Innovacorp has revealed it invested a total of $2.1 million in nine companies in what was likely its final complete fiscal year, and admits the totals were lower than expected.
The Nova Scotia government’s venture capital agency recently released its Accountability Report for the 2021-22 fiscal year, which ended on March 31. After investing an above-average $9.7 million the previous year to help portfolio companies through the pandemic, Innovacorp toned down its investing in 2021-22 to its lowest level in years.
The agency is now in the news as the government has decided to merge Innovacorp with Nova Scotia Business Inc. to form a new economic development body called Invest Nova Scotia. The legislation for the new entity is now making its way through the provincial legislature.
“Innovacorp made investments in nine companies, advancing $2.1 million,” said the report. “Both the number of investments and the total amount invested was lower than anticipated (i.e., $4 million in about 12 companies), while the two-year average is at the top end (i.e., $11.8 million over two years, or $5.9 million per year) of the expected variance.
“This is in part due to the team’s fast investment pace the previous year to ensure Innovacorp’s strongest companies had the capital they need to get through market/financing challenges or seize new opportunities related to the pandemic.”
Previous accountability reports showed Innovacorp’s investments totaled $2.5 million in 2019-20, $6.3 million in 2018-19 and $7.9 million in 2017-18.
The following are the companies that the agency invested in during its last fiscal year:
| Bluelight Analytics | $500,000 |
| Impactful Health R&D | $500,000 |
| Proposify | $500,000 |
| Emagix | $350,000 |
| IntelliReefs | $100,000 |
| Zen Electric Bikes | $100,000 |
| Bloxo | $25,000 |
| QuickFacts | $25,000 |
| Renderator Technologies Labs | $25,000 |
Innovacorp says in the report its main objective is to “generate a return for Nova Scotia” and it provides several metrics to assess its performance. For example, the report says the total value of the portfolio for investments made since 2010 was almost three times the amount invested, exceeding the agency’s target of 1.2 times.
“Innovacorp’s portfolio companies raised $253 million of investment (plus $49.7 million of non-dilutive funding), including rounds Innovacorp invested in, which was $203 million higher than anticipated, and $112 million higher than the record-breaking $141 million the previous year.”
Disclosure: Innovacorp is a client of Entrevestor.
