MaRS celebrates federal leadership with new $800M+ commitment to impact investing

Wednesday, November 21, 2018 — MaRS is pleased to see the announcement of a new $755 million fund for social finance, along with a proposed $50 million investment readiness fund over two years, in the federal government’s Fall Economic Statement. This is a bold step for the field of impact investing in Canada, and is a culmination of years of hard work.

“This significant government investment is a signal to capital markets that impact investing is a growing economic opportunity in Canada,” said Adam Jagelewski, lead executive at the MaRS Centre for Impact Investing. “This two-pronged strategy will be catalytic as it will provide a pipeline of investable opportunities for all market actors. These investment opportunities have the potential to strengthen communities and improve social outcomes where they need it most.”

Over the last decade, MaRS Centre for Impact Investing has been helping to build the social impact investing ecosystem in Canada, and most recently advised the Social Innovation and Social Finance Strategy Co-Creation Steering Group, which first recommended a social finance fund in August 2018.

Social finance refers to the practice of making investments intended to create social or environmental impact, in addition to financial returns.

About the MaRS Centre for Impact Investing:
The MaRS Centre for Impact Investing is a leading force in growing the impact investment market in Canada. It creates innovative ways for investors to fund social enterprises and charities with investments that create both a financial return for them and dividend for society. In 2010, we chaired the Canadian Task Force on Social Finance which recommended the creation of a social finance fund.

About MaRS
MaRS Discovery District (@MaRSDD) in Toronto is North America’s largest urban innovation hub. Our purpose is to help innovators change the world. MaRS supports promising ventures tackling key challenges in the health, cleantech, fintech and enterprise sectors as they start, grow and scale. In addition, the MaRS community fosters cross-disciplinary collaboration to drive breakthrough discoveries and new solutions to be adopted in Canada and beyond, growing our economy and delivering societal impact at scale.

Media contact
Corey Black
Communications Manager
MaRS Discovery District
media@marsdd.com

416-903-4181