Canada commits CAD 1.75B to venture capital, first pre-seed support

Canada's federal government pledged CAD 1.75 billion (~USD 1.25 billion) to venture capital, reaching the pre-seed stage for the first time. The package splits into the CAD 1 billion Growth VCCI fund-of-funds and a CAD 750 million early and growth stage strategy, but capital is at least 12–18 months from reaching fund managers.

• Growth VCCI's CAD 1B includes CAD 700M for fund-of-funds and CAD 200M for life sciences
• CAD 75M is the first federal allocation to pre-seed and seed stages
• Managers must raise CAD 3 in private capital for every CAD 1 of federal money
• Private VC fundraising fell 38% to CAD 2.1B in 2025