Theresa Evanoff

I hate to argue with the Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (CVCA) on this but, not sure how they view this as “a healthy, stable” Canadian VC market." So, three things 1. The data as presented is unfortunately wrong and misleading. How can that be you ask? Well, it includes $837M of secondary or buyout transactions that while providing great liquidity to the investors who participated, are NOT primary investments. These transactions should have been recorded only as exits on the VC ledger and then they should have been recorded as investments in the PE/Buyout ledger. 2. So when you remove $837M from the primary VC investment column (i.e. capital that truly supports the growth and scaling of a business vs simply facilitating a change of ownership) it drops to ~4.05B vs $4.9B a 17% decline - kind of material, and it means we are running at about 60% of 2024 which as we all know was not a particularly great year. 3. Finally, when you compare US VC financing activity vs CDN VC financing activity the only thing that they have in common is that deal volume is down. In fact, while YTD 2025 VC investment activity in the US has virtually returned to 2021 levels (yes, the mix and type of companies funded has indeed materially changed) the investment levels in the Canada are continuing to head down and to the right. In fact, with VC investments YTD in Canada being C$4B and the US being ~US240B, Canada is at 1.25% of US levels and per capital investment on innovation and the next generation economy is $73 per CDN citizen and $701 per US citizen - OUCH So, at least to me, nothing about this year feels healthy or particularly stable and if we as a country want to compete globally it is going to be very hard to do so investing 1/10th the amount per citizen vs our neighbours to the south

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Thoughtful reporting from Yvonne Lau in the Financial Post on YC’s decision and its implications for Canada’s startup ecosystem. As I said in the article, the decision adds friction but it’s not catastrophic. Many Canadian founders who were always going to build in Silicon Valley still will. And many of Canada’s strongest outcomes were never YC-backed to begin with. But it is a wake-up call: Canada needs to be more intentional about how we help founders scale and retain value here at home. https://lnkd.in/gbt9Gh4N

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Canada is at an inflection point. With 10% of the world’s top AI talent but only ~2% of global AI venture capital, the opportunity is clear: empower venture scientists to turn frontier research into companies that scale at home. Together with Mila, we explore how Canada can convert its scientific edge into lasting economic and societal leadership. I had the opportunity work on this with MILA - to my VC friends, founders and innovators - I would take a look at what is brewing in Montreal with MILA. Great group of leaders and Venture Scientists on the frontier of AI research. #venturescientists #MILA https://bit.ly/3NKnISp

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Good article below featuring a new report from National Angel Capital Organization (NACO) and Startup Genome which shows the need for more early-stage venture capital funding in Canada. The release of this report follows a 500+ person event last week to discuss the state of the Canadian tech ecosystem. I spoke on a panel (with Sandi Gilbert and Solon Angel) about the need to invest in Canada's highest potential, early-stage tech companies. "Janet Bannister, founder and managing partner at Staircase Ventures, argued Canada must improve early-stage fundraising to boost its economic productivity. “Our economy is heavily weighted toward natural resources, and not strongly enough towards technology,” Bannister said at the roundtable. “We need to fix that.”" https://lnkd.in/gm2gc7rb

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Last month, The51 hosted our Vancouver Summit, where I had the honour of moderating a panel on the future of health, longevity, and wealth - foundational systems that shape how we live, earn, and build ownership over time. A few themes stood out: • Longevity is an economic issue, not just a health one. Women live longer, but spend ~25% more of their lives in poor health. That gap quietly shapes participation, earnings, and long-term wealth creation. Designing for health span is designing for compounding. • Financial systems lag real life. By 2030, women will control nearly half of Canada’s wealth, yet venture and private markets are still largely structured for a past economy. This gap is inefficient. • Alignment is alpha. When health, values, and capital are designed together, rather than optimized in isolation, decision-making improves, capital flows differently, and wealth becomes more durable across generations. At The51, we’re building new capital architecture, activating women as investors, owners, and builders. Our next stop is Toronto, my hometown and the place where many of these capital conversations converge. On March 5th, we’re convening founders, LPs, institutional investors, and corporate leaders to help design the next chapter of Canada’s economy and to spotlight the opportunities emerging across venture and private markets. Speakers include: → Lucy Hargreaves (Build Canada) → Gillian Riley (former CEO, Tangerine) → Olivia Steedman (Ontario Teachers'​ Pension Plan) → Manpreet Deol (Inovia Capital) → Lisa Melchior (Vertu Capital) → and many more. If you’re deploying capital, raising it, or building for scale, this is a room worth being in. Join us! https://lnkd.in/gnFXAUm2 (Code: XX-COMMUNITY) Looking forward to reconnecting with old friends and meeting new faces while we're in town. Shelley Kuipers, Courtney Dragani, Judy Fairburn, Alice Reimer, Colleen Moorehead, Natasha Tosirisuk, Emily Smiley, Kulwant Duhra, Briannaa Hewstan, Iva Kubickova, Rachel Bodor, Emily McBride, Arielle Land, Jen Davies.

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