Canadian startup funding in 2017: A city-by-city ecosystem review

In January, PwC Canada and CB Insights released the MoneyTree report analyzing Canadian VC activity for Q4 and all of 2017. In a year where Canadian companies raised $3.3 billion CAD ($2.7 billion USD) total, the report found that seed stage investments are declining across the country -- a sign that Canadian companies are finding their product-market fit, according to PwC's Michael Dingle. The report also tracks Canadian cities showing significant activity within their startup ecosystems. To gather a yearlong perspective on how Canada's tech hubs have performed, BetaKit spoke with PwC's tech team from each city to talk standout sectors, and what each ecosystem needs. Toronto came at the top of the list, with $976 million ($770 million USD) invested across 115 deals in 2017, while Waterloo raised $229 million ($181.9 million USD) across 16 deals. For Toronto, this number represented a 22 percent decline from 2016, which saw $1.2 billion ($1 billion USD) invested over 126 deals.