Financing reports

This profile provides a comparison between innovative and non-innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) using data from the 2020 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (SFGSME).

This report profiles the general characteristics of Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP) borrowers, and compares them to the characteristics of non-CSBFP borrowers. These groups are compared across several characteristics, including, but not limited to gender, age, experience, industry, innovation activity, growth and financing activity.

This report presents results from the 2020 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises to offer a glimpse into the financing and growth activities of clean technology (clean tech) small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Canada. These findings, which include statistics on the firm characteristics, financing, growth activities and ownership of clean tech SMEs, are compared with those of all SMEs.

This profile presents comparisons between co-operatives and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) based on the Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (SFGSME).

This report presents a business profile of small and medium-sized enterprises that received loans from the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) in 2020. The data used in the report is from the 2020 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises.

This report contains a summary of key findings for Canada's tourism sector from the 2020 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, and analysis on employment and financial performance from Statistics Canada's Provincial-Territorial Human Resources Module of the Tourism Satellite Account and ISED's Financial Performance Data, respectively. It provides an overview of business characteristics, innovation activities, and recent financing activities of Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in tourism industries in comparison with Canadian SMEs in all industries.

This report presents findings from the 2017 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises to offer the first-ever snapshot of the financing and growth activities of small and medium social enterprises in Canada. These findings, which include statistics on the firm characteristics, financing, growth activities and ownership of small and medium not-for-profit and for-profit social enterprises, are compared with those of co-operatives and of all SMEs.

This report presents findings from the 2017 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises to offer the first-ever snapshot of the financing and growth activities of clean technology (clean tech) small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Canada. These findings, which include statistics on the firm characteristics, financing, growth activities and ownership of clean tech SMEs, are compared with those of all SMEs.

This report is an annual publication that provides baseline data on the co-operative sector in Canada. The Government of Canada has been collecting and publishing this data since the 1930s. The 2013 publication is the 80^th edition and has been prepared by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada's Co-operatives Policy Unit. You can find the prior years' reports at Co-operatives in Canada

This profile, for the first time in Canada, compares data on co-operatives with those of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This report specifically considers for-profit co-operatives that are SMEs . Leveraging the findings of the Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, 2014 (SFGSME), the profile addresses various characteristics of co-operatives, such as types of financing sought, growth, exports and innovation activity. The benefit of the SFGSME is that it provides data on co-operatives whose characteristics are rarely studied in Canada.

This report profiles the general characteristics of Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP) borrowers, and compares them to the characteristics of non- CSBFP borrowers. These groups are compared across several characteristics, including, but not limited to gender, age, experience, industry, innovation activity, growth and financing activity.

Using post-recession data, this update of the SME profile, first published in 2011, provides a descriptive overview of SMEs in tourism industries and examines their similarities and differences when compared with SMEs in other industries in terms of business and owner characteristics, access to financing, financing terms and conditions and obstacles to business growth.

This report ascertain general characteristics of Research and Development-intensive firms and assess their access to financing. It provides some evidence that Research and Development-intensive firms have less access to financing than other firms.

This profile provides a descriptive overview of SMEs in tourism industries and examines their differences compared with SMEs in non-tourism industries in terms of business and owner characteristics, access to financing, financing terms and conditions and obstacles to business growth.

This paper examines whether the financing activities and experiences of innovative small and medium-sized (SMEs) in accessing financing are different from those of non-innovative SMEs . This paper also examines whether innovative SMEs face different financing terms and conditions than non-innovative SMEs seeking financing.

This profile describes innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) along a range of characteristics and examines whether they differ from non-innovative SMEs in terms of access to financing, financing terms and conditions, and obstacles faced in accessing financing.

This profile compares several characteristics of borrowers under the Canada Small Business Financing Program with small businesses not using the Program.

This report was undertaken to document the profiles of Canadian SME exporters and to gain a better understanding of the processes of internationalization adopted by SMEs .

This report was conducted to examine the extent to which Canadian SME exporter firms face difficulty in accessing debt financing from commercial lenders compared to non-exporters.

This profile presents a profile of Canadian SMEs that exported in 2004. The profile examines the distinguishing features of SME exporters and their financing needs, and provides insight into the differences between exporters in the manufacturing and service sectors.

This profile on HGSMEs presents key characteristics, financing patterns and potential financial barriers for these high-performing firms.

This report develops a working definition of "Global Gazelles" and analyzes financing issues faced by such firms.

This report, based on data collected in the 2023 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, presents demographic statistics for seven SME majority ownership types: SMEs majority owned by men, equally owned by men and women, majority owned by women, majority owned by Indigenous persons, majority owned by visible minorities, majority owned by person(s) with a disability and majority owned by members of the same family.

