{"id":72026,"date":"2025-05-03T20:18:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-03T20:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/72026\/"},"modified":"2025-05-03T20:18:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T20:18:10","slug":"can-we-just-write-the-cheque-angel-investors-encouraged-to-be-bold-amidst-economic-uncertainty-at-naco-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/72026\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cCan we just write the cheque?\u201d: angel investors encouraged to be bold amidst economic uncertainty at NACO Summit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cUnderlying pressures\u201d risk derailing first growth of angel investment in two years, according to NACO report. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As the Canadian innovation ecosystem stares down a complicated macroeconomic environment spurred by tariff disputes and a new Prime Minister, conversations at this year\u2019s National Angel Capital Organization (NACO<\/a>) Summit encouraged angel investors to be bold.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Held at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, the summit gathered 500 investors, entrepreneurs, and senior innovation leaders the day after the 2025 Canadian federal election. The event featured discussions on the importance of interprovincial investing, global cooperation, and how to further incentivize risk capital in Canada.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As part of the summit, NACO released a preliminary report on angel investing in Canada. The report found that angel investment increased by $137.3 million in 2024, a nearly 20 percent jump year-over-year. This gain was bolstered by an approximately 30 percent increase in deal volume over 2023. Cumulative angel investment tracked by NACO since 2010 has also now surpassed $1.68 billion.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cMaybe the moment that we\u2019ve got a reason to come together \u2026 is the time we have some fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suzanne Grant
Capital Angel Network<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The gains in dollars invested and number of deals showed \u201cremarkable resilience,\u201d rebounding after two straight years of contraction despite global economic difficulties, the report says. It went on to warn that trade conflicts and capital tightening pose a threat to the upward trend continuing this year and beyond.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, if resilience got angel investors through 2024, conversations at the NACO summit indicate a bolder mood for 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Following his panel conversation earlier in the day with Build Canada\u2019s Daniel Debow, also crowned a \u201cNation Builder\u201d<\/a> at the summit, NACO CEO Claudio Rojas told BetaKit that Canada is at an inflection point, and there\u2019s an urgent need for \u201cbold leadership and action\u201d that helps transform Canada into a nation of builders.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cInvest in Canada for the benefit of your children and your grandchildren and the country that future generations will inherit,\u201d Rojas said. \u201cThat\u2019s the primary motivator of angel investing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a panel conversation on the importance of cross-provincial co-investment, TandemLaunch managing partner \u00c9milie Boutros said that Canadian risk appetite needs to increase. She said that making higher-risk investments, and taking more risks as individuals, will create better companies now and in the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Spring Activator co-founder Keith Ippel argued that the rise of national angel networks, challenge-based programs, and funds connected to accelerators and venture studios have helped attract investors to common ground, breaking down interprovincial barriers. He noted that part of encouraging risk taking is sharing the details behind these Pan-Canadian deals, telling the story of how they are done, because \u201cit helps the people around us be more bold in how they invest.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A panel conversation on the importance of cross-provincial co-investment at NACO Summit 2025. Image courtesy NACO.<\/p>\n

Ippel also mentioned that the \u201celephant in the room\u201d with investors is often who is going to lead a round, adding that investors have to be willing to share deals across the country to find co-investors that can help. Boutros encouraged angels to take the lead in Canada, calling it a \u201cpersonality thing\u201d to be able to negotiate deals, rather than wait for the United States (US) or a VC firm to do it. Highline Beta founding partner Marcus Daniels took it one step further, asking if investors even need a lead in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, you think that how we\u2019re building companies, and how fast things are changing with AI\u2014we\u2019re all angel investors, can we just write the cheque?\u201d Daniels said to audience applause. \u201cBecause I think that\u2019s the challenge that we\u2019re seeing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The conversation at NACO Summit mirrors similar closed-door conversations<\/a> by institutional investors at the recent CIX Summit in March. There, attendees asserted that Canada lacks enough seed investors who can lead deals, saying there are \u201cmore price-takers than price-setters\u201d in the country\u2019s early-stage VC ecosystem.<\/p>\n

Seeking government (in)action<\/p>\n

Angel investors believe taking these risks will be easier with the assured death<\/a> of the capital gains tax rate changes by the new Liberal government, which was alluded to as a relief throughout the event.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe risk-reward [was] outta whack,\u201d Canavan Capital principal and 2025 Angel Investor of the Year<\/a> Joe Canavan said of the late capital gains tax rate changes in conversation with BetaKit editor-in-chief Douglas Soltys.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m getting charged at the time \u2026 35 percent [in tax] and I have an 80 percent chance of failure, why would I write a cheque when I could get five percent risk-free?\u201d Canavan added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Capital Angel Network executive director Suzanne Grant noted that conversations at the summit paralleled an overall sense of civic duty exemplified by the high voter turnout in the recent federal election. She said that the Canadian investors and entrepreneurs want to hear that they have leadership in the country that is pro-entrepreneur and pro-wealth creation, and won\u2019t shame people for making money and investing their wealth in Canada.\u00a0<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/strong>Dragons\u2019 Den\u2019s Arlene Dickinson, Build Canada\u2019s Daniel Debow recognized as Nation Builders at 2025 NACO awards<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been talking about culture shift for 20 years. What does it take to get us there, nationally, to change our culture?\u201d Grant told BetaKit. \u201cMaybe the moment that we\u2019ve got a reason to come together, because we do have risk as a nation, is the time we have some fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Industry groups have been urging Canada\u2019s new government<\/a> to take a renewed focus on long-standing issues, like tackling Canada\u2019s flagging productivity, incentivizing investment through tax credit reform, and boosting support for domestic companies amid a trade war with the US.<\/p>\n

NACO will be advocating for policies recommended in its report to boost angel participation in the country. Among them is asking the Canadian government to pursue an Entrepreneurship Capital Catalyst Initiative (ECCI), inspired by the Venture Capital Action Plan (VCAP<\/a>) and Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative (VCCI<\/a>) programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rojas said that the existing VCAP and VCCI programs, in which the federal government matches a percentage of venture funding for select fund managers, successfully mobilized pre-institutional capital into the ecosystem. He would like to see that designed and brought to the early stage. He also floated a National Entrepreneurship Tax Credit inspired by a similar incentive in British Columbia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way that our banks are structured, this asset class, the innovation economy, is not recommended to high net worth clients,\u201d Rojas said. \u201cA national entrepreneurship tax credit of even 15 percent would require, from a fiduciary perspective, all wealth managers to bring the asset class to their clients\u2019 attention.\u201d<\/p>\n

Feature image courtesy NACO.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cUnderlying pressures\u201d risk derailing first growth of angel investment in two years, according to NACO report. As…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72027,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3094],"tags":[51,35954,35955,3134,920,35958,35956,35953,6937,32994,35957,16,15,16097],"class_list":{"0":"post-72026","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entrepreneurship","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-claudio-rojas","10":"tag-emilie-boutros","11":"tag-entrepreneurship","12":"tag-events","13":"tag-joe-canavan","14":"tag-marcus-daniels","15":"tag-national-angel-capital-organization","16":"tag-ontario","17":"tag-ottawa","18":"tag-suzanne-grant","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom","21":"tag-vc"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114445753175609754","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}