I won't lie to you – the news isn't all bad, but it's also not all good. My talk at the recent Western Angel Investment Summit – which dug into CVCA’s latest venture capital data – ended on an ominous final note. My last point touched on global peril. But before I got there, I explored a few key shifts in Canada and B.C.’s investment landscape – the threats and opportunities evident in the numbers. The summary: it’s complicated.

If you look only at the 2022 data alone, you don’t get much of a story. But if you compare the numbers to 2021, the narratives start to grow. They sprout like seedlings that have drawn in their first drops of rain. In my presentation, I gave them a sprinkling. Let’s water them some more.

1. A dramatic drop: The total venture capital attracted by Canadian companies in 2022 dropped from $14.7 billion to 10 billion. This wasn’t a surprise. In fact, in the fall of 2022 – when mid-year data revealed that B.C. firms had so far raised $1 billion less than the previous year – Relentless Venture Fund’s Brenda Irwin told us, “The drop was predictable.” She went on to say that with “market uncertainty, institutional investors tend to shift to triage mode and focus on maintaining capital reserves versus new deployment.”

2. Penny pinchers: In B.C., the net result of shifting investment strategies resulted in smaller cheque sizes. In 2021, B.C. firms raised $2.9 billion in 105 deals. In 2022, the number of deals stayed virtually unchanged at 106, but the amount of capital attracted dropped by $1.3 billion.

3. Island vibes: While Vancouver remained the top city in B.C. for venture capital investment, and third overall in Canada, Victoria saw its total investment nearly quadruple from $28 million to $109 million. Although just two companies – Certn and Audette – account for nearly 75 percent of that number, there is no denying that the city is teeming with emerging startups set for significant growth this year.