The Nova Scotia government is dedicating a total of $40 million to Innovacorp’s Nova Scotia First Fund, its fund for early stage investments for Nova Scotia startups.
The government will contribute $29 million to the fund, and transfer $11 million from an expired cleantech fund.
“Over the past few days we’ve seen Analyze Re sold to a United States company and Kinduct attract $12 million in funding from highly strategic investors,” said business minister Mark Furey. “Clearly, Nova Scotia’s startup scene has impressive momentum, and we need to ensure these businesses have access to the right resources to launch, expand and grow our economy.”
The funding, which will go towards companies working in all sectors, is expected to support entrepreneurs eight years.
“Access to early stage capital is important to drive innovation and bring new companies and products to market,” said Adrian Bentley, CEO of Analyze Re. “We benefitted first-hand from a capital investment from Innovacorp, which was instrumental in our ability to get our idea off the ground, and we also received a wealth of advice and support from the investment team as we learned to build our business.”