NCFA Canada | Craig Asano | December 13, 2016

TORONTO, ON December 13, 2016 – The National Crowdfunding Association of Canada (NCFA Canada) and partners are pleased to release this ground-breaking report on the state of the alternative finance crowdfunding industry in Canada.  Crowdfunding is on its way to being an integral part of the capital raising ecosystem in Canada and around the globe. With innovative and emerging fintech infrastructure, a growing number of funding portals and licensed dealer-brokers on both buy and sell sides can service a steady flow of start-ups and scale-ups interested in raising up to $5M of capital online to launch, grow, and commercialize ventures.

The 2016 Alternative Finance Crowdfunding in Canada is the inaugural report of NCFA’s annual exercise in providing Canadian benchmarks for market size, platform characteristics and funding transactions, as well as an overview of legal considerations, the regulatory environment and emerging market trends and developments in what is arguably one of the most innovative financing tools of our generation. Crowdfunding combines technology, the internet and the power of the ‘crowd’ to streamline the process of raising capital from a full spectrum of investors while filling an under-serviced funding gap in venture markets.

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Market volume:  Crowdfunding volumes in Canada grew 48% from 2013 to 2015 and reached $133 million in 2015 confirming that it is a genuine source of seed and growth capital for companies seeking funding with the market predicted to reach $190 million in 2016.  Canadian markets are growing much slower than leading international comparators such as the U.S. and U.K. where online alternative financing volumes are reported at USD 36 billion and  GBP 3.2 billion, respectively.

Market formation trends based on survey response data indicate that the industry is evolving with larger platforms emerging and an increasing number of issuers and backers entering the market. Industry niches such as real estate are growing rapidly in the U.S. ($3 billion in 2015) and are beginning to gain attention here in Canada.  There was an increase in the percentage of platforms having more than 2,500 investors per year with 60% of the portals reporting between 1001-5000 investors on their platform in 2015.

Emerging Trends and Developments:  The industry is diverse, encompassing many positive trends and emerging developments such as the growth of P2P / marketplace lenders, mainstream adoption of crowdsourced platforms (eg., Airbnb) and increasing popularity of blockchain powered 'Crowdsales' (or Initial Coin Offerings), as well as the launch of OSCs Fintech Launchpad initiative.

Risks to market formation:  Canada has a complex web of regulatory prospectus exemptions that are available for raising capital online.  For regulated crowdfunding markets to efficiently develop, regulators are encouraged to adopt uniform and competitive regulations while avoiding stifling the market.  There is need for more education and awareness, transparency, standards and market confidence.