BDC Venture Capital Commits $10M To AC
January 02nd, 2014
BDC Venture Capital has announced a commitment of $10 million to the Atlantic Canada Regional Venture Fund bringing the total amount committed to the fund to $50 million.
Headquartered in Halifax, the fund is being set up to finance companies in the IT, clean energy and healthcare sectors throughout the Maritimes.
BDC’s involvement in the Atlantic fund is part of an aggressive strategy it has been deploying over the past two years. And their timing couldn’t be better with the region’s high-tech potential demonstrated in 2011 with the acquisitions of homegrown Radian6 and Q1 Labs.
Senia Rapisarda, BDC’s Strategic Investments and Initiatives’ vice-president says that “the creation and growth of tech companies is vital to Canada’s long term economic well-being.” “We’ve been working hard with partners from coast-to-coast to build up our ecosystems and ensure our most promising entrepreneurs get the backing they need”, she adds.
The Atlantic Canada Regional Venture Fund is a privately-managed seed and early stage fund jointly initiated by the governments of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in November 2010. With its participation, BDC VC joins the governments of Nova Scotia ($15M), New Brunswick ($15M) and Prince Edward Island ($2.5M) as well as privately-owned Technology Venture Corporation ($5M).
Selected technology companies will be provided with funding between $1- and $5-million to finance product development and commercialization.
Fundraising activities will continue following the first closing of the fund in the New Year, which is expected to be between $50- and $60-million.