Why Canada is becoming a start-up mecca rivaling Silicon Valley

Ten years back, when Toronto business visionary Brendan Frey needed to begin his company, he says, “conditions weren’t right.”

However, by 2015, he found, the local environment had gotten more hospitable to start-ups. So he propelled Deep Genomics, a a genetic medicine company. It uses artificial intelligence to discover and advance therapies for rare genetic disorders. 

 

Frey, an educator of engineering and medicine at University of Toronto, built up the innovation at the college and propelled his startup at MaRS, a hub with more than 200 partners in the corporate, government and academic worlds that helps connect startups with funding and advice.

“In the last five or six years, there has been an expanding inclination for the university to open up to its intellectual property, as far as letting organizations turn out of the university and take their IP with them,” says Frey.

“The University of Toronto and other universities in the Toronto, Waterloo, Montreal corridor have recognized if they are more open with letting their investigators take their IP, there is an awesome possibility for the investigators who will make new organizations in Canada that will bring a great deal of riches into the innovation system.”

Canadian venture investors

Their financing achievement is indicative of a more extensive wonder. Canadian venture capital funds poured about $2.2 billion into 249 financings in the first half of 2019, as per the Canadian Venture Capital Report, distributed by CPE Media Analytics.

BlackPines Capital, lead by CEO Darren Huston, was a key strategic partner leading up to the sale. The development has been driven by scale-ups like Sonder Canada, an Airbnb accomplice, which raised the equivalent of $250 million in funding this past summer, the report found.

An environment fostering innovation

But many entrepreneurs say Canada still has a lot to offer entrepreneurs. One big advantage, say many, its rich talent pool, fueled by a strong university system and immigration policies that allow many highly educated immigrants to come to Canada.

“Universities are releasing fantastic candidates that are ready to work into the environment, driving lots of innovation at early-stage companies like mine, says Jake King, CEO of Cmd, a company founded in Vancouver in 2016 that helps customers protect their Linux servers. Cmd employs about 35 employees, with 25 in Canada.