By Arman Kazemi
September 25, 2014
A Canadian start-up has recently launched a funding platform devoted to the Canadian clean technology sector, helping connect investors with projects in need of capital.
This month, the Funding Portal announced its partnership with Sustainable Development Technology Canada to help private start-ups, research institutions and non-profits access the myriad funding sources available online.
The Funding Portal will help streamline the daunting task of consolidating and targeting disparate funding streams by offering its clients a search tool based on industry, geography and organizational model to better match them with investors.
The portal will also let funders and potential investors tap into relevant projects and subsectors that match their investment profile.
Think of it as a cleantech LinkedIn for private capital and government incentives.
The SDTC is a non-profit organization launched by the federal government in 2001 with a mandate to finance and support “the development and demonstration of clean technologies” in Canada. It currently represents a total of $648 million in capital investments for 269 companies across the clean energy sector.
This partnership will help further both organizations’ efforts by bringing funding opportunities in front of cleantech investors and putting them on the path to commercialization, according to Jane Pagel, CEO of SDTC.
Data from the Funding Portal itself ranks clean technology third among Canadian industries to receive private investment in 2013, which attracted 187 per cent more venture capital that year than in 2012.
The Funding Portal aims to build on the sector’s growth in 2014 by connecting a portfolio of over 7,000 investment partners with burgeoning entrepreneurs.
