The TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V) today launched its year-long 2004 Venture Success campaign in a bid to promote the future of public venture markets. The campaign brings together leading players in venture capital and introduces Canada’s up and coming growth companies to members of the investment community.

“We hope to bring attention to some of the terrific growth companies that got started with help from TSX Venture Exchange and we also hope to plant the seeds to grow the next wave of great Canadian companies,” says TSX-V president Linda Hohol.

A number of successful former TSX-V companies were showcased at the presentation, including Calgary-based rental company Boardwalk Equities Inc., Edmonton-based biopharmaceutical company Isotechnika Inc., and Arctic Glacier Income Fund, based in Winnipeg. The companies are just three of 143 companies that have graduated to the Toronto Stock Exchange since 2000.

Despite the success stories emerging from TSX-V, investor confidence in new companies is still wavering since the dot-com crash in 2001. Richard Groome, senior VP of Strategic Capital, Desjardins Securities, says that advisors have to be up front with their clients about the risks in venture companies and not place any big bets on just one name. “It’s vital that clients invest in one to 10 companies,” Groome explained, adding that the investments shouldn’t upset their core portfolio. “And they need to diversify, because two of those companies will likely fail.”

But statistics show that good things are happening in the venture capital market. In 2003, total trading volume on TSX-V was 13 billion shares, up 52% from 2002. Total value traded was $7 billion, double that of 2002. In both 2002 and 2003, the S&P/TSX Venture Composite outperformed leading North American exchanges, including the TSX, the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq.

The next step is getting the message out there, Hohol says. “Canadians tell us that they have an idea of what TSX Venture does, but they also tell us that they really want to know more about the companies listed on the exchange,” she explains.

To that end, the campaign will make its way to Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary and Vancouver over the next nine months, where consortium members will host workshops to help business leaders access the public venture market.