After 20 years of focused efforts to nurture the innovation economy, New Brunswick can now claim a more mature ecosystem with stronger companies emerging, said Jeff White, CEO of the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation.

Speaking at the Venture Capital Outlook held Wednesday in Fredericton’s Planet Hatch, White said the new environment is an improvement on the unpredictability of the last few years, which he described as “a test of endurance, requiring hard decisions for NBIF.”

White and Daniel Armali, who joined NBIF in October as Vice-President of Investment, told the gathering that they are working with a few innovation-driven companies that should have exciting announcements in the coming months. For example, Armani highlighted that there are "liquidity opportunities" -- a term that usually means exits -- in the works that could close, if all goes well, in 2026.

He also said NBIF is working on leading Series A rounds, which are usually worth $5 million to $15 million. Multiple companies are candidates for these rounds, and Armali expects the first of these funding rounds to close by the end of October.

In the first quarter of 2026, New Brunswick accounted for three of four Atlantic Canadian deals, according to the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association, with New Brunswick startups raising a total of $6.9 million. The other deal was in Newfoundland and Labrador, worth $15.5 million.  

In his talk, White outlined several government policies that are supporting innovation.

The lack of funding for high-growth companies is being addressed by the federal government. Last year’s budget provided $1.75 billion for the task. Of this, $1 billion will go to growth-stage venture capital. Various parties including Ottawa, the CVCA and the National Angel Capital Organization are discussing how the remaining $750 million should be deployed.

New Brunswick’s provincial government has boosted its small business investor tax credit by expanding the types of instruments eligible, and increasing the tax credit for companies from 15 percent to 25 percent.

NBIF is now feeling ambitious and is focusing on scaling (growing) globally competitive companies, said White.

Armali added that New Brunswick is now the nation’s densest cybersecurity investment cluster.

White hinted at major growth for one particular New Brunswick company, recalling that 11 years ago, investor and ecosystem pioneer Gerry Pond said: “We need the billion-dollar company to come out of New Brunswick.”

Someone in the audience shouted that the time had come. White agreed: “We are now seeing that.”