Saskatchewan closed 18 venture capital deals in 2022
KPMG released new data on Canada’s venture capital market in 2022 on Jan. 24, reporting Canada saw US$10.3 billion in deals across the country – the second best year on record.
Of 1,109 deals struck in 2022, Saskatchewan saw 18. Ontario led the provinces with 495, Alberta saw 118, and Manitoba closed seven.
“Despite difficult market conditions last year, venture capital activity in Canada remained robust, with interest widespread in innovative, high-growth-potential firms,” said Sunil Mistry, partner, enterprise and technology, media and telecommunications at KPMG in Canada. “The year ahead may however prove to be more challenging. A potential recession and bearish market have venture capitalists raising the bar on their due diligence and laser-focused on their return on investment. Last year’s rout in the public markets and rising interest rates has led to uncertainty over the valuations of privately held assets and their price on the secondary market. As a result, venture capitalists are increasingly looking to deploy funds in companies where they can achieve returns over a shorter time horizon, generally one to two years. With ‘caution ahead’ the watchwords, we expect to see a bit of a reset in the market making it unlikely that we’ll see deals close as quickly as they did over the past couple of years.”
The KPMG report calls for a slowdown in the market, but sees that fintech, biotech, sustainability and cleantech, cybersecurity, machine learning and artificial intelligence will continue to “draw strong investor interest in 2023.”
New money for infrastructure
The Government of Canada and the Government of Saskatchewan announced $19.7 million in funding for 25 infrastructure projects around the province on Jan. 25.
The projects funded include:
- First Nations University’s new Land-based Learning Centre
- Improvements to Estevan’s Leisure Centre
- Upgrades to Kindersley’s West Central Event Centre
- Bridge replacement projects in the rural municipalities of Big Stick No. 141, Biggar No.347, and Laurier No. 38, and
- Landfill decommissioning for the villages of Climax, Ceylon, Harris and the towns of Lumsden and Milestone.
“The investments announced today will create opportunities for Saskatchewanians to build a better future for themselves, their families and their communities. We will continue working with our partners to support rural and Indigenous communities across Saskatchewan,” said Hon. Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities.
Mosaic holding off at Colonsay
Mosaic Potash CEO Joc O’Rourke told Reuters this week that the potash company will not restart its Colonsay mine yet, as market conditions are still not right yet.
The company expected to restart the mine in early 2023 after ending production in December, but now says it will hold off for longer.
O’Rourke did not say when he expects production at Colonsay to restart.
Royal Helium signs deal
Saskatoon’s Royal Helium announced Jan. 25 that it has struck a deal with Guardyan Conservation Corp. to develop a carbon credit strategy for the Steveville Helium Recovery Plant near Brooks, Alta.
“This partnership highlights Royal’s proactive commitment to high environmental standards with our mandate of ensuring all available GHG emission reduction options are integrated into our facility. Guardyan will focus on maximizing the available carbon credits resulting from the efficient plant design. Royal’s cryogenic processing plant design not only has the ability to process helium to 99.999% purity, it commercially processes and captures the other industrial gases in an economically significant way which also leads to the production of salable carbon credits,” said Andrew Davidson, Royal’s president and CEO.
New Indigenous investment management firm launches
Nekaneet First Nation announced this week it has formed Wiyotisiwin Investment Management Company with Saskatoon’s Meckelborg Financial Group.
The new company will be led by Rob Woods, Cherish Francis, Richie Stanviloff and Mark Teal.
Nekaneet First Nation is located near Maple Creek, Sask. in the province’s southwest.
Sask Polytech in top spot for research
Saskatchewan Polytechnic announced on Jan. 25 that it has ranked first in InfoSource Inc.’s latest Top 50 Research Colleges list for number of completed research projects. The post-secondary institution completed 350 research projects in 2020-2021.
Sask Polytech also ranked second in the number of research partnerships – with 208 collaborations – and second for industry research income as a percentage of total research income and NSERC research income as a percentage of total research income.
“These are impressive institutional milestones for Sask Polytech’s applied research team,” said Dr. Susan Blum, applied research and innovation associate vice-president. “Our team has worked incredibly hard over the past year to increase the number of applied research projects completed from 245 to 350. More projects result in more successful partnerships with industry and communities. Applied research is important because it helps identify and solve real-world problems and leads to the development of innovative new products and services. This creates new and exciting opportunities for faculty and students.”
Re$earch InfoSource is a Canadian-based research, consulting and publishing firm that specializes in policy, research, business intelligence and analysis on science, technology, innovation, and the Canadian R&D ecosystem.
