Innovacorp’s announcement Wednesday that it will boost its funding for Halifax biotech DeNovaMed to $500,000 is further evidence that 2012 will be a strong year for venture capital funding in Nova Scotia.

The provincial innovation agency said in a press release that it would invest $500,000 in the company, which is developing compounds that can battle “superbugs”. That total includes the $120,000 the company received as the winner of the I-3 innovation contest in January.  The funding will give DeNovaMed enough money to last about a year.

"We're very excited to be working with a team seeking to transform therapeutics for infectious diseases," says Lidija Marusic, Innovacorp’s investment manager specializing in biotech. "DeNovaMed's innovative antibiotic platform, combined with its solid plan for future growth, puts them in great standing for the rapidly mounting need for superbug treatments."

We profiled DeNovaMed on Entrevestor last week, so we want to take a quick look at where the funding announcement leaves Nova Scotia in terms of VC funding for this year. The quick answer is: in pretty good shape.

With this latest announcement, there’s been $13.35 million in venture capital funding announced by 11 Nova Scotia companies so far this year. So with almost five months to go, we’re looking at a strong year for funding of young innovative companies. (Please forgive the Nova Scotia focus here -- I simply don't have the tallies yet for the other provinces.)

It’s highly unlikely that 2012’s total will exceed that of 2011, when VC funding reached $46.2 million, thanks in large part to the massive $30 million investment in Unique Solutions of Dartmouth by Northwater Capital's Intellectual Property Fund of Toronto. Yet we’ve already exceeded the $10.2 million raised in 2010 and are on track to top the $15.5 million from 2009.

One piece of good news from the fundings this year: VC funds have already made investments in 11 different companies, exceeding the eight financings reported last year and four the year before.

One area of concern: all the funders have been Nova Scotia-based entities – Innovacorp, NSBI Venture Capital and GrowthWorks Atlantic. There’s a drive in the province to bring in more money from sources outside the region. This has been happening this year, but it’s been happening more in the angel financing realm rather than in venture capital.

Right now, Nova Scotia is on track to finish the year with $20 million-plus in VC funding. I’ve heard little talk of a massive funding like the Unique Solutions deal, though there’s nothing to say it won’t happen.