New $90M Capital Fund Good News for BC's Technology Industry

Today the BC Government launched the anticipated $90 million Renaissance Capital Fund (BCRCF) and announced an impressive roster of six top-tier institutional venture capital fund managers, who will represent the fund and will leverage the growth. The announcement was made by the Honourable Colin Hansen, Minister of Economic Development, this morning. Press release here.

This fund is a significant step forward for the technology industry as it adds to the depth of our current angel and early stage VC financing in BC. It also provides the mechanisms and support to grow our companies so we can better compete in a global market, establish larger anchor companies and continue to grow our industry beyond a broad base of start-ups to an industry of mature, commercially successful companies. Without sufficient capital, tech companies are often forced to seek acquisition, making it difficult for the industry to progress and remain headquartered in the Province.

The BCTIA commends the BC Government for recognizing the need to escalate the level of capital and managerial expertise in the province in order to help the technology industry reach its potential, and for taking action to address this need.

BCTIA is also impressed with the calibre of top-tier institutional venture capital fund managers representing this fund. We believe our industry will benefit tremendously from their access to funds, global experience, and their know-how in growing emerging companies into industry anchors.

As the voice and advocate of the technology industry, BCTIA has, in the context of the Provincial Technology Strategy, consistently advocated to establish a larger pool of capital to power the growth of our industry. We included this as a key recommendation of our submission to the provincial competition council in 2006.

I firmly believe that the Renaissance Fund provides us with additional access to capital, mechanisms, and support to grow our tech companies to more advanced commercialization stages so that we can compete more effectively in a global market, establish strong anchor companies and accelerate our growth.

The government has listened and delivered and it is now up to us, the technology industry, to take advantage of the opportunities this creates and build a stronger sector in BC.

For more information visit the BCTIA Website.