Investment in B.C. normalizes to pre-pandemic level

After spikes in 2021 and 2022, investments in B.C. companies returned to pre-pandemic levels last year and activity is expected to either stabilize or grow mildly in 2024, according to experts.

“We’re noticing a downturn from the previous two years and that’s because those were really outlier years. It is a return to normal investment levels since 2019,” said David Kornacki, director of data and product at CVCA.CVCA attributed the year-over-year slowdown to rising interest rates and economic uncertainty.

B.C. claimed an 18-per-cent share of total Canadian VC investment in 2023, with the areas of tech , life sciences and cleantech leading provincial investment. On PE investment—dominated by Ontario and Quebec, which accounted for nearly 85 per cent of total investment in Canada—only four per cent of total investment went to B.C., where the most active sectors were life sciences , finance and tech .

“Investors are pulling back from private capital investing right now. Given inflation rates, the looming recession and overall interest rates, it’s more difficult to create an opportunity to invest those sums of money in the current market,” said Kornacki. Walia said he has seen many VC funds that raised money from 2020 to 2022 struggling with maintenance and growth in a different economic environment.

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