2 February 2012
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
The Honorable Bernard Valcourt, Minister of State for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) and La Francophonie announced today funding for the Newfoundland and Labrador Angel Network (NLAN). This funding will allow NLAN to better bridge the capital gap that companies with significant potential face between start-up and later stage development, thereby enabling these businesses to grow their operations and create jobs in the province.
“Our Government is proud to support the important work this angel network does in helping to equip local entrepreneurs and businesses to bring their ideas to market as they build their future in Atlantic Canada,” said Minister Valcourt. “Our assistance will help NLAN deliver investment readiness training and mentoring services as well as assist companies to finalize their business plans and make effective pitches to angel investors.”
This announcement involves a two-year funding commitment of $160,000 from the Government of Canada, through ACOA. In 2008, federal support of $193,000 from ACOA helped establish the angel network and resulted in just under $1 million being directly invested in Newfoundland and Labrador companies. More importantly, it helped leverage $2.7 million of additional investment in these companies from other sources.
“NLAN, which is co-managed by the St. John’s Board of Trade, operates with the support of ACOA and our other funding sources,” said Nancy Healey, Chief Executive Officer of the St. John’s Board of Trade. “Our partnership with the Government of Canada through ACOAdirectly contributes to the growth of local businesses that compete in national and international markets, and it helps to develop a pool of private local capital that can keep generating jobs and wealth right here. This is a great example of government and business working together to create and sustain high value companies and jobs in Newfoundland and Labrador.”
NLAN currently has 30 angel investors associated with the Network, and plans to increase that number to 50 over the next two years. To date, 53 Newfoundland and Labrador companies have received some form of assistance from NLAN, either through training and mentoring or financial investments. An angel investor network is a group of individuals who provide capital for a business start-up.
Minister Valcourt had an opportunity to discuss the Angel Network program when he met yesterday in Ottawa with Ms. Healey and Steve Power, the Chair of the St. John’s Board of Trade. During the meeting, they discussed several topics of common interest such as the difficulty for companies to attract and retain skilled workers, the need to identify areas where we can better align our priorities and strengthened our joint action, and the importance of capitalizing on major project developments in the province such as the Lower Churchill project and the shipbuilding contract awarded to Irving Shipbuilding.
“I am pleased with the open and frank conversation we had during this meeting. We both recognize that there is an opportunity to work together on initiatives in areas of mutual interest such as northern development, ocean technology, international business development, skills development, broadband, rural issues, and economic development through major projects,” concluded Minister Valcourt.
FOR BROADCAST USE:
ACOA Minister Bernard Valcourt today announced a two-year funding commitment of $160,000 from the Government of Canada to assist the operations of the angel investment network run by the St. John’s Board of Trade’s BOT Capital Project Inc.
The primary objective of the angel network is to bridge the capital gap for emerging Newfoundland and Labrador small businesses to assist them to get from the start-up to late stage funding.
In 2008, federal support of $193,000 was provided through ACOA to help establish the network. It resulted in just under $1 million being directly invested by angel investors in Newfoundland and Labrador companies. Equally importantly, it helped leverage $2.7 million in additional investment from other sources.
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INFORMATION:
Andrea Richer
Press Secretary
Office of the Honourable Bernard Valcourt
613-790-3637
Doug Burgess
Director, Public Affairs
ACOA NL
709-772-2935
Nancy Healey
Chief Executive Officer
St. John’s Board of Trade
(709) 726-2961, ext. 1
