BDC Venture Capital Injecting $100 Million into Cleantech Startups in Canada

BDC Venture Capital announced this morning its intention to invest more than $100 million into current and future scalable energy and cleantech opportunities, a move it says will help support its goal “of developing Canadian technology companies with potential to transform industries on a global scale.”

The investment firm intends to “rethink” the business of injecting capital into cleantech ventures by focusing on areas like scalability and efficiency. Traditionally, cleantech venture capital investments globally have been directed to large, capital-intensive infrastructure projects such as solar or wind farms or building large facilities for the production of biofuels or green chemicals according to BDC. By contrast, the BDC Venture Capital ECT Fund “tailors investments towards scalable, capital-efficient ventures that can significantly improve the efficient use of scarce resources.”

“The rising cost of energy and resources, as well as the transition to a low-carbon economy, has caused a surge in cleantech innovation in Canada, and this country has the opportunity to be a world leader in developing technologies that can help companies address global resource, productivity and efficiency challenges,” explains Tony Van Bommel, senior managing partner of the ECT Fund. “With this financing, BDC Venture Capital will support Canadian ventures that have the potential both to commercialize scalable ECT technologies and to generate significant returns.”

“The BDC Venture Capital ECT Fund is reshaping the concept of cleantech, by putting smart money towards globally competitive Canadian technologies that can make businesses everywhere more resource-efficient and productive,” says Paul Kirkconnell, Executive Vice-President of BDC Venture Capital. “Along with our other dedicated funds, the ECT Fund is another example of how today’s BDC Venture Capital is making strategic investments that foster promising Canadian ideas with the potential for substantial return on investment, while also strengthening the country’s venture capital ecosystem.”

The BDC Venture Capital ECT Fund, which first launched in 2001, has already invested many ventures, including quantum computing company D-Wave Systems based in Burnaby and Regen Energy in Toronto.