Atlantic Canadian startups are finishing the year with a flourish of fundraising, pushing the total amount of equity capital placed in young innovative companies in 2012 up over $50 million, spread across more than 45 companies. 

That $50 million figure isn’t the total for the whole year, as I’ve heard that a few other announcements are in the works before we’re all singing Auld Lang Syne. It’s simply the amount that entrepreneurs have reported to Entrevestor this year.

I try to track the investments into these young tech, biotech, cleantech and whatever-tech companies, and compiling complete data for them is all but impossible because so much of the activity is carried out in secrecy. Sometimes, companies announce an investment without revealing the amount. But I can say with certainty that 45 startups in Atlantic Canada have raised more than $50 million in equity financing from venture capital funds, individual investors, or strategic partners (large companies investing in a smaller startup for strategic reasons).

I took the time to add things up largely because a few people asked me about the totals after we reported on a few high-profile deals since mid-November – aioTV of Halifax and Denver selling a 44 percent for $8 million, Atlantic Hydrogen of Fredericton attracting more than $5 million from Emera, Clarity of Moncton raising $1.6 million and LeadSift of Halifax raising $1.1 million.

Here are a few highlights of the data:

• About one-third of the total money raised came from two strategic investments – the aioTV and Atlantic Hydrogen deals. It will be interesting to see if such deals become more prevalent in coming years.
•  Of the 45 companies that have sold equity, 29 are less than two years old. That doesn’t mean these young  companies are ones doing small deals – they include LeadSift, Clarity and aioTV.
• Twenty-nine of the companies are Nova Scotian.
• New Brunswick companies raised less in total than Nova Scotia, but they tended to represent a higher concentration of million-dollar-plus deals.  As well as Clarity and AHI, Breviro Caviar raised $2.5 million.
• Atlantic Canadian startups raised at least $10 million from angel investors. I say at least because angels tend to invest quietly so it’s harder to determine a total. That $10 million is the amount that I have confirmed.
• There’s been about $25 million in venture capital investment. One troubling signs is that only four of the companies raising VC money did so from funds outside the region. In the next two years, the region’s startup will either have to increase that figure dramatically or find other ways to raise money.

One final thought about the figures: the thing that leaps out is the variety of funding methods that Atlantic Canadian companies are now using to raise money. The Newfoundland and Labrador Angel Network is now active again. Universities are increasing their work in the startup space. Strategic deals are making an impact. I think 2013 will be an interesting year in fundraising.