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VANCOUVER
The birthplace of the viral business Slack, Vancouver’s startup ecosystem is propelled by cheaper talent, an excellent support infrastructure, and government programs to help startups minimize cost. It’s hard to imagine a more beautiful place in the world that lends itself to aspiring entrepreneurs, eh? In fact, with its ubiquitous yoga, fusion food, and parks, it is no wonder that Lululemon started here. Among large Canadian cities, Vancouver has the highest concentration of artists. Not surprisingly, the Occupy movement started here.
VENTURE ACTIVITY Q4’15 - Q3’16
VC FUNDING: $814.9M
DEALS: 111
EXITS: 33
5 YEAR YoY FUNDING GROWTH: 38.4%
5 YEAR YoY DEAL GROWTH: 19.3%
Source: CB Insights
VANCOUVER AT A GLANCE
Power Breakfast
Cactus Club Café
De Dutch
The End
Coffee Shops to Start Up In
Elysian
Matchstick
Timbertrain
Local Beer
Citradelic Single Hop Citra IPA
“Must Be At” Local Events
BC Highland Games and Scottish Festival
Squamish Valley Music Festival
TED
In the Know
Before starting out, check out the presentation from Ryan Holmes (CEO of Hootsuite) on why Vancouver is a great startup city including traits such as “engineering talent”, “financial support”, and more importantly “better beer & bacon”.
THE TOP
ANGELS
Amos Michelson
Lance Tracey
Markus Frind
Mike Volker
Norm Francis
Ryan Holmes
Shafin Tejani
VCs
BDC Capital
Lyra Growth Parters
Stanley Park Ventures
Vanedge Capital
Ventures West Capital
VersionOne
ACCELERATORS
Invoke
Launch Academy
VentureLabs
ENTREPRENEURSHIP EVENTS
Beyond Pink
Grow Conference
Launch @ Grow
Lean Startup Vancouver
Traction Conference
Vancouver Startup Week
Q4’15 - Q3’16 TOP FUNDING ROUNDS
Indochino—$30M
Cymax—$25M
Allocadia—$16.5M
Bench—$16M
ESSA—$15M
Lendful—$15M
Trulioo—$15M
