In the wake of the CVCA conference in Toronto last month, I have been reflecting a lot on the state of the venture capital landscape and how Canadian investors can improve to better serve their country’s tremendous pool of entrepreneurs and engineers. Canada is building a healthy startup ecosystem with several vibrant hubs around the country, yet there’s still much more work to be done.
First, let’s look at where Canada is. In 2015, Canadian funds raised over $1.2 Billion CAD; and in just the first quarter of 2016, we’ve already raised $929 million (that’s 77% of last year’s total). The number of investments is the best we’ve seen since before the 2008 financial crisis.