No, there weren't specific companies, but rather all portfolios of companies whose eligibility had already been validated as a result of an SDTC process. No new businesses were added.
The first year of the COVID‑19 pandemic was extremely difficult for entrepreneurs. Every week, we called the companies in our portfolios. We received tremendous support from many officials, from different provinces, from various states, from the federal government and from the United States.
We were able to meet with entrepreneurs. We explained how they could obtain loans or grants and market equity. As you know, if a company goes bankrupt, it takes about 10 years to bring the technology back to a commercial level. There was exceptional collaboration among officials, bankers, lenders and venture capitalists.
We also held meetings with many people on apps such as Zoom or Teams to support our businesses, especially the Canadian ones.
I want to thank officials from a number of federal agencies for the work they did. They helped us tremendously. We worked really well during those years.