Ontario Helping Businesses Grow Through Angel Investment

New Partnership to Develop Province’s Social Investment Market

May 25, 2015 9:00 A.M.

Ontario is making it easier for businesses that have a positive social or environmental impact, while producing a sustainable financial return, grow and succeed.

The province, in partnership with the Network of Angel Organizations-Ontario (NAO-Ontario), is launching the Impact Angel Alliance. The Alliance will encourage more investors to help kick-start promising, high-growth social ventures in Ontario. This will be Canada’s first impact investing angel network.

The Alliance will work with NAO-Ontario to:

Raise awareness of social ventures among established angel investor groups.
Help diversify angel group membership to help bring in more women, visible minorities, and new Canadians.
Bring together angel groups and non-traditional funding partners to increase co-investment into social ventures in priority areas, such as community health and sustainable craft industries.
Research emerging trends, challenges and opportunities in impact investing to reduce risk, save time and attract better opportunities.

Supporting investment in businesses that have social or environmental benefits is part of the government’s plan to build Ontario up. The four-part plan includes investing in people’s talents and skills, making the largest investment in public infrastructure in Ontario’s history, creating a dynamic, innovative environment where business thrives, and building a secure retirement savings plan.

QUOTES

” We want to encourage investors to target businesses that focus on achieving more than just profits – by placing their money into businesses that also positively contribute to social or environmental benefits in Ontario. Angel investors can help social enterprises grow and succeed, and through our partnership with the Network of Angel Organizations and the Impact Angel Alliance, we are making it easier for social ventures and angel investors to connect, contribute, and make our society a better place to live.”
– Brad Duguid
Minister of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure

” Like any other start-ups, impact ventures need financing to grow. The number of angel investors making impact investments is growing, and we want to make it grow even more. With the support from the government and partnership with NAO-Ontario, we’re confident that we can achieve that goal and help to transition impacting investing to greater mainstream awareness and adoption.”
– Sean Holt
Executive Director, Impact Angel Alliance

” Initiatives like the Impact Angel Alliance will help Ontario-based companies like ChipCare to accelerate our growth, and allow more people around the world to access affordable, life-saving HIV treatment. We are grateful to our investors who are committed to building a profitable Canadian diagnostics company, while helping to make a real difference in patient care globally.”
– James Fraser
CEO, ChipCare

QUICK FACTS

Impact Angel Alliance is inspired by a similar initiative in the United States that has successfully worked with early-stage social ventures to help raise over $180 million to date.
Angel investors are high net-worth individuals who provide financing to start-up companies.
About 320,000 high net-worth individuals – with a collective wealth of almost $1 trillion – are estimated to live in Canada.
The current total Canadian impact investing market is over $5 billion. In 10 years, that number is estimated to grow to $30 billion.
Ontario is home to over 10,000 social enterprises that employ about 160,000 people.
Ontario is home to SVX, the first social impact investing platform of its kind in North America.