The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that as Ottawa presses pension funds to invest more at home, wealthy Canadians are increasingly backing domestic start-ups and venture capital firms that finance them. The Globe's Sean Silcoff writes that the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (CVCA) says high-net-worth individuals and family office participation in federal-government-backed venture capital investment programs has more than doubled, from 29.3 per cent in the first program a decade ago to 60 per cent of the third, announced in the 2021 budget. CVCA's Kim Furlong said that while Canadian pension plans, corporations and other institutions are "missing in action" in financing early-stage companies, "It's a great sign that this class of investors is getting more comfortable with venture capital." Ottawa provides $1 for every $3 raised by four "fund-of-funds" firms from private investors up to a cap. After delays, the government signed agreements with the firms in 2023 enabling them to raise their funds, which back both VC firms that invest in startups and some of the companies directly. Big companies that do invest in VC include Thomson Reuters, Deloitte, Constellation and Canadian Tire.