Blab Business
Oslers 2025 Deal Points Report Shows Uneven Recovery in Canadian Venture Market
A fresh look at Canada’s venture scene reveals a bounce‑back, but the lift is uneven across sectors and stages.
Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt’s 2025 Deal Points Report, released on 27 May 2026, tracks 140 preferred‑share financings that the firm advised on during 2025. Those deals added a total of CAD 6.3 billion—an increase of 22 percent year‑over‑year. When the firm pulls in its broader dataset, it sees 686 preferred‑share deals from 2021 to 2025, worth more than CAD 21 billion, and 240 convertible‑security transactions from 2024 and 2025, totaling over CAD 1.7 billion.
The 2025 numbers come from transactions involving Osler’s Emerging and High‑Growth Companies Group. Up‑rounds made up 76.3 percent of all preferred‑share deals, up from 73.4 percent in 2024, while down‑rounds fell to 11.3 percent from 14.7 percent the year before. Artificial‑intelligence firms drew an outsized share of capital during the year.
Seed and Series A rounds dominated the 2025 landscape, together accounting for 70 percent of all preferred‑share financings—40 percent for seed and 30 percent for Series A. Those early‑stage deals represented only 15.9 percent of the total capital invested. Partners Calvin Leung and Justin Young explained that investors were writing smaller cheques and using more tailored terms, a strategy they described as a hedge against uncertainty.
At the other end of the spectrum, Series D and higher rounds reached 10 percent of the total financing volume for the first time in the five‑year period examined, and they accounted for 43.6 percent of all dollars invested. The report also found that Series B rounds saw the largest increase in down‑rounds, a shift that coincides with a move from founder‑controlled boards to more institutional governance.
Dilution fell across every stage in 2025. The report attributes this trend to either higher valuations with unchanged round sizes or to constant valuations coupled with lower amounts of capital raised, suggesting that investors are seeking to protect ownership stakes while still providing capital.
Secondaries played a notable role in growth‑stage financing. Sixty percent of Series C deals included a secondary component, and 28.6 percent of Series D and above rounds featured secondaries. The report highlights that secondaries are increasingly important as companies remain private longer, offering liquidity to founders and early investors whose fund life cycles are approaching maturity.
Osler’s analysis is presented as a unique source of detailed transaction data for the Canadian tech ecosystem. The firm’s partners emphasize that the report is compiled through a grassroots effort: each deal team inputs data that is then aggregated and analyzed by a dedicated reporting group.
Looking ahead, Leung points to megaraounds in the AI sector and healthy volumes in cleantech and life sciences as indicators of available capital for 2026. He hopes to see seed rounds transition into Series A and B, moving companies into true growth stages. Young advises founders to focus on the specific benchmarks that apply to their industry and stage, rather than treating the 2025 data as a blanket signal.
The full 2025 Deal Points Report is available on Osler’s website. The data provide a snapshot of the current state of Canadian venture financing and offer a reference point for founders and investors preparing for 2026 fundraising rounds.
Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt’s 2025 Deal Points Report, released on 27 May 2026, tracks 140 preferred‑share financings that the firm advised on during 2025. Those deals added a total of CAD 6.3 billion—an increase of 22 percent year‑over‑year. When the firm pulls in its broader dataset, it sees 686 preferred‑share deals from 2021 to 2025, worth more than CAD 21 billion, and 240 convertible‑security transactions from 2024 and 2025, totaling over CAD 1.7 billion.
The 2025 numbers come from transactions involving Osler’s Emerging and High‑Growth Companies Group. Up‑rounds made up 76.3 percent of all preferred‑share deals, up from 73.4 percent in 2024, while down‑rounds fell to 11.3 percent from 14.7 percent the year before. Artificial‑intelligence firms drew an outsized share of capital during the year.
Seed and Series A rounds dominated the 2025 landscape, together accounting for 70 percent of all preferred‑share financings—40 percent for seed and 30 percent for Series A. Those early‑stage deals represented only 15.9 percent of the total capital invested. Partners Calvin Leung and Justin Young explained that investors were writing smaller cheques and using more tailored terms, a strategy they described as a hedge against uncertainty.
At the other end of the spectrum, Series D and higher rounds reached 10 percent of the total financing volume for the first time in the five‑year period examined, and they accounted for 43.6 percent of all dollars invested. The report also found that Series B rounds saw the largest increase in down‑rounds, a shift that coincides with a move from founder‑controlled boards to more institutional governance.
Dilution fell across every stage in 2025. The report attributes this trend to either higher valuations with unchanged round sizes or to constant valuations coupled with lower amounts of capital raised, suggesting that investors are seeking to protect ownership stakes while still providing capital.
Secondaries played a notable role in growth‑stage financing. Sixty percent of Series C deals included a secondary component, and 28.6 percent of Series D and above rounds featured secondaries. The report highlights that secondaries are increasingly important as companies remain private longer, offering liquidity to founders and early investors whose fund life cycles are approaching maturity.
Osler’s analysis is presented as a unique source of detailed transaction data for the Canadian tech ecosystem. The firm’s partners emphasize that the report is compiled through a grassroots effort: each deal team inputs data that is then aggregated and analyzed by a dedicated reporting group.
Looking ahead, Leung points to megaraounds in the AI sector and healthy volumes in cleantech and life sciences as indicators of available capital for 2026. He hopes to see seed rounds transition into Series A and B, moving companies into true growth stages. Young advises founders to focus on the specific benchmarks that apply to their industry and stage, rather than treating the 2025 data as a blanket signal.
The full 2025 Deal Points Report is available on Osler’s website. The data provide a snapshot of the current state of Canadian venture financing and offer a reference point for founders and investors preparing for 2026 fundraising rounds.
