One of the noticeable highlights of the Atlantic Canadian innovation community in 2015 is the number of multimillion-dollar funding rounds from venture capital investors based outside the region.

There have been at least four companies that have announced deals worth $3 million or more from VC funds based elsewhere. CarbonCure Technologies of Halifax and RtTech Software of Moncton both announced $3-million rounds, Affinio of Halifax $4 million, and Introhive of Washington, D.C., and Fredericton US$7.2 million. The fact that their funders are based outside the region is important because it adds to the companies’ networks and adds validity to claims that these companies have global reach.

We could probably add LeadSift, also of Halifax, to the list. It said in June it raised a new funding round led by OMERS Ventures of Toronto and Salesforce Ventures of San Francisco. It was LeadSift’s second funding round, so it would be surprising if it amounted to less than $1 million.

Read About Affinio's $4M Raise 

There may be one or two more of these deals announced before the end of the year. So it’s conceivable there will be a half-dozen companies that have raised meaningful VC rounds from outside the region.

That compares with three companies raising this sort of funding round in each of the last two years: St. John’s, N.L.-based Celtx, Halifax-based Reno Sub-Systems and Resson Aerospace of Fredericton in 2014, and Karma Gaming of Halifax, CarbonCure and Smart Skin Technologies of Fredericton in 2013.

This is important because the recent emphasis on innovation in economic development will only pay off if it leads to the development of large companies attacking export markets. All four Atlantic provinces have identified technology and innovation as cornerstones of their economic strategies — including Nova Scotia last week with the release of the One Nova Scotia Coalition action plan. Building a lot of small tech companies will have minimal impact on growth, so the strategy will only work if some of those companies grow into bona fide corporations.

There are already a few such companies in the region, such as Verafin in St. John’s and Mariner in Saint John, N.B., but more are needed. These are the companies that create the most wealth, employ the most people and offer employment to the greatest range of talent.

And as a rule, it takes a great deal of capital to grow such companies. Atlantic Canada has greatly improved its ability to attract growth capital in the past few years, but overall the region’s high-growth companies are attracting small parcels of money.

For example, in the first half of 2015, according to Thomson Reuters and the CVCA, there were 244 VC deals across Canada worth a total of $939 million, or about $3.8 million per deal. Atlantic Canada accounted for 24 of those deals — about a 10th of the total. But those 24 fundings were worth a total of about $42 million, or about $1.8 million each. In other words, the typical Atlantic Canadian venture capital funding is less than half the national average.

The small deals do help seed-stage companies, but the large deals will likely have more economic impact. And it’s good to land the money now. The recent prevalence of massive funding rounds, especially in Silicon Valley, has created warnings of a tech bubble that could burst at any time. If that happens, it will be all the more difficult for Atlantic Canadian companies to raise meaningful capital.

Meanwhile, it’s great to see these companies making hay while the VC sun is shining.