A new report from business analytics firm CB Insights said Canadian companies have raised US$6.3 billion so far this year, more than double the US$2.9 billion in funding they received throughout all of last year. Companies in the country raised US$4.3 billion in 2019 and US$3.4 billion in 2018.
There's also a "network effect" occurring among Canada's entrepreneurs, said Janet Bannister, managing partner at Real Ventures, a VC firm that has backed estate planning company Willful, car sales business Clutch and jeweller Mejuri. In 2017, the first quarter generated 64 mergers and acquisitions and three IPOs and the second quarter included 57 mergers and acquisitions and seven companies going public.
"That created a lot of competition for the venture capitalists...and that yielded a really great result," he said.