B.C. tech leaders hope lobbying effort pays off

• Jill Tipping expects to be slightly hungover Wednesday. It's just not clear if it'll be the result of celebrating or drowning sorrows.

The head of the BC Tech Association will spend Monday and Tuesday watching closely as the federal and provincial governments table their respective budgets. Tipping will wait to see if her work, lobbying to secure $41 million in collective funding for a group effort to help create a local version of Ontario's Scale-Up Platform, has paid off.

“I'm really hopeful and optimistic,” she said in an interview with The Logic. When she listens to both governments speak about technology and innovation and looks at their policy frameworks, Tipping said, “It just feels like a big, red arrow that points in the direction of success for proposal.” She's careful to note, though, that “governments never give you the details of the budget before the budget.”

In 2020, BC Tech and 10 other organizations in the province, including cleantech accelerator Foresight and SFU VentureLabs, joined forces in a bid to solve what they see as one of the largest problems facing local startups: an inability to grow into medium-sized firms. Their solution is to mimic what's happening in Ontario with Communitech, Invest Ottawa and MaRS Discovery District's ScaleUp Platform. That program helps local companies grow with mentorship and advisory services.

The ScaleUp partners in B.C. asked the provincial NDP government to commit $10 million and the federal Liberal government for $31 million over four years. The combined funds would help support more than 800 technology firms and create 10,000 jobs by 2025, according to projections from the group's briefing note.

In early January, Tipping met B.C. Innovation Minister Ravi Kahlon, who was still relatively new at the time. His whole team attended the meeting, she said, calling it “a great sign.” Kahlon seemed interested in the proposal, by Tipping's estimation, especially as it included partners across the province, leveraged federal funds in addition to a provincial commitment, and placed technology and innovation at the centre of the province's post-pandemic economic recovery.

Back in December 2020, Kahlon told The Logic, “Any initiative that helps promote the opportunities for tech companies to grow, or talent to get opportunities, is a good thing.” He acknowledged the need for longterm consistent funding and ensuring that the province gets its “fair share of federal funding” for its tech sector.

Andrew Reid, founder and CEO of Vancouver-based Rival Technologies, is one of several local industry insiders to throw his support behind the idea, signing a letter sent to the federal government. The entrepreneur knows what it's like to try and grow a company in B.C. Rival, previously known as VC Labs, is his second go at building out an idea. His first was customer-insights company Vision Critical. When he started it in 2000, “there really wasn't any support” aside from a couple government programs, said Reid, who is also a former BC Tech board member. “Had there been more programs, more opportunities for us to get mentorship, for us to get support, for us to get financial incentives, then that would have made life easier.”

It takes a lot of hard work for leadership to move a company to the next level, he said. “You need all the support you can get from the folks that fund you, from mentors, from trade associations and from the government itself.” Extra support can provide Canadian founders with the incentive to continue to scale and grow in the country, he said, rather than sell. “It is just an easier thing to do than the tremendous difficulty of upscaling technology companies.”

There are a few possible outcomes from the two budgets. Tipping's best-case scenario: both governments clearly earmark funds for the initiative. In that case, she said, “I shake off the hangover, pour myself an orange juice and get to work. We really are shovel-ready.” She anticipates the group would be ready to start helping tech companies in May. It would focus on helping companies explore markets outside of Canada and connecting them to senior talent.

It's possible only one level of government gives ScaleUp BC the thumbs-up — though Tipping thinks that's not likely — or that there's some ambiguity about whether what's unveiled in next week's budgets will lead to support for the project. For example, the federal government may announce the creation of a B.C.-specific regional development agency; Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced plans for one In the fall statement. There are currently six such agencies, with Western Economic Diversification Canada serving all of Western Canada.