Venture capital investment in Canadian firms drops in first half of 2019

Venture capital (VC) investment in Canadian companies was down in the first half of 2019 — although certain cities had a strong start to the year.

A new report from PwC and CB Insights found that Canadian VC-backed companies raised $1.65 billion (all figures in U.S. dollars) during the first half of the year. That’s down 13% from the same time last year.

The number of deals also fell from 281 in H1 2018 to 240 in H1 2019 — a 15% decrease.

“The really bright spot for the Canadian ecosystem is the seed-stage where deals increased significantly, now making up 49% of deal share,” Anand Sanwal, co-founder and CEO of CB Insights, said in a release. “In addition, less-active regions, such as Waterloo and Ottawa, saw a strong start to 2019.”

Indeed, those two cities rounded out the top five cities for VC investment. Waterloo (ranked fourth) raised $131 million — up from $58 million in H1 2018. Ottawa (ranked fifth) raised $122 million — up from $26 million the same time last year.

The top three cities for VC investment were Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, which respectively raised $555 million, $355 million and $206 million.

Certain sectors that had strong showings a year ago didn’t fare as well in the first half of 2019, the report found.

In H1 2018, cannabis companies raised a total of $224 million over 51 deals. In H1 2019, they raised $42 million across 18 deals. Investment in AI companies also plummeted from $249 million in H1 2018 to $100 million in H1 2019.

The largest deals of the half were Hamilton, Ont.-based Fusion Pharmaceuticals raising $105 million, Toronto-based Vena Solutions raising $87 million and Vancouver-based PDFTron Systems raising $71 million.

Read the full report from PwC and CB Insights.

Staff

The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.