{"id":411958,"date":"2026-04-22T15:42:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T15:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/411958\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T15:42:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T15:42:07","slug":"third-startup-group-joins-battle-to-convince-ottawa-how-to-spend-750-million-on-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/411958\/","title":{"rendered":"Third startup group joins battle to convince Ottawa how to spend $750-million on innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Jesse Wiebe, shown along the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, is launching the Canadian Startup Capital Association, which has come up with a rival proposal for a $750-million funding commitment by the federal government.Liam Richards\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

As Canada\u2019s national angel investor and venture capital advocacy groups battle over how to spend $750-million of federal innovation funding, a third organization representing early-stage financiers has formed and presented its own proposal to distribute the government\u2019s money.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Saskatoon-based angel investor Jesse Wiebe is launching the Canadian Startup Capital Association, composed of more than 19 angel syndicates and small fund managers including Startup TNT \u2013 where he serves as community development lead \u2013 Anges Quebec, Antler Canada and The Firehood. The group represents 3,500-plus investors, he said in an interview.<\/p>\n

The CSCA is entering a space served by the National Angel Capital Organization, or NACO, which represents 4,000 angel investors and 100 early-stage investing organizations, and the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association, or CVCA, whose members are later-stage private capital investment firms. <\/p>\n

The CSCA aims to represent investors ranging from angels \u2013 individuals that back nascent startups \u2013 to small seed and venture capital firms that fund more advanced companies. Other members include Indigenous Venture Challenge and Capital M Ventures, which back startups led by Indigenous and Black female founders, respectively. <\/p>\n

Mr. Wiebe said he decided to form the CSCA after government sources said \u201cthey were interested in speaking directly with the most active and on-the-ground entities doing the real work\u201d of deploying and finding capital for startups. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe thinking was, \u2018Well, we\u2019re the ones doing the work, we should be the ones talking directly to government rather than having another organization speak for us that we don\u2019t always agree with.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

The fall 2025 budget pledged $1.75-billion to spur on Canada\u2019s innovation sector. Of that, $1-billion is earmarked for the fourth iteration of a program dating to the early 2010s, now called the Venture and Growth Capital Catalyst Initiative, or VGCCI. It will bankroll a fund-of-funds that would back venture capital funds and incentivize pension funds and other institutional investors to participate. The other $750-million is for a new strategy \u201cto support Canadian firms facing early growth-stage funding gaps,\u201d the budget stated.<\/p>\n

NACO and CVCA read that mandate differently. \u201cGrowth\u201d capital typically refers to funds raised by more seasoned companies that have proven market demand and generate millions of dollars in revenue. But the word \u201cearly\u201d combined with \u201cgrowth\u201d leaves it open to interpretation.<\/p>\n

CVCA argues there is a structural gap in Canada\u2019s ability to support scaled-up \u201cchampion\u201d companies, which results in foreign sources predominantly funding later-stage financings. It proposes that Ottawa spend the $750-million on new and existing Canadian fund managers to invest in those later-stage rounds.<\/p>\n

CVCA chief executive officer Benjamin Bergen said in an interview if most late-stage capital is foreign, \u201cthat ultimately plays into challenges around creating wealth, prosperity and sovereignty\u201d in Canada. Facilitating more capital deployment from within Canada would \u201ckeep more of that upside here,\u201d he said. \u201cThat is what the $750-million is meant to address.\u201d<\/p>\n

NACO argues the bigger problem is at the earlier stages. Fledgling startups are chronically underfunded while later stage companies are well-served by VCCGI and its predecessor programs, it argues. The remaining $750-million should therefore focus on where the funding gap is greatest \u2013 at the earliest stages, according to NACO-commissioned data \u2013 said its chief executive officer Claudio Rojas. <\/p>\n

NACO proposes Ottawa use $500-million for a matching-fund program for investments made by early-stage financiers. It is also asking for $250-million over five years to fund \u201coperational infrastructure\u201d to help \u201cstabilize and professionalize\u201d early-stage investors. <\/p>\n

Government officials have met with NACO and CVCA, and appear to favour spending most of the $750-million on later-stage funding \u2013 while splitting off less than $100-million for earlier stage investors, said a source familiar with the government\u2019s thinking. The Globe and Mail is not identifying the source as they are not authorized to discuss the matter.<\/p>\n

Like NACO, Mr. Wiebe\u2019s group believes young companies are underfunded at the earliest stages. But he doesn\u2019t think the problem is a lack of capital, founders or investors. Rather, he said Canada needs stronger networks to connect investors with each other and with startups, supported by more modestly funded infrastructure than what NACO envisions. <\/p>\n

Mr. Wiebe is one of Canada\u2019s most active angel investors; he\u2019s convinced hundreds of others to become angels and built programs for Startup TNT, one of Canada\u2019s most active private investment firms by deal count. He pulled out of NACO last fall, feeling it wasn\u2019t as responsive or helpful to under-represented regions or investor groups as it could be.<\/p>\n

He believes there is significant wealth in Canada, particularly as younger individuals inherit family fortunes, and that educating and connecting funders to founders will have significant impact. <\/p>\n

Mr. Wiebe\u2019s CSCA is asking for $75-million to $150-million from the government \u2013 one third for program funding to activate capital providers, educate and connect them, and two-thirds for a fund-of-funds that would provide up to $2.5-million apiece to early-stage fund managers. \u201cWe feel at this time in the early stage that there are still a lot of holes in the bucket,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need to spend more time plugging the holes and less time filling the bucket with more water.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richard Tuck, who has built support programs for Indigenous entrepreneurs including Indigenous Venture Challenge, said he joined CSCA because he feels the other proposals are \u201cBand-Aid solutions\u201d that don\u2019t get to the root of endemic problems, For example, he said Canadian angel investors often drag out investing processes for months, while similar deals take weeks in the U.S. That \u201cactively harms startups,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Capital M founding partner Melissa Allen said CSCA\u2019s appeal is that it addresses a gap in the early-stage funding market that is \u201cbeing overlooked by these different organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marc-Antoine Cantin, CEO of Anges Quebec, which represents 170 angels, said his members want to invest across the country, \u201cbut who do I work with to put a $1-million check in a startup with somebody from Alberta or Saskatchewan or B.C.? I don\u2019t know these angel groups. If we can connect with them, we can do deals together and have significantly more capital to invest in startups across Canada.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Jesse Wiebe, shown along the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, is launching the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":411959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[72,191,61,60,53841],"class_list":{"0":"post-411958","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entrepreneurship","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-entrepreneurship","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-nodelphi"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/411959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}