Preliminary data from the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association offers a look into one of the best years for venture capital in national history and reinforces the promise of strong numbers for Atlantic Canada in 2021.

The early figures show Canadian companies raised just shy of $15 billion worth of VC deals -- more than triple the roughly $4.5 billion from 2020 and more than double  2019’s better-than-average $6.2 billion. The national association is expected to release its final data for 2021 in early March. 

“There was a smaller volume of deals which signals larger cheque sizes into Canadian businesses throughout the year,” said the CVCA in a press release.

Though the CVCA did not provide a regional breakdown in its preliminary data, there are early indications that 2021 was also a banner year in Atlantic Canada. Patrick Hankinson, the CEO of Halifax-based Concrete Ventures, posted in a blog last week that Atlantic Canadian companies raised more than $350 million last year.

The Atlantic Canadian raises last year included Introhive’s record-breaking $122 million Series C round, which was the largest VC raise in New Brunswick history.

Other eastern deals pushing VC figures higher included a $20.3 million Series B round from St. John’s-based Mysa Smart Thermostats, as well as another Newfoundland company, CoLab Software, closing a $21 million Series A raise.

New Brunswick, at a minimum, will post the best year it has ever had for venture capital, Entrevestor’s databank shows. As early as June, the Introhive deal and a handful of smaller raises had pushed the provincial tally to $136 million, surpassing a previous high of $84.7 million in 2018.

Hankinson added that Atlantic Canadian startups added a net 2,483 new jobs in 2021. 

"Of the companies that I’m tracking . . . .throughout 2021, 33 percent hired employees, 28 percent were stagnant, and 28 percent had less staff than the year before," said Hankinson.

Bolstering Atlantic Canadian fundraising last year, though, was a new trend of companies raising money from public markets, which the CVCA does not include in its reports.

Video game technology company Swarmio Media, which has offices in Halifax, Sydney and the Toronto area, began trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange in November and raised $6.27 million.

“From our experience of raising funds in Canada, there's lots of abundance of seed funding and pre-Series A funding,” said CEO Vijai Karthigesu at the time. “And when it comes to Series B and Series C, there are companies who can write the $100 million cheque. But Series A capital, there is very little, almost none in Canada.”