Scaling Venture Capital in Canada’s Life Sciences Sector provides an overview of the life sciences investment landscape in Canada and identifies needs and opportunities for public investment in the sector’s venture capital and startup support infrastructure. The report was commissioned by Canada’s Department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED). Specifically, ISED asked the DEEP Centre to:
- Provide an overview of recent investment trends in Canada’s life sciences sector, including data-driven insights into startup and investment activity;
- Interview ecosystem leaders (including business accelerators, VCs and university-based commercialization centres) to identify commercialization challenges and investment needs in the life sciences sector that can be addressed by public interventions; and
- Provide the Government of Canada with recommendations for how to strengthen Canada’s life sciences sector, with a focus on building a more robust venture capital and startup support infrastructure to nurture homegrown global champions in biomedical research, drug development, medical devices and digital health solutions.
This report summarizes the DEEP Centre’s findings from the research and provides recommendations for scaling domestic sources of life sciences venture capital and maximizing the global success of Canada’s leading life sciences companies.