Venture Capital: Canadian Provinces vs. US States

Some Canadian Provinces Beating Out Majority of US States for Venture Capital, New Data Finds

Posted on Techvibes; Written by Knowlton Thomas

New data reveals that three Canadian provinces are drawing more venture capital funding than the vast majority of US states.

California—home of Silicon Valley—grabbed more than $15 billion in funding in 2013, good enough for 47% of the North American VC market share. Sound staggering? That amount is actually down 50% from 2012, according to Canada’s Venture Capital & Private Equity Association.

Massachusetts and New York each snagged $3 billion, while Texas and Maryland combined for $2 billion (note that all four of them combined equals less than half of California—and again, that’s during a bad year for the Valley).

But beyond those states, Canadian provinces start to shine. Ontario drew a respectable $676 million thanks to strong cleantech and info-tech sectors. Driven by a $100-million investment in the e-commerce website provider Shopify, Ontaro ranked 6th last year, ahead of Virgina ($614 million), CVCA data shows.

In 8th was Quebec, whose VC share grew 0.4% over 2012 to clock in at $589 million.

And in 9th was BC, thanks largely to one Vancouver company: more than one-third of all venture capital money invested in BC in 2013 went to HootSuite, who raised a $171 million Series B round—the country’s largest VC round of the year and one of the biggest for a Canadian tech startup ever. That deal spurred a huge leap for BC, who failed to crack the top 20 in 2012.