Premier Kathleen Wynne made a stop in Kitchener on Tuesday to announce the creation of the Northleaf Venture Catalyst Fund.
The fund will see up to $300 million in funding – including $100 million from OpenText, up to $50 million apiece from the provincial and federal governments and more from private industry.
A total of $217 million has already been committed to the fund.
“The ripple effect of this kind of investment is huge,” Wynne told reporters after speaking to an audience of tech workers at tech hub Communitech.
The fund is modeled after an existing provincial venture capital program, which has raised $872 million from the private sector since 2008.
Startups will be able to apply to the fund for “seed money” that helps keep their business afloat until it can turn a profit.
“As these businesses commercialize … then that’s where the jobs are created,” Wynne said.
Praising an “ecosystem of entrepreneurship and innovation,” Wynne said Waterloo Region was the right place to launch the fund.
“The young folks I spoke to today who are starting businesses are particularly optimistic about this region, this part of the province, as a hub and a place where they’re going to be able to thrive,” she said.
Adam Belsher is CEO of Waterloo-based Magnet Forensics, which makes software to recover lost emails from computers and mobile devices.
While he was able to get his company off the ground in Waterloo Region, Belsher says others aren’t so lucky – often taking money from American venture capitalists who aren’t as hot on the region.
“If you get an investor in the U.S. … in a lot of cases, they want you to move to the U.S,” he says.
Belsher says he’s particularly impressed to see the private sector taking part in the fund.
“This is what they do for a living. They know how to do due diligence on companies. They have people on staff that can mentor those companies,” he says.
It’s estimated that as many as 250 startups could receive money through the fund.
