Canadian VC funding recovers to $1.95B in Q2, reports $3.25B for first half of 2023
H1 2023 recovery fueled by the returns of US investors
US Investors pulled ahead of Canadian investor as the top source of VC fundings (44%)
International investors increased its funding share (16%) with the retreat of Canadian investors (40%)
US VC replaced Canadian Governments as the top funding source
Ontario regained as usual top funding receiving destination
City of Toronto became first $1 billion municipal city in 2023
VC funds raised in $613 million H1 2023
Dentons Canada LLP remained as the top VC law firm
All dollar ($) figures in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted.
TORONTO, July 28, 2023 /CNW/ - Canadian venture capital (VC) recovered from its recent low of $1.3 billion in Q1, 20231 to report $1.95 billion in Q2 2023 in disbursements2. For the first half of 2023, Canadian VC disbursements reached $3.25 billion, almost at par with that of Q1 2022, representing 62% decreases from the same period in 2022.
The recovery was driven by the return of US investors.
For the first half of 2023 (H1 2023), US investors invested $1.43 billion (44%), pulling well ahead of Canadian investors (40%) which in Q1 2023 had contributed almost equal mount as the US investors. International investors from 28 countries or regions invested $512 million, accounting for 16% of total funding in H1 2023.
Canadian government investors briefly became the leader in Q1 2023. US VC investors reclaimed the title position as the single largest individual source of financing with $729 million invested, leading second place Canadian government investors which invested $433 million.
Corporate investors (CVCs) combined invested $824 million in H1 2023. USA, international and Canadian CVCs invested $334 million, $277 million, and $213 million respectively.
Canadian Private VCs invested $254 million, ranking as 5th in the top six $200 million plus individual investor types.
Provinces
Ontario regained its position as the top VC recipient, securing $1.59 billion well ahead of $696 million, $455 million, and $365 million received by Quebec, BC and Alberta companies respectively.
Municipal Cities
City of Toronto became the first $1 billion recipient city, securing $1,12 billion in VC funding. Montreal and Vancouver ranked second and third, receiving $637 million and $409 million respectively.
The top $100 million recipient cities, which also including Kitchener, Calgary, Edmonton, and Ottawa, secured $2.86 billion in combined VC funding, representing 88% of total VC funding.
Sectors
ICT companies raised $1,91 billion or 59% of the total amount.
Biotech and Cleantech ranked as distant recipient sectors, raising $557 million and 483 million respectively.
Stages
Early stage and growth/late-stage financings raised $1.55 billion and $1.14 billion respectively.
Seed/pre-seed stage financings raised $272 million from 82 financings, representing 27% of the total number of financings for 8% of the total funding.
Company size
Companies with 0-49 employees raised $1.55 billion accounting for 48% of the total disbursements (545%). Companies with 50-99, 100-499 and 500+ employees raised $596 million, 972 million and $133 million respectively.
19 private VC funds and 2 platform funds (Startup TNT funds) raised $613 million in aggregate in H1 2023. The fundraising was down substantially from $1.72 billion reported for the same period of last year.
H1 2023 Leading VC law firms3
Dentons Canada LLP continued to lead all law firms with 54 financings for $472 million.
"This data reveals that VC cleantech investment in Canada in H1, 2023 appears to be developing some momentum, coming off a strong 2022. However, fintech investing is firmly in the doldrums. Unsurprising, given that fintech investing has slowed down in a number of comparator jurisdictions but at the same time surprising given the intense competition in financial services. Also, of note. and contrary to recent media reports, Toronto only received about one-third of venture capital investing dollars in Canada and may not be quite as predominant in the space as thought. This may be attributed to the decline in fintech, given Toronto's pre-eminent position in the financial services industry in Canada. Finally, of note, is the roughly $2 billion raised by small firms (with fewer than 100 employees) that went to fewer than 300 such companies - considering that the small company universe in Canada stands at approximately 1.2 million firms," commented Richard Rémillard, President of Rémillard Consulting Group (RCG).
Summary report
Summary report can be downloaded from financings.ca website: https://www.financings.ca/reports/
Included
- Equity and quasi-equity investments in companies directly.
Excluded
- Secondary transactions (investor/shareholder exit events) in which companies received no money
- PE transactions
- Financing by foreign headquartered/domiciled companies with Canadian subsidiaries.
Rémillard Consulting Group (RCG) is a unique, Ottawa-based, bilingual consulting firm specializing in providing private sector, government & trade association clients with creative, research-grounded solutions to business issues and public policies involving the Canadian financial services industry. For more information: [email protected]
With over 80,700 financing transactions in its Canadian Financings database, CPE Analytics is Canada's leading all financing intelligence provider. We provide comprehensive, verified, unbiased and unmatched insights and intelligence on private and public financings, initial public offerings (IPOs), M&As, professional investment firm fundraising activities.
We cover all aspects of VC information, not limited to but including Canada's only information on VC firm fundraising, VC funding sources (where all the VC came from).
CPE Analytics is the data analytics division of CPE Media & Data Company. More Info: https://cpeanalytics.ca, https://financings.ca
Founded by Canada's the most experienced private capital and financing research experts, CPE Media & Data Company is Canada's leading all financing news and intelligence provider. More information: https://cpecompany.ca/
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1 Included verified Q1, 2023 financings, not financings announced in Q1 2023 but were Q4 2022 financings. |
2 VC capital went to company directly. Excluded were portions of overall funding transaction in which new investor(s) acquired shares from management and/or existing investors with companies receiving no capital. A secondary is treated as an exit event and not as a fundraising event for a company. Data providers that include secondaries in total investment activities are mixing exits with investment and totally distorting Canadian venture capital investment activities. |
3 Based on direct law firm submissions and various sources of information indirectly. |
SOURCE CPE Media Inc.
Ted Liu, President & CEO, CPE Media & Data Company, 647-782-8818, [email protected]
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