2.7 Women’s Entrepreneur Fund ANGEL GROUP CHARACTERISTICS
The Government of Canada allocated $20 million to the Women Entrepreneurship Fund (WEF) as part of its Women Entrepreneurship Strategy (WES). 10 Due to strong demand for support, an additional $10-million investment was subsequently made, $2.5 million of which was for Indigenous women entrepreneurs. Altogether, this $30M in fundingwas able to help support projects by over 320 women- owned or women-led businesses, with contribu- tions of up to $100,000. The WEF was open to women-owned and women-led businesses across
Canada that met certain eligibility requirements and were seeking assistance to grow and reach new markets. Priority was given to diverse women entrepreneurs; 11 businesses with products and/ or services related to one of the Government of Canada’s Economic Strategy Table sectors; and, projects seeking to pursue market opportunities abroad. The WEF accepted applications from October 19 to November 15, 2018 and contribution agreements for recipients were established by September 2019.
FIGURE 6 Angel And WEF Funding of WEF Investee Businesses
The successful applicants to the WEF and the funding that each company received is provided on the WEF website. Cross referencing these companies with the investments that angel groups have made in the 2010 – 2019 period identified six companies which received investment from both WEF and angel investors. These six women-led companies raised a total of almost $1.5m from these two sources of funding, almost two-thirds of which came from angel investors (Figure 6). Two-thirds of the businesses had attracted angel investment prior to raising from the WEF.
36%
64%
Women Entrepreneurship Fund
Angel Investment
10 Women Entrepreneurship Fund https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/128.nsf/eng/home 11 Such as women with disabilities, Indigenous women, women in rural or remote regions, recent immigrants, visible minority women, women from Official Language Minority Communities.
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ANNUAL REPORT ON ANGEL INVESTING IN CANADA
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