Canada’s Start-Up Visa: What is a Venture Capital Fund?

Last Updated on December 14, 2021

There are almost two dozen venture capital funds in Canada that can provide applicants for permanent residence under the Start-Up Visa program the needed minimum of $200,000 of investment.

A venture capital fund is created when a group of investors pools money to place it in start-ups and small and medium-sized companies which show promise of rapid growth. The investors are looking for equity in these companies and are willing to accept the higher risk associated with these business ventures in exchange of the promise of higher returns.

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Under the Start-Up Visa program, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has designed the following 21 venture capital funds as authorized to provide financing to immigrant entrepreneur applicants.

Those firms are:

• 7 Gate Ventures
• Arete Pacific Tech Ventures (VCC) Corp
• BCF Ventures
• BDC Venture Capital
• Celtic House Venture Partners
• Extreme Venture Partners LLP
• Golden Venture Partners Fund, LP
• iNovia Capital Inc.
• Intrinsic Venture Capital
• Lumira Ventures
• Nova Scotia Innovation Corporation (o/a Innovacorp)
• PRIVEQ Capital Funds
• Real Ventures
• Relay Ventures
• ScaleUp Venture Partners, Inc.
• Top Renergy Inc.
• Vanedge Capital Limited Partnership
• Version One Ventures
• Westcap Management Ltd.
• Yaletown Venture Partners Inc.
• York Entrepreneurship Development Institute (YEDI) VC Fund

When a prospective immigrant to Canada decides to apply under the Start-up Visa Program, his or her business idea must get the support of either a venture capital fund, angel investor group, or a business incubator.

These organizations choose which business proposals to review and each has its own intake process for proposals and criteria used to assess them.

If that organization gives the Start-Up Visa program applicant’s proposal two thumbs up, it will provide a letter of support, allowing the prospective immigrant to continue with the process.