I'm in Saskatchewan. Around here, it seems that there is a fair bit of startup investment but it's not quite the same as a lot of the programs in the States. Looking at things like TechStars or YCombinator startups, many of these startups are Great Ideas. Investment around here isn't nearly as focused on Great Ideas, but rather much more focused on Great Technical Secret Sauce. This shifts the types of startups that get funded; around here, there seems to be quite a bit of Biotech, Renewable Energy, some "hard" Computer Science-type problems, etc.

Would Twitter have been funded here? Not likely. Freshbooks? Not likely. RIM? Possibly.