When the board of LightSail Energy of San Francisco raised $37.3 million in venture capital funding last year, the press release said the round “was led by Peter Thiel, with participation from Khosla Ventures, which incubated the company, Bill Gates, Innovacorp, and other investors.”

That’s right—Nova Scotia’s innovation agency appeared next to the founder of Microsoft in the list of investors.

Based in the Bay area, LightSail is dedicated to using thermal dynamics to solve a key problem with electrical grids— providing green power to the grid when it’s most needed rather than when it’s easiest to produce. The company was founded by Dartmouth native Danielle Fong, and so it’s planning to build a facility near New Glasgow. Because of that, Innovacorp decided to sink $2 million into the company.

While everyone involved hopes this investment pays off economically, what’s indisputable is that it’s already helping one of the great missions of the start-up community: expanding into the international marketplace. This move is imperative because so many regional companies are looking for follow-on funding, the later-stage funding rounds of more than $3 million, or more than most funding bodies in the region can handle.

“The continued growth of the ecosystem is contingent on smart outside investment in local companies,” says Innovacorp director Thomas Rankin. “We see our role as providing the leverage to bring in that capital. We work hard through our personal networks and through our partnership with organizations such as the C100 group to make this happen.”

There is a determined effort in the Atlantic Canadian startup community to become a more active segment of the international investment community. Several companies and organizations are developing stronger ties with C100. The investment in LightSail was a small step in that direction. Investors here are developing more contacts across the continent with the hopes of attracting more investment to young companies in the region. Already, outside investors are making a huge contribution to our ecosystem.

It’s difficult to state exactly how much money is flowing into our start-ups from outside investors, because several companies have raised money from individuals in Atlantic Canada and elsewhere and don’t provide specific breakdowns.

However, according to the Entrevestor Databank of the 74 companies that publicly said they sold equity in 2011 and 2012, 34 reported investors are from outside Atlantic Canada. The most notable of

these was Unique Solutions, which raised $30 million from Northwater Capital of Toronto, a single deal that comprised 54% of the total VC and angel money raised by Atlantic Canadian companies in 2011.

At the other end of the spectrum, one of the greatest changes is the number of angels from outside the region who are backing Atlantic Canadian companies. Twenty-one companies in 2012 brought in individual investors from the outside. This movement to internationalize the ecosystem is getting a boost from a number of organizations and events. And Today, the Critical Path Group of Toronto will host the Atlantic Venture Forum to provide a meeting place for Atlantic Canadian companies and potential partners/investors from elsewhere.

The sponsors include Extreme Startups of Toronto and Grand Bank Capital of Boston, among others.

MentorCamp has already held two events in Halifax, which has led to two international companies moving to Halifax and two companies funded by a range of angels.

Meanwhile, the region’s companies are moving on their own to broaden their wingspan and embrace customers and investors in international markets. Consider Oris4, whose founders, Andrew Doyle and Peter Hickey, didn’t just hire Reza Kazemipour and Guillaume Oget in northern California but named them CEO and CTO, respectively. In return, these new execs bring their networks in Silicon Valley. A great believer in the importance of extending the region’s international reach,

Doyle says companies such as 2nd Act are working hand-in-hand with various organizations to reach out to international investors.

“It’s a two-way street,” he says. “They’re growing their network and introducing people to us, but as we grow we’re able to introduce them to our network too.”