A new report by The Funding Portal reveals new data on the amount of funding Canadian startups have received. The stats show that there was $5.86B in government funding and $897M in venture capital distributed in first half of 2014, which is on target to grow by about 4% over 2013 statistics.
The data was compiled from a number of different sources through over 4,500 programs across Canada. Organizations in Ontario showed to attract the highest amount of government funding within the first 6-month of 2014, with a total of $2.59B and representing 44% of the total amount disbursed. Quebec was second with $1.03B (18%), followed by Alberta $526M (9%), and British Columbia at $493M (8%). As for VC investment, Ontario secured investments topping $331M and accounted for 37% of total VC investment in Canada.
The arts and culture space secured the highest level of funding for the first 6-months of 2014 with $2.07B. Academic and research sector came in second with $1.04B, followed by manufacturing with $991M, and health technology and life sciences with $530M.
“Canada’s government funding marketplace has been almost impenetrable and companies have tended to overlook what amounts to billions of dollars of available funding,” said Funding Portal CEO Teri Kirk. “In fact, Canada has the second-highest level of business incentives among OECD countries but, until now, data about this source of funds has not been readily accessible.”
