News

Check the growing list of BC-based Unicorns.

20Jun2024 BDC Capital, a subsidiary of crown corp and national development bank BDC, is committing $250M to support Indigenous and Black-led businesses.

21Apr2023 BDC announces new $150M fund for Cleantech companies.

20Mar2023 PacifiCan dishes out $26M in non-dilutive funding to BC startups.

25Jan2022, Deloitte Canada Commits $150M to Deloitte Ventures to invest in emerging technology companies.

13Dec2021, T-Net: Hootsuite Founder Ryan Holmes and Manny Padda Launch LOI Venture, a New $20 Million VC Fund to Invest in Young Founders Under Age 30.

15Oct2021, Thomson Reuters launches $100-million capital fund to support startups in sectors that the company currently serves.

11Oct2021, new female-led Venture Fund, The51, based in Calgary is focusing on the Agritech sector.

4Aug2021, T-Net reports: Yaletown Partners Announces Closing of new $200 Million Innovation Growth Fund II (Venture Capital Fund).

7July2021, Globe & Mail Report on Business: Two ex-Constellation Software execs form Arcadea Group to acquire controlling interests in software companies that are growing and generating between US$4M and US$20M per year in annual revenue.

6May2021, BDC Capital announces new $200M fund to accelerate the development of transformational technologies in a number of sectors including quantum, electronics, photonics, foundational AI and related fields.

17Apr2021, $500-million investment fund paves way for StrongerBC – A first-of-its-kind $500-million strategic investment fund will provide B.C.-based businesses with capital to position the province as a front-runner in the post-pandemic economy. The B.C. government has introduced legislation to support the operations of InBC Investment Corp. (InBC), a new $500-million strategic investment fund.

1Apr2021, NGIF Cleantech Ventures is a $35M fund backed by 7 leading Canadian gas companies to invest in startups developing clean technologies applicable to the gas industry.

22Mar2021, Inovia Capital has raised $450 million USD for its second growth stage fund as the Montréal-based venture firm aims to build on its success with Lightspeed and create more Canadian unicorns.

15Mar2021, Once a start-up company is on its feet and needs to develop to the next stage, what next? That’s where the Business Scale-up and Productivity (BSP) program comes in. BSP supports high-growth Western Canadian firms that are scaling up and producing innovative goods, services or technologies through interest-free repayable funding.

25Feb2021, Small & Medium Sized Business Recovery Grant program provides fully funded grants to businesses to ensure that they have the support they need during and beyond COVID-19.

22Feb2021, BOAST.AI Secures $100 Million Credit Facility to build Clearbanc for R&D Tax credits.

22Sep2020, InBC Investment Corp, BC Government announces a new $500M fund that will invest in high growth potential firms to help them scale up and reach their highest potential and “growing and anchoring talent, intellectual property, innovation, investment and jobs in B.C., and driving economic growth in every region”. InBC’s investment decisions will be based on a double bottom line approach. That means delivering commercial returns and also achieving priorities that reflect the values and needs of British Columbians (or the current government in power).

4Mar2019, Silicon Valley Bank Opens in Canada. Not a traditional consumer bank – SVB is keen to invest in infotech and life sciences ventures – even startups!

3Dec2018, Western Economic Diversification’s Business Scale-Up & Productivity Program provides repayable interest-free funding to qualifying companies.

14Feb2017, BCIC’s Ignite program makes awards to three BC Companies totalling almost $1M.

7Feb2017: Applications are now open for MSFHR’s first Innovation to Commercialization (I2C) Awards. The I2C Program is part of a refreshed suite of programs, designed to address priorities and gaps in BC’s health research and innovation ecosystem.

6Feb2017, Morneau’s Growth Council calls for funding in its report, Unlocking Innovation to Drive Scale and Growth.

2Feb2017, Globe & Mail, Vancouver VC star Boris Wertz doubles up on partner count.

2Feb2017, Globe & Mail, Kickstarter PBC, the eight-year-old technology company that is practically eponymous for crowdfunding, has opened its first international office in Canada through the acquisition of Vancouver live-streaming video startup Huzza Media Inc.

30Jan2017, PricewaterhouseCoopers and CB Insights’ Q4 2016 Canada MoneyTree report highlights the latest trends in venture capital funding in Canada. Get the report.

30Jan2017, Globe & Mail, Nadir Mohamed: The ‘catalyst” behind ScaleUP’s successful corporate funding drive.

30Jan2017, T-Net, New Canadian ‘Venture Launchpad’ Company Diagram Announces Close of $25-Million Fund.

22Jan2017, Globe & Mail, 500 Startups’s first Canadian fund on track to exceed $30-million target.

5Jan2017, T-Net, Slack announced on its blog today that it has made 11 new investments in its Slack Fund. The company launched the $80 Million VC Fund in partnership with Accel, Index Ventures, KPCB, Social Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and Spark Capital back in approximately December 2015, and backs new companies that bring more streamlined workflows to Slack—reducing the small, yet high-frequency tasks that consume chunks of users time. Slack has major offices in the Yaletown area of Vancouver, BC

31Mar2016, 500 Startups announced $30M Canadian Fund for Startups.