Atlantic Canada Supports Marine Tech and Life Sciences Startups
Canada
Atlantic Canada
Activation Phase
MEMBERS:
Innovacorp
In my 20-year career in the biotechnology industry, I’ve worked with a lot of companies and in many jurisdictions. Something special is happening here. I’ve never seen so much momentum, collaboration, talent, and innovation as I do today in Atlantic Canada’s life sciences industry.
Sub-sector Strengths
Life Sciences
Atlantic Canada’s life sciences ecosystem is thriving, from Halifax’s $70 million Life Sciences Research Institute, an integrated facility for research and entrepreneurship, to Charlottetown’s $30 million BioCommons Research Park. According to Financial Times’ fDi Benchmark, Halifax is the third most cost-effective location for operating a life sciences research center in North America. Landmark deals recently returned over $750 million (CAD $1 billion) in exits and attracted significant investments such as ABK Biomedical’s $30 million Series B round in 2019.
Marine Tech
Atlantic Canada is home to Canada’s Ocean Supercluster, featuring more than $300 million in R&D spending from the private and public sectors. The Supercluster and six regional organizations are collaborating to double the number of ocean technology startups in the region. Atlantic Canada boasts the Centre for Ocean Ventures and Entrepreneurship, a world-class space for ocean-related innovation, the Ocean Frontier Institute and the Marine Institute’s Holyrood Marine Base.
Why you should invest in Atlantic Canada
TOTAL EARLY STAGE FUNDING
$51 m
GLOBAL AVG.
$431 m
ECOSYSTEM VALUE
$401 m
GLOBAL AVG.
$10.5 bn
#2 North American Ecosystem
Affordable Talent
Top 10 North American Ecosystem
Bang for Buck
1
Exit Growth
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1
Investor Activity
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9
Funding Growth
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Reasons to move your startup to Atlantic Canada
Innovation Tax Credits
Individual and corporate investors can apply for the innovation equity tax credit on investments of up to $500,000, with credits ranging from 15% to 45% for investments in ocean technology and life sciences ventures.
Access to Funding
The Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) is the Canadian government’s funding program that provides support for large-scale technology development and productivity-boosting projects in Canada, having contributed $2 billion so far across 65 projects.
COVID-19 Policy
The Canadian Government announced $192 million under the COVID-19 stream of its Strategic Innovation Fund to deliver direct support to Canadian life sciences companies to enable them to prepare and drive solutions to treat and manage COVID-19.
Startup Community
Startup Genome
Members
Startup Genome
Partners
New Brunswick Innovation Foundation
Startup Zone
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Local Ambassadors
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