The stats I gave you are for the program created by Harper's Conservative government. Those stats are available because of dollars that have been returned. The other two under the Trudeau government are still in market. One is fully allocated and one is currently being fundraised.
What surprises me the most is how little people know about these programs. People think the government is supporting venture capital, when really it's investing alongside it. The two VCCI programs.... The government is entering these waterfalls and agreements pari passu, which means it is an investor equal to all the other limited partners in the fund.
It generates all the money back. Think about all the government programs that just give out money and the government never sees it again. It's hard to tangibly identify the results. In these ones, the treasury gets all the dollars back. They make a significant return. It creates jobs, innovation and exports, and it commercializes IP. However, it needs to grow. As I said, 60% of all dollars that come to venture capital is from the U.S. Most of it is at a later stage. U.S. firms are able to write a $2-million cheque in a $600-million round, which very few Canadian funds can do.
My recommendation is that the government stay the course not in supporting but in investing. Institutional capital needs to meet the demand out there. Venture capital is the most efficient allocation of dollars for companies. These programs are wonderful, because the government doesn't get to pick. When the government gets to pick, politics get in the way.