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The Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association said the value of venture capital investments in the first quarter surged to a record $838 million, nearly double the amount recorded during the same period last year.

Mike Woollatt, the CVCA’s chief executive, said private capital has exploded in Canada over the past 10 years and is rapidly growing.

About $440 billion in private equity and $110 billion in venture capital North America-wide has been raised, but not yet invested — a sum Woollatt calls a “ton of dry powder.”

The bulk of that money has been raised in the U.S., but Canadians are just as likely to be on the receiving end of an investment because there is “basically no border for private capital anymore,” he said. “The impact is that basically you don’t have to go public to get serious scale and money.”

Shlomi Feiner, a partner at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP in Toronto, said recent Canadian regulatory changes have also opened the door to other financing alternatives, such as private placements.

“At one end of the curve, there’s crowdfunding. You’re not taking away the big TSX companies, but it’s really opening up the pool for private finance alternatives,” he said.

Kurt Sarno, another partner at Blakes, said these new private pools of capital are attractive to companies seeking certainty.

“The recent volatility of capital markets makes it hard for issuers to choose the right time to go public,” he said. “Not only is private equity out there in great abundance, you can essentially access that private capital at any time.”