Canadian venture capital investments surpass $2 billion CAD in record breaking Q3 2019

According to the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association’s (CVCA) latest report, $2.48 billion CAD of venture capital was invested in 126 deals in the third quarter of 2019, marking the highest dollar amount invested in Canadian companies of any quarter.

The quarter was driven by a record number of “mega deals,” deals over $50 million (all numbers CAD). The results follow another record-breaking quarter, which saw $1.3 billion of venture capital invested in Canadian companies in Q2 of 2019.

According to the CVCA, there were 12 mega deals in Q3, bringing the total number so far in 2019 to 23. These deals account for more than half (57 percent) of all dollars invested in 2019, with nine deals exceeding $100 million, and three surpassing $200 million.

“In the past nine months, Canadian venture capital investment has surpassed all previous milestones,” said Kim Furlong, CEO of the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association. “The focus on growing Canadian companies has never been more evident than what we are currently seeing in the market.”

Notable record-breaking deals so far this quarter have included St. John’s, Newfoundland-based Verafin’s $515 million growth financing round, BC-based Clio‘s $332 million Series D, Element AI‘s $200 million Series B, TouchBistro, Trulioo, Clearbanc, Terramera, Drop, and Neuvoo.

More recently, Montreal-based Coveo also hit record numbers, raising $227 million in a late stage growth round.

As revealed by the CVCA’s report there has been steady growth in the size of Canadian venture deals over the past five years, while the number of deals has gone down. In 2015, VC investment totalled $2.2 billion across 537 deals. This is compared to a total of $4.7 billion this year invested in 387 deals.