Venture Capital in Canada in Q3-2011: up 51%

The CVCA, Canada’s Venture Capital & Private Equity Association reports that Canadian VCs investment totalled $388 million between July and September, up 51% from the same time in 2010.

137 companies received funding, up 27% from the same period last year. It represents significant growth compared to the previous two quarters, which saw moderate growth, especially in comparison to activity in the US. In total through Q3 2011 a total of $1.1 billion has been invested, up 30% from the $882 million invested in the first nine months of 2010.

“It is encouraging to see healthier levels of venture capital investment in Canada at this point”, said Gregory Smith, president of the CVCA and managing partner at investment bank Brookfield Financial. “And it is gratifying that the year-over-year growth in dollars invested has been spread across entrepreneurial firms in key innovative sectors – communications and information technology, life sciences, and clean technology.... As positive as these developments are, venture capital investment in Canada still has quite a distance to go to approximate market conditions south of the border”, he said. “Even with the growth in disbursements in the most recent quarter, Canadian innovative firms receive only 40 per cent of the dollars going to their competitors in the US.”

Across the provinces, Quebec took top spot, with $145 million invested, 81% more than the year before. Although more money has flowed into companies, few did an IPO: only 2 venture-backed IPOs so far in 2011. The number of completed exits in the first nine months of 2011 was 18.

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintellignece.com
Twitter: @InfocomAnalysis


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