax Credits Public loans Private loans Equity Nonexistent Repeated Academic Total [C] Relevance (A/C) Fundica CBN The Funding Portal 1 1 3 n/a* n/a* 6 1 8 n/a* n/a* 3 1 1 25 20%

32 9 10 71 60 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 182 100%

7 5 5 0 0 10 1 10 0 0 3 5 1 47 36%

*Not available in free version

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Table 2a: Alberta Oil and Gas Company Scenario

Year Inc. 1990 Province AB Number of Employees >500 Industry Sector Oil & Gas Areas of Operation All (Except strategic operations) Ownership Type CCPC* Annual Revenue > $50 million

* CCPC: Canadian-Controlled Private Corporation

Table 2b: Number of programs per database

Programs Applicable [A] Grants Tax Credits Public loans Private loans Equity Not Applicable [B] Grants Tax Credits Public loans Private loans Equity Nonexistent Repeated Academic Total [C] Relevance (A/C) Fundica 30 4 21 104 55 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 214 100% CBN 6 5 9 2 0 8 1 16 0 0 2 1 0 50 44% The Funding Portal 1 0 0 n/a* n/a* 1 0 2 n/a* n/a* 2 0 0 6 17%

*Not available in free version

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Table 3a: Quebec Aerospace Company Scenario

Year Inc. 1990 Province QC (H3C 3G9) Number of Employees <100 Industry Sector Aerospace Areas of Operation All (Except strategic operations) Ownership Type CCPC* Annual Revenue > $10 million

* CCPC: Canadian-Controlled Private Corporation

Table 3b: Number of programs per database

Programs Applicable [A] Grants Tax Credits Public loans Private loans Equity Not Applicable [B] Grants Tax Credits Public loans Private loans Equity Nonexistent Repeated Academic Total [C] Relevance (A/C) Fundica 67 11 27 96 44 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 245 100% CBN 5 7 14 1 0 9 3 20 0 0 2 1 0 62 44% The Funding Portal 1 1 4 n/a* n/a* 1 0 0 n/a* n/a* 3 0 0 10 60%

*Not available in free version

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Analysis
We defined three key performance characteristics for funding identification systems: 1. System Comprehensivenessquantity and types of programs listed in the respective systems. 2. System Accuracyability to generate relevant search results. 3. Key Detailsterms of use for free accounts/versions. Our analysis of the three Canadian funding identification systems is presented in terms of these performance characteristics.

Table 4: Comparison of Canadian online funding identification systems

Characteristic Fundica CBN The Funding Portal ~700 1 1,100 2 2,200 3 18 17%-60% Public only Optional 1 hour 25 results

System Comprehensiveness For-Profit 2,500 200-500 Not-For-Profit 0 200-500 Academic 0 ~0 System Accuracy Filters 36 3 4 Relevance 100% 36%-44% Key Details (Free Version) Programs Public+Private Public+Private Sign-up/Return Yes No Time Limit Unlimited Unlimited Number of Results Unlimited Unlimited
1

Based on 4,068 total government programs less over 2,200 non-for-profit and over 1,100 academic programs (see footnotes 2 and 3). An additional 500 private sector programs can be purchased, but were not included or available for free. 2 Steinsky-Schwartz, Georgina. Over 1,100 funds available for Canadian non-profit sector, The Funding Portal, December 12, 2012, http://alerts.thefundingportal.com/?p=7032, retrieved January 25, 2013. 3 Borza, Steve. This Week's Top Story: WTC Montreal receives $2.78M in funding, The Funding Portal. Issue 13 (2011): Page (2), http://www.thefundingportal.com/app/webroot/newsletter/issue13.htm, retrieved January 25, 2013. 4 Based on the three test scenarios. Note: All other tabulated information was drawn from the websites of the respective systems.

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System Comprehensiveness
When looking at the system comprehensiveness of the three funding identification systems, we should note that each one targets a distinct subset of the finding funding market. Fundica specializes in funding opportunities for for-profit enterprises, offering 2,500 program listings from both the public and private sectors. In contrast, CBN lists 200500 programsmore than 80% fewer than Fundicaand The Funding Portal approximately 700 programs72% fewer than Fundica. CBN and The Funding Portal both cater to the not-for-profit market, while The Funding Portal alone lists academic programs2,200 in total, comprising the lions share of its database. It is important to note that there is little overlap between programs for the academic, not-for-profit, and for-profit sectors. Of the three competitors, Fundica is the only one that focuses exclusively on for-profit enterprises, and it is far more comprehensive than the other two systems in this respect.

System Accuracy
We defined accuracy in terms of 1) the ability to filter programs based on the unique requirements of each business, and 2) the relevance of the results. Fundica has 36 filtering parameters inside 20 questions, which are highly optimized for for-profit corporations. CBN provides only three optional filtering parameters: purpose of financing, location of business, and business sector. As a result, many irrelevant programs appeared in the results for each of the three test scenarios. Some programs were even listed multiple times under different names. The Funding Portal offers a total of 18 filters within 8 questions for the for profit sector. The three test scenarios clearly indicated that the Fundica results were far more relevant than the results generated by the other two systems. Both CBN and The Funding Portal listed programs that were incorrectly filtered. While Fundica scored 100% relevance on all three scenarios, CBN scored between 36% and 44%, and The Funding Portal scored between 17% and 60%.

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The absence of effective filters makes it unlikely that users will be able to generate a focused list of relevant programs with CBN or The Funding Portal. Fundica demonstrates a high degree of filtering precision, yielding extremely relevant program listings.

Key Details (Free Version)

All three funding identification systems offer free access to their databases with certain restrictions. Both Fundica and CBN grant user access to all public and private funding programs, while The Funding Portal restricts free account holders to public programs only. Fundica requires email sign-up but, in exchange, users are free to access the system for as long they want, as often as they want. The Funding Portal asks users to sign up (but does not require it) and CBN does not ask users to sign up. Neither Fundica nor CBN limit user access on the basis of login time, number of visits, or quantity of displayed search results. The Funding Portal caps users time at one hour and the number of search results at 25 programs. In essence, Fundica and CBN both provide a reusable, free, and complete tool while The Funding Portal merely allows users to test drive part of their system.

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Conclusion
Since the value of an online funding identification system is a function of how quickly and easily it can connect entrepreneurs with the most advantageous funding sources, Fundica is the obvious choice for Canadian businesses. Containing more than 2,500 listings, Fundicas system of identifying funding programs for for-profit companies is much more comprehensive than the other two systems combined. Fundica also offers more sophisticated filtering (36 filters) than both CBN (three filters) and The Funding Portal (18 filters). Consequently, Fundica search results have 100% relevance while the other two systems lag behind at 17%60%. Fundicas highly relevant program listings empower entrepreneurs to immediately validate opportunities and submit applications, saving time and money. Small businesses, in particular, can take advantage of Fundicas convenient free account to access the system whenever they want. Companies and advisors with more extensive needs can very affordably upgrade their system privileges. We know that businesses can derive more value from Fundica than from the other two Canadian online funding identification systems, but we dont expect anyone to take our word for it. Instead, we strongly encourage entrepreneurs to try all three systems and decide for themselves.

How Fundica Can Help

Every day, Fundica saves North American companies years worth of time that theyd otherwise spend finding and filtering funding opportunities. Fundica is 100% free and getting to the results takes less than 30 seconds. Its quite simply the best way to find corporate funding in North America. Try it, youll see. Find funding now at www.fundica.com. Or, to learn about Fundicas comprehensive funding advisory services, please call us at 1-855-Fundica.

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