I'll make an interesting point here. Venture capital is often synonymous with taking risk, but the real question you're asking is this: What types of risks are VCs taking? VCs most often do not take on technological risk, but they take on market risk. What I mean by that is they're happy to take a product or a prototype that is nearly commercial-ready and see how to get it introduced into the market. Most VCs in Canada or the United States do not have the means, the capacity or the intention to take on technological risk.
Technological risk in the United States is overcome by government programs like the SBIR or the STTR. These are very large, substantial pools of funding that can be obtained not just by small businesses but also by universities and university start-ups. Sometimes they can offer up to $2 million U.S. of funding over the course of a year or two. That can be very instrumental in bringing deep tech to market.