Startup Business Grants in Canada: Current Grants + Tips for Applying

Summer Company is an amazing opportunity for young entrepreneurs to run their own business over Summer. Participants can expect to receive:

start-up money to kick-off a new summer business
advice and mentorship from local business leaders to help get the business up and running
Learning how to run your own student business is one of the best summer jobs you can have. You get to be your own boss while learning what it takes to manage a business. You’ll develop skills in areas such as sales, marketing, bookkeeping, customer relationship management, networking and more

Promote the development of a common vision of the priorities of an agri-food sector or a territory as well as the coordination of the actors involved in their implementation.

As TechAlliance takes bold steps towards equitable growth, we continue to unlock opportunities for some of Canada’s most promising startups and fastest-growing innovation companies with the i.d.e.a. Fund™ to foster a vibrant, inclusive and green ecosystem.

In Cohort 3, we will distribute up to a maximum of $20,000 in matching seed funding and up to 30 hours of expertise from our Venture Growth team to select innovative businesses in various sectors.

CED supports economic development in all Quebec regions by paying particular attention to those grappling with economic difficulties.

That’s why CED has launched a new initiative to offer flexible conditions and targeted support to Quebec’s RCMs with the greatest economic vulnerability.

This component aims to increase the number of collective actions necessary for the management and promotion of reserved designations and promotional terms.

The Economic Development Project Support Program – Structuring projects of organizations in support of entrepreneurship development (PAPDE, component 1) aims to promote and support structuring projects of organizations that offer direct services to entrepreneurs.

Provide assistance in the form of coaching, technical advice and financial support to help eligible individuals start a business.

Support the implementation of a marketing plan in order to develop or consolidate local marketing and agritourism initiatives.

The Ministerial Initiative ” Agricultural Succession and Entrepreneurship ” aims to help the next generation of farmers in Quebec start a new business or acquire or take over an existing business by supporting, from a sustainable development perspective, the making of necessary investments:

at the start of its agricultural activities;
to the sustainability of its business by improving profitability or reducing risks.

The Nunavut Business Investment Schedule (NBIS) provides contributions to Nunavut business ventures with anticipated economic development outcomes. These contributions are structured to complement and attract Debt Financing and/or Equity Investments.

Start-Up Yard is the incubation facility at COVE (Centre for Ocean Ventures and Entrepreneurship). They help early stage companies commercialize their ocean technologies and succeed in the global marketplace. Start-ups grow stronger, faster with their acceleration programs, incubation space and services, funding, shared equipment, expertise, mentoring and wharf access.

Build Nova Scotia believes in entrepreneurship and innovation. We are proud to support vibrant, healthy, connected communities through the delivery of sustainable strategic infrastructure. Living by the ocean is our greatest natural advantage – it’s where we work and play, where world-class researchers and industry innovate and collaborate.

The Small Business Opportunities Fund supports new and expanding small businesses managed by capable entrepreneurs who have identified promising business opportunities. The fund provides accountable contributions to offset costs associated with a wide range of planning, start-up, expansion, and marketing activities. The fund also provides assistance for small businesses facing viability or wind-down challenges.

The Entrepreneur Development Fund supports the acquisition of foundational entrepreneurship and business skills by Nunavut residents and businesses by improving the availability of on-going assistance to small business operators. The fund will also help to build the capacity of Nunavut organizations and business service providers to deliver services and training in the areas of entrepreneurship capacity, business aftercare, or tourism safety and risk management.

Build Nova Scotia is seeking several local operators to “Pop-Up” their retail businesses in a modified shipping container for one-week opportunities within Salt Yard on the Halifax waterfront. The Salt Yard business district opened in 2017 and has become one of the most visited areas along the Halifax waterfront. Salt Yard is now home to over 25 small, seasonal businesses and is a popular venue for community events and activations. The intent of these additional pop-up opportunities is to help further this natural growth of Salt Yard by providing new and flexible platforms for small local businesses.

To encourage the creation and viability of small businesses in Prince Edward Island, Small Business Assistance supports activities that increase productivity and competitiveness. The program supports eligible costs related to internal planning and processes. A new business is eligible for support for marketing and promotion activities.

The Workforce Expansion Self-Employment Benefit Program provides various types of support during the initial development phase of the business including financial assistance, coaching and ongoing technical advice to unemployed individuals to create a job for themselves by starting a new business.

Self-Employment Assistance is an employment program that provides financial and entrepreneurial assistance to eligible individuals to help them create jobs for themselves by starting a business. The maximum duration of an agreement with a participant is 52 weeks, and 78 weeks for persons with a disability.

These funds aim to stimulate entrepreneurship at the local level.

The Summer Company program provides students aged 15 to 29 start-up money to kick-off a new summer business and advice and mentorship from local business leaders to help get the business up and running.
Applicants must start their business from May to July and end it on Labour Day or they can choose to keep running their summer business while in school.

Starter Company Plus provides a grant of up to $5,000 to start a new company, expand an existing company or buy a business in Ontario. Applicants can also apply for training and mentoring.

Certain provisions of the working conditions allow the various civil service organisations to adopt a ministerial system for the organisation and reduction of working time (ARTT).

Such a system aims to improve the quality of life and motivation of employees and, depending on the circumstances, to generate savings on the payroll which could in particular enable jobs to be saved.

Below we present general information relating to the organisation and reduction of working hours.

To find out the terms of application that apply to you, we invite you to consult the regime specific to your organization.

The Northern Isolated Community Initiatives (NICI) Fund supports current and new food initiatives that strengthen and diversify economic activity in the North. In Quebec, the targeted