The statistics are in for Canadian venture capital investment for the first quarter of 2017 and the numbers continue to be strong: $804 million invested in 115 rounds of financing, the second strongest Q1 on record since 2001 according to final data released by Thomson Reuters.

Montreal accounted for $214 million of all investments in Quebec, landing it in 13th place in Q1, just behind Austin, TX and ahead of Atlanta, GA. Venture capital investment in Quebec increased 17% from the previous quarter to $251 million, earning the province a 9th place ranking among all North American regions.

The average Canadian VC round size increased to $6.83 million in the first quarter, a 93% increase over the average round size just five years ago. Investment by Canadian funds in non-Canadian companies also continued at a measured pace in the first quarter, with $119 million invested in 18 foreign countries.

Highlights of Q1 dealmaking abroad included California-based biopharmaceutical SutroVax, which raised $85.9 million from investors including CTI Life Sciences; New York-based Crowd Computing Systems, which raised $42.8 million from Georgian Partners and iNovia Capital, among others; and San Francisco-based MapD Technologies, which counted VanEdge Capital among its investors in a $33.3 million round.

The data further shows that the information technology sector continues to be the driving force behind Canadian venture capital investment, with $578 million invested, 72% of all market activity. Canadian software companies alone raised $393 million, while Internet-focused companies raised an additional $140 million. Life sciences companies followed with $145 million, or 18% of market activity, while further investment was rounded out by other niche sectors including $48 million going to cleantech companies, and $21 million to energy & industrial-related businesses.

Despite the 93% increase over the average round size just five years ago, Canada continues to lag behind all other top VC-attracting nations. Despite the highest level of direct investment by government funds, Canadian companies on average continue to secure less than their counterparts across all VC-intensive regions.

The full PDF report of Q1 2017 Canadian venture capital market activity by Thomson Reuters is available here.