A founder comparing seed rounds needs more than a sector’s funding total. That total can grow through more deals or a few unusually large rounds. The median, the middle amount when rounds are ordered by size, gives a different view of a typical financing event.
Across Canada in 2023–2025 combined, Business Technology & Services had the largest median seed round among the seven grouped sectors, at C$4.0 million. Food & Agriculture and Energy & Environment followed, both rounding to C$3.6 million. Canada includes Alberta.
Alberta’s highest median was Food & Agriculture at C$8.6 million, but only two of its four recorded rounds had disclosed amounts. Energy & Environment followed at C$3.5 million, based on 13 disclosed amounts. Those different sample sizes matter when using the figures as benchmarks.
Read the round size, not just the funding total
Canada’s Food & Agriculture group recorded C$162.2 million across 29 seed rounds, with amounts available for 25. Health & Care recorded more than twice as much money, C$333.4 million, across 133 rounds, with 115 amounts disclosed. Yet Food & Agriculture’s median round was C$3.6 million, compared with C$1.1 million for Health & Care.
Business Technology & Services led Canada on both measures: C$437.2 million in disclosed funding and a C$4.0 million median. It recorded 77 rounds, with 67 amounts disclosed. A total and a median can point in the same direction, but they answer different questions.
In the chart, compare the red dots within each panel, then find the same sector in Alberta and Canada. The dots show median round sizes. The lines cover the middle half of disclosed amounts. All values are in millions of Canadian dollars, so 4.0 means C$4 million per round.
What the Alberta comparison shows
After Food & Agriculture and Energy & Environment, Alberta’s medians were C$3.4 million for Industry, Buildings & Mobility; C$3.0 million for Finance & Insurance; C$2.3 million for Business Technology & Services; C$1.0 million for Health & Care; and C$0.2 million for Consumer, Media & Learning.
The spread adds context. Alberta’s Energy & Environment rounds had a middle-half range of C$2.0 million to C$5.1 million. Industry, Buildings & Mobility ranged from C$1.1 million to C$5.1 million. Their ranges overlapped even though their medians differed.
These are observed financing amounts. They do not establish that one sector is easier to fund, that investors prefer it, or that a founder should expect the median. The chart displays small samples without a minimum threshold; each sector’s available amounts shape its result.
The latest half-year answers a different question
H1 2026, meaning January–June, provides more recent context for overall seed activity. Alberta recorded C$22.2 million across seven rounds, compared with C$30.8 million across nine rounds in H1 2025. Across Canada, disclosed funding fell from C$303.9 million to C$213.8 million while recorded rounds rose from 51 to 56.
Amounts were known for eight of Alberta’s nine rounds in H1 2025 and all seven in H1 2026. Canada had 41 disclosed amounts in H1 2025 and 45 in H1 2026. These are total funding and deal-count comparisons across all sectors. They do not update the sector medians, which describe 2023–2025 combined.
Use sector benchmarks to ask better questions
For founders and program teams, start with companies serving a similar market, at the same financing stage and over the same period. Compare the median with the range and number of disclosed rounds before using it as a planning reference.
A funding gap requires additional evidence about what companies sought, what their businesses cost to develop, and which applications succeeded. These records show what was raised. They help frame those questions without answering them on their own.
How the comparison was made
The analysis uses venture-capital records labelled “VC - Seed” and “Seed” for 2023–2025. Private equity, pre-seed and bridge-labelled rounds are excluded. The source labels do not establish that every transaction was priced equity.
Company descriptions determine seven groups by product and primary market. A healthcare software company, for example, belongs with Health & Care; general-purpose business software belongs with Business Technology & Services. Each company receives one group. These are analytical groupings, not the source’s original sector categories. Thirty-eight company assignments remain provisional, and current descriptions may differ from the business at the time of financing.
The source contains 465 Canadian rounds, including 70 in Alberta. Three Canadian rounds belonging to two companies without a clear sector assignment are omitted from the chart and retained in the research audit. The seven displayed groups therefore cover 462 Canadian rounds, including all 70 Alberta rounds.
Missing amounts are excluded from funding totals, medians and ranges, but retained in recorded round counts. Counts refer to financing events, not unique companies. The range runs from the 25th to the 75th percentile, calculated by linear interpolation. Figures are rounded to one decimal place after calculation. Pooling the three years does not show a year-by-year trend.
Source: CVCA data.