B.C. launches $100-million venture capital fund to boost tech sector, jobs

B.C. Premier Christy Clark is betting on the success of technology startups to boost job creation. Last week, she announced a $ 100- million venture capital fund to help early-stage tech startups grow. “This seed fund is going to be proof that the British Columbia government has faith and confidence in our tech industry. It will allow us to attract a lot of investment from around the world that we hope would match it.” The BC Tech Fund is the first part of a three-pronged strategy to increase the sector’s role in the government’s economic plan. Provincially, tech employs 86,000 people, and wages are 60 per cent higher than B.C.’s industrial average. The sector’s 9,000 companies added $13.9 billion to the gross domestic product in 2013. Now, the province wants to support entrepreneurs in transforming their startups into companies that can compete globally. The fund had support from dozens of the region’s high-profile tech entrepreneurs who gathered at the offices of Mobify, a mobile commerce firm that has already raised massive capital. The Canadian Press