This report, based on data collected in the 2023 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, presents demographic statistics for seven SME majority ownership types: SMEs majority owned by men, equally owned by men and women, majority owned by women, majority owned by Indigenous persons, majority owned by visible minorities, majority owned by person(s) with a disability and majority owned by members of the same family.

This report, based on data collected in the 2020 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, presents demographic statistics for seven SME majority ownership types: SMEs majority owned by men, equally owned by men and women, majority owned by women, majority owned by Indigenous persons, majority owned by visible minorities, majority owned by person(s) with a disability and majority owned by members of the same family.

This report uses data from the 2017 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises to study firm financing outcomes of women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In particular, it examines whether, adjusting for firm and primary decision maker characteristics, there are gender differences associated with access to financing, debt financing approval and interest rates charged on debt financing.

This report, based on data collected in the 2017 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, presents demographic statistics for seven SME majority ownership types: SMEs majority owned by men, equally owned by men and women, majority owned by women, majority owned by Aboriginal persons, majority owned by visible minorities, majority owned by person(s) with a disability and majority owned by members of the same family.

For the first time, econometric techniques are applied to data from Statistics Canada's Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, 2011 and 2014, as well as administrative data from Statistics Canada's Linkable File Environment, to examine the impact of majority gender ownership on the following measures of enterprise performance: sales per employee, profit per employee, employment, innovation, ratio of authorized to requested debt financing and interest rate on debt financing. Results from the paper show that gender affected all measures of enterprise performance in 2011, whereas only sales per employee and employment were affected in 2014.

Majority Female-Owned Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises–May 2015 is a special edition of Key Small Business Statistics aiming to provide readers with a picture of the general distribution of majority female-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Canada.

An update of the November 2004 article on women entrepreneurs, this article describes the recent financing activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) majority-owned by women in Canada.

This profile provides a portrait of Canada's young entrepreneurs and examines the effect, if any, of the age of the owner on financing a small business.

This profile provides a portrait of visible minority entrepreneurs. It examines whether and how financing a small business is affected by the ethnicity of its owner.

This profile describes the financing activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) majority-owned by women in Canada. General business characteristics and financial growth performances are compared with SMEs majority-owned by men to highlight past and current gender differences.

The report provides further analysis and evaluation of the literature review undertaken in Phase 1.

The report presents a review of existing literature and examines obstacles to small business financing for various profiles of business owners in Canada.

This report presents results from the 2020 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises to offer a snapshot of the financing and growth activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that operate in rural areas of Canada.

This profile compares several characteristics of rural-based SMEs with those of SMEs in urban regions, including size, provincial distribution and source and type of financing required, as observed in 2004.

The profile shows the general characteristics and examines the financing activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ontario in 2004, and compares them with the national averages.

The profile shows the general characteristics and examines the financing activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Atlantic Provinces in 2004, and compares them with the national averages.

The profile examines the financing activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Prairie Provinces in 2004, and compares them with the national averages.

The profile shows the general characteristics and examines the financing activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Quebec in 2004, and compares them with the national averages.

The profile shows the general characteristics and examines the financing activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in British Columbia in 2004, and compares them with the national averages.

The impact of Venture Capital Action Plan on business performance

2025-08-06

This study examines the business performance of the VCAP-backed firms across short, medium, and long terms, recognizing that the impact of venture capital funding may differ across various time frames.

This report examines the key characteristics of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) receiving seed capital from private sources (e.g., angel and venture capital) or government grants. It analyzes interlinkages between different forms of support and estimates the effect of risk capital support on the performance of recipient businesses.

This report identifies ways of improving institutional investor awareness of and allocations to the Private Equity asset class.

This profile looks at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that received financing for risk capital through the informal marketplace in Canada. It examines the differences between these two types of investors and the impact of their investments on SMEs .

This report examines early-stage activity in Canada and Ontario since 1996, using statistics extracted from Macdonald & Associates' database and comparative U.S. data; coupled with the insights of senior venture capital (VC) professionals obtained in interviews conducted over the period December 2004–January 2005.

This report estimates the flow and potential stock of capital available for informal investment from respondents to the Survey on Financing of Small and Medium Enterprises, 2001.

This report explores the role of institutional investors (i.e. corporate and public sector pensions, insurance companies, endowments and foundations, and so forth) in Canada and the U.S.

This report provides a realistic assessment of the state of the Canadian VC market and aims to build a common understanding of the Canadian VC market, and foster private and public stakeholder coordination and collaboration to develop sound policies that will address key outstanding issues and gaps in the market.

This report provides a high-level profile of a small number of foreign venture capital (VC) investors, including both those that do and do not invest in Canada, and of Canadian firms financed by foreign and domestic VC funding.

This report aims to index and classify academic and professional research as well as public programs and policies that relate to financing by venture capital.

This report offers a complete picture of primary offerings in Canada by operating companies and capital pool companies (CPCs) from 1991 to 2000, based on the identification and analysis of 1891 share issues.

This report provides information with respect to the characteristics, practices, patterns and perspectives of Canadian informal investors. The work describes the nature of informal investments and identifies key parameters of the investment process, focusing on investors' investment behaviour.

This report documents the types of contributions, beyond the monetary investment itself, made by private investors to businesses in which they invest. It also presents a preliminary investigation of business owners' perceptions of the value of these contributions.

This report develops issues surrounding equity financing for SMEs in Canada through the venture capital, initial public offering (IPO) and post- IPO stages of development.

This report uses Porter's Five Forces Model of Industry Competitiveness to evaluate the status of the angel investment industry. The model details the five competitive forces acting upon the players in an industry — in this case, angels.

This report reviews the public literature regarding the supply of, and demand for, early-stage equity from private (informal) investors.

This report reviews the best practices of equity financing alternatives for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the United States.

Canada Small Business Financing Program: A Firm-Level Economic Impact Analysis
2024-11-06

The main objective of this study is to determine if the Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP) had any impact at the firm level on business recipients with respect to economic indicators such as revenue, employment, profits, salary, total assets, profit margin and labour productivity. In addition to these economic indicators, survival is also considered.

Incrementality study of the Canada Small Business Financing Program
2024-05-01

The purpose of this study is to empirically estimate the level of full incrementality of the CSBFP by analyzing data from Statistics Canada's Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, 2020 and the Linkable File Environment that comprises various business administrative data.

Canada Small Business Financing Program: Cost-benefit analysis
2024-03-08

This study uses a cost-benefit analysis framework to estimate the net social benefit of the Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP) for the fiscal years 2013–14 to 2021–22. The results suggest the CSBFP continues to provide significant net social benefits, estimated at nearly $5 billion over the nine-year evaluation period, with a positive net benefit of $403 million or more in each year.

This analysis quantifies the economic impact of the Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP) on Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Results indicate that the program continued to positively affect the economic growth of Canadian SMEs from 2014 to 2016.

This study uses a cost-benefit analysis framework to estimate the net social benefit of the Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP) for the fiscal years 2008–09 to 2016–17. The results suggest the CSBFP continues to provide significant net social benefits, estimated at $3.9 billion over the nine-year evaluation period, with a positive net benefit of $350 million or more in each year.

The purpose of this report is to present the estimated level of incrementality of the Canada Small Business Financing Program using data from the Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium enterprises, 2014.

This report is about financial and operating performance and aims to shed light on how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) generate and protect their money. No matter how much or how little money business owners have, they work hard to earn it and, with a little luck and a lot of devotion, see it grow over time.

The federal government has put various programs in place to assist SMEs to access financing and, most notably, the Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP). The CSBFP is a loss-sharing program designed to stimulate lending through a joint government / private sector agreement. A perennial question is the extent to which it has assisted businesses to access financing that they would not otherwise have been able to access in the absence of the program. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to quantify the rate of financial incrementality of the CSBFP .

This study measures the cost of resources devoted to administering the Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP), as well as the direct and indirect economic benefits that result from the program. The report calculates program net benefits/costs and performs a sensitivity analysis to determine the lower and upper bounds of these benefits/costs, which might not otherwise accrue to the economy in the absence of the program.

This report examines the extent to which participation in the Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP) impacts areas such as growth in revenue, employment, profits, salary, labour productivity, firm viability and investment in R&D . The report also compares the performance of CSBFP borrowers to the small and medium-sized population as a whole, as well as to denied borrowers.

This report examines the economic forces that have affected small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) over the review period. It assesses how the BDC has responded to the changing needs of its clients and to government priorities.

This paper quantifies and assesses the relationship between the business cycle, as measured by the output gap, and chartered bank loans to small, medium-sized and large businesses using aggregate data from the Bank of Canada's Banking and Financial Statistics Database combined with National Account and financial market data covering the 1988 to 2012 period.

This report compiles and analyses the results of the Survey on Financing of Small and Medium Enterprises and the Credit Conditions Survey to showcase information on small business financing activities between 2000 and 2010.

This paper investigates the determinants of discouragement for Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), regarding financing sought.

This paper investigates the economic impact of the Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP) by using the 2004 edition of the Survey on Financing of Small and Medium Enterprises.

This paper examines the relationship between demand, supply and importance of trade credit, and financing constraints for Canadian small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

This report presents a review of the empirical and theoretical literature on market failures, gaps, and imperfections. On the basis of this review, this report advances a series of hypotheses that relate to various perceptions of financing gaps that pertain to SMEs .