POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS Canadian Moonshots
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Recommendation 2: Matching Funds to Increase An- gel Investment in Canada’s Entrepreneurs
Angel investment has an outsized impact in local com- munities with otherwise limited economic opportuni- ties. This is the rallying cry of Northern Ontario Angels (NOA), one of North America’s most successful angel organizations, which has facilitated over $763 million of public and private investment, creating over 5,000 jobs. NOA has connected entrepreneurs with investors across a large geography with a population of only 780,000. If NOA’s success in Northern Ontario was repeated across all of Canada, over $8 billion of angel investment could be unlocked for our country’s entrepreneurs. NOA’s success can be traced back to Federal Economic Devel- opment Agency for Northern Ontario (FedNor) support- ing regional coordination of angel investment across Northern Ontario. If the government supports national coordination of angel investment across Canada, re- sults similar to NOA’s could be achieved in communities throughout the country.
That the government provide matching funds to help increase the amount of angel investment available to Canada’s entrepreneurs. Matching funds played an important role in the Cana- dian venture capital industry’s outsized growth. The Government invested $50 million in targeted activities, including matching funds, through Stream 2 of VCCI. Similar programs have been instituted in other juris- dictions around the world with extraordinary results, including Israel’s Yozma and Scotland’s Scottish Co-in- vestment Fund. Making matching funds available to entrepreneurs will immediately increase the amount of capital they can raise to build high-growth companies. By providing entrepreneurs with increased financial run- way, matching funds will also have the effect of making
2023 ANNUAL REPORT ON ANGEL INVESTING IN CANADA
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