Purpose

Canada has lagged in access to capital for high-potential, growth-oriented new ventures, but has made considerable strides in the past decade. This study aims to examine the evolving state of the market for risk capital in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic, providing a critical assessment of government policy from the perspective of angel investors and diverse communities of entrepreneurs.

Design/methodology/approach

A thematic analysis was conducted of seven COVID-19 roundtable discussions hosted by the National Angel Capital Organization that included 51 global and national-level business and political leaders. The analysis extracted the most salient details from the discussions, distilling them into timely and actionable insights for policymakers.

Findings

The analysis suggests that the government’s economic policy response to the COVID-19 crisis fails to address the sudden liquidity problems faced by new ventures. Entrepreneurs and angel investors have remained resilient, rallied as a community and demonstrated an extraordinary level of trust. Traditionally under-represented communities of entrepreneurs are more affected by the crisis than others.

Practical implications

The findings and recommendations are of relevance to policymakers interested in post-COVID-19 economic policies to address the unique challenges faced by start-ups and ensure their full contribution to economic recovery.

Originality/value

The paper presents several policy recommendations and proposes a novel framework to describe the impacts of the pandemic on different categories of start-ups.

中文翻译：

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迷失的一代企业家？COVID-19 对加拿大风险资本可用性的影响

目的

加拿大在获得高潜力、以增长为导向的新企业的资本方面落后，但在过去十年中取得了长足的进步。本研究旨在检查 COVID-19 大流行期间加拿大风险资本市场的演变状况，从天使投资者和多元化企业家社区的角度对政府政策进行批判性评估。

设计/方法/方法

对由国家天使资本组织主办的七次 COVID-19 圆桌讨论进行了专题分析，其中包括 51 位全球和国家级商业和政治领导人。分析从讨论中提取了最重要的细节，将它们提炼为决策者及时和可操作的见解。

发现

分析表明，政府对 COVID-19 危机的经济政策反应未能解决新企业面临的突然流动性问题。企业家和天使投资者一直保持韧性，作为一个社区团结起来，并表现出非凡的信任度。传统上代表性不足的企业家社区比其他社区更容易受到危机的影响。

实际影响

调查结果和建议与对 COVID-19 后经济政策感兴趣的决策者相关，以应对初创企业面临的独特挑战，并确保它们对经济复苏做出全面贡献。

原创性/价值

本文提出了几项政策建议，并提出了一个新的框架来描述大流行对不同类别初创企业的影响。