Most of you have probably already seen the story in the Globe. on the new partialy government participating VC fund:
TORONTO — The Ontario government has unveiled a
new $165-million venture capital fund that will provide much-needed
capital to start-up companies in the province.The fund is a partnership between the government and some of the
province’s largest pension managers and financial institutions. John
Wilkinson, Ontario’s new Minister of Research and Innovation, said in
an interview that this is the first time the province has entered into
a direct partnership with the private sector.The government is injecting $90-million into the fund and is counting
on the private sector to kick in another $180-million, Mr. Wilkinson
said. So far, Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, Royal Bank
of Canada, the Business Development Bank of Canada and Manulife
Financial Corp. have invested a total of $75-million.
Very good news, I think, for entrepreneurs in Ontario. As many readers of this blog know, Canada in general has suffered from chronic underfunding for startups compared to our neighbours to the south, with the result often being that many startups will simply not bother and head south straightaway. Not a good thing, IMHO. <soapbox>Hopefully this will be the first step to showing the world that Canada is a great place to start and run a business, in addition to being a great place to invest. </soapbox>
