Canadian venture capital disbursements set new Canadian record in 2021, raising uninflated $13.58 billion by Canadian companies from 716 financings.
Investors from US and 50 foreign countries/regions invested combined $9.77 billion or 72% of total disbursements. US investors alone invested 56% of the total for $7.60 billion.
Top recipient provinces in 2021 were Ontario ($5.92 billion), BC ($3.93 billion), Quebec ($2.59 billion), Alberta ($0.57 billion).
ICT and Biotech companies raised $8.73 billion and $1.98 billion respectively, together accounting for 79% of the total amount. Cleantech and Financial companies were other $1 billion plus sectors, raising $1.01 billion and $1.38 billion respectively.
photo credit: CPE Analytics
News Release
2021 Canadian VC disbursements reach $13.58B
716 venture capital financings for disbursements of $13.582 billion.
Investors from US and 50 foreign countries/regions invested $9.77 billion or 72% of total disbursements. US investors alone invested 56% for $7.60 billion.
Top receipt provinces: Ontario ($5.92 billion), BC ($3.93 billion), Quebec ($2.59 billion), Alberta ($0.57 billion).
$1 billion plus municipal cities: Toronto ($4.44 billion), Vancouver ($3.48 billion), Montreal ($2.01 billion)
Early-stage financings dominated both number of financing and disbursements, raising $6.91 billion from 379 financings.
Pre-seed/seed financings remain relatively strong accounting for 23% of total number of financings, highest since 2017.
ICT and biotech companies raised $8.73 billion and $1.98 billion accounting for 64% and 15% of the total disbursements respectively.
Fasken and Osler led all VC law firms with 43 and 42 VC financings respectively.
$1 billion + investor types: US VCs, US Hedge Funds and Canadian VCs led all investor types with $3.51 billion (26%), $1.43 billion (11%) and $1.20 billion (9%) respectively.
All dollar ($) figures in Canadian dollar unless otherwise noted.
TORONTO, April 6, 2022 /CNW/ – Canadian venture capital disbursements set new Canadian record in 2021, raising $13.58 billion by Canadian companies from 716 financings, according to the Canadian Venture Capital Report released today by CPE Analytics, a division of CPE Media & Data Company.
Venture capital investment benchmark should be truthful, accurately reporting the amount of equity raised by the companies. CPE VC dataset is designed to capture VC investments that go to companies and exclude payouts to previous investors or owners (eg.Wealthsimple), double counting (as with the Funds of Funds), and transactions that are clearly private equity.
2021 Highlights
The record-setting Canadian VC investment pace is continuing to be driven by US and foreign investors. US investors and investors from 50 countries or regions invested $7.60 billion and $2.17 billion in Canadian companies, accounting 56% and 16% of the total disbursements respectively.
Canadian investors contributed a paltry 28% of the total disbursements, down from pandemic-indued record high of 48% and the previous worst in 2017 at 35%.
US VCs, US Hedge Funds and Canadian VCs, the three investor types investing over $1 billion, led all investor types with $3.51 billion (26%), $1.43 billion (11%) and $1.20 billion (9%) respectively.
Ontario, BC and Quebec, the top VC receiving provinces with more than $1 billion, securing $5.92 billion, $3.93 billion and $2.59 billion respectively. Alberta came distant fourth with $571 million.
Companies from 71 cities raised venture capital funding in 2021. The top 10 municipal cities, Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Kitchener, Calgary, Quebec City, Ottawa, North Vancouver, Saskatoon, Fredericton (NB) collectively raised $12.34 billion or 91% of the total disbursements.
ICT and Biotech companies raised $8.73 billion and $1.98 billion respectively, together accounting for 79% of the total amount.
Cleantech and Financial companies were other $1 billion plus sectors, raising $1.01 billion and $1.38 billion respectively. Some of the cleantech investments in advanced agri-tech companies are included in the agri-food sector. Going forward CPE Analytics will include those investments in cleantech to better reflect the total investment activities in cleantech sector.
Early stage and growth/late-stage financings led in total disbursements, securing $6.91 billion and$4.91 billion respectively.
Seed/pre-seed financings remain relative strong, securing $710 million, accounting for 23% of total number of financings, the highest level since 2017 (31%).
Companies with 0-49, 50-99, 100-400 and 500+ employees raised $7.40 billion, $2.43 billion, $2.72 billion, and $1.03 billion respectively.
“This accurate venture capital data for Canada points to features of the landscape that are both cause for celebration and cause for concern. On the one hand, the dominance of venture capital investment volumes from the US is testament to the attractiveness of the Canadian innovation market but at the same time betrays an over-reliance on the US which could place Canada in a vulnerable position should American funds pull back and given the relatively small amounts of venture capital drawn from other international sources. Also cause for celebration and concern is the slightly over $1 billion deployed into cleantech – a considerable amount of capital but one that at a mere 7.4% of all venture capital investment in 2021 is unlikely to materially assist Canada in meeting its ambitious earth and climate-friendly goals and commitments,” commented President of Richard Rémillard, President of Rémillard Consulting Group (RCG).
2021 US and Foreign Investment Regional Breakdowns
US and foreign investments accounted for over 50% of the total disbursement across all regions.
BC attracted the highest share of investments from US and foreign investor, with 84% of total amount.
The Prairies attracted the least share of investments from US and foreign investors (54%).
2021 Fundraising by Canadian VC Firms
54 VC funds raised $4.65 billion.
2021 Top VC Law Firms
Top six active VC law firms: Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, Dentons Canada LLP, LaBarge Weinstein LLP, Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer LLP, and Borden Ladner Gervais LLP.
Full summary report can be downloaded from financings.ca website: https://www.financings.ca/reports/
Methodology
Included
Equity and quasi-equity investments in companies directly.
Excluded
Mortgage funding and senior debt as part of an overall funding round.
Secondary transactions (investor/shareholder exit events) in which companies received no money
Rémillard Consulting Group (RCG)
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: rremillard@bellnet.ca
CPE Analytics
With over 61,600 financing transactions and 83,800 data points since 2016 (as of April 1, 2022) in its all financings.ca database, CPE Analytics is Canada’s leading all financing intelligence provider. We provide comprehensive, verified and unbiased information and unmatched insights and intelligence on private and public financings, initial public offerings (IPOs), M&As, professional investment firm fundraising activities.
CPE Analytics is the data analytics division of CPE Media & Data Company. More Info: https://cpeanalytics.ca, https://financings.ca
CPE Media & Data Company
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/
SOURCE CPE Media Inc.
For further information: Ted Liu, President and CEO, CPE Media & Data Company, 647-782-8818, tzliu@cpecompany.ca