Thomson Reuters released its analysis on venture capital deal activity for Q3 2016, stating that venture capital activity in Canada is continuing at a rapid pace in the first nine months of the year.
In total, $2.5 billion was invested in 446 deals from January to September — representing the best first nine months of any calendar year since 2001. This also the most number of deals done since 2005.
As with last year, investment in the IT sector took the largest share of VC dollars with 62 percent of investment totals from January to September, or $1.6 billion.
Investment in the sector has now reached $2 billion over the past twelve months, up 24 percent over the previous twelve-month period. Life sciences companies received $531 million of total investments in the first three quarters, while cleantech companies received $149 million.
The report also included the top Canadian venture deals in the first nine months of 2016. Thalmic Labs, which raised a $158 million Series B in September, took the top spot. Dalcor Pharmaceuticals, Real Matters, Zymeworks, and Triotech Amusement were also in the top five.
“Growth was driven by large cap VC deals, with 11 companies raising rounds of $50 million or greater in the first nine months. This puts 2016 within reach of breaking the all-time record of 13 such transactions in the year 2000,” Thomson Reuters said in a statement. “Following on the heels of a weak second quarter, Canadian venture capital fundraising returned strong in Q3 with $725 million raised, predominantly led by the $485 million close of Georgian Partners III. A total of $1.7 billion has been raised for venture capital investment purposes so far this year.”
The provinces of Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia all rose in rank in North American VC rankings; while California took the top spot, Ontario sat at sixth place (up from 8 in 2015); Quebec came in 8th (up from 14 in 2015); and British Columbia came in 18th place (up from 21).
However, Montreal was the top Canadian city in terms of North American VC rankings at 11th place, with Toronto following at 13th place, Vancouver sitting at 20th, and Kitchener-Waterloo sitting at 21. San Francisco was the top city.
Access the full report here.
