Canada’s venture gap starts before the pitch deck

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Canada has startup money.

The problem is that early-stage founders keep running out of runway before they can find it. 

Pre-seed deal sizes are shrinking, with emerging fund managers raising just $249 million in 2025. Foreign investors now account for roughly 40% of venture investment in Canada. Domestic capital, meanwhile, keeps migrating to later stages where the risk math feels safer.

That’s the gap the Canadian Startup Capital Association is hoping to close.

Launched yesterday, the CSCA is a national coalition for the early-stage investment ecosystem, from pre-seed through Series A, across angel groups, emerging fund managers, impact investors, Indigenous investment organizations, and startup activation programs. 

It’s launching with 19 founding members, including Startup TNT, Anges Quebec, Spring, The Firehood, Front Row Ventures, and Southeast Tech Hub (SETH). Together they represent more than 3,500 active investors, over $750 million in early-stage capital deployed, and more than $3 billion in follow-on capital raised by portfolio companies.

The CSCA’s core argument is that Canada never built the connective tissue to let the funding programs it already has do their jobs. 

Early-stage investment is fragmented by design. Regional ecosystems developed independently, angel networks operate in isolation, and emerging managers have no clear path to coordinated deal flow.

“Canada has the wealth, the founders, and a new generation of investors ready to act,” said Jesse Wiebe, Executive Director of the CSCA. “What’s missing are the networks to connect them. More people need to see themselves in the capital stack.”

Diversity is central to the mission. 

“If we want to unlock the full potential of founders across Canada, we also need a more diverse group of investors at the table,” said Caroline Von Hirschberg, Co-CEO of Spring and a founding member of the new organization. 

The CSCA plans to expand into a broader public platform and policy presence. Per the 2025 Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association’s (CVCA) annual report, a majority of Canada’s active private investors are already in the coalition. 

Whether that critical mass translates into better outcomes for pre-seed founders is the real test.

Final shots

• Domestic capital is concentrating at later stages, foreign investors are filling the pre-seed gap, and founders are losing momentum before they can find the money that exists.
• The CSCA is launching as a connective layer across 19 founding member organizations, collectively representing more than 3,500 active investors and over $750 million in early-stage capital deployed.
• The coalition’s test is whether national coordination can move the needle on pre-seed funding in a way that fragmented regional effort hasn’t.