According to a new report from Ottawa-based accelerator, L-Spark, Canadian SaaS companies received a cumulative $5.13 billion in capital investments in 2019. The $3.51 billion increase is a 213% jump from last year’s $1.62 billion.
The annual report, which studies broad trends, figures, industry highlights, investments, valuations, and acquisitions detailed 183 companies involved in 206 deals with 298 investors. On average, the deal size for a Canadian SaaS company was $43 million, up from $10.3 million last year.
For the second year in a row, Ontario boasted the highest volume of deals and capital with $1.78 billion. While British Columbia followed with $1.23 billion with 43 deals, Alberta came in third with $870 million with 16 deals, and Québec’s investments totaled $756.6 million with 26 deals.
Alberta’s jump past Quebec indicates a year of impressive growth, where startups like Benevity, Attabotics, and ZayZoon, all raised eight-figure rounds. The ten Canadian SaaS companies, which raised $50 million or more each accounted for $4.41 billion of total investments were Trulioo, Clio, TouchBistro, Verafin, ElementAI, Wave, Coveo, Hootsuite, Lightspeed, and Shareworks.
The report tracked 45 exits, including H&R Block’s $537 million takeover of Wave and Aspen Technology’s $102 million acquisition of Mnubo. The top Canadian investors in SaaS include BDC, Information Venture Partners, MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund, Techstars, Panache Ventures, and Relay Ventures, which cumulatively contributed to 45 deals of the 206 deals.
L-Spark also highlighted some of its own ventures from this year. The organization accelerated 51 companies, with over half of its companies raising follow-on funding totaling $45 million. The release of its annual report corresponds with L-Spark’s annual SaaS North conference, where founders, investors, and executives from the sector gather to explore the state of SaaS in the country. It’s an exciting moment for Canadian companies, a topic that is sure to be hotly discussed.
U.S. firms are advised to take notice of the growing number of world-class SaaS companies based outside of the country, as the landscape shifts rapidly. Increased funding isn’t just a phenomenon in Canada but also in Europe and Australasia.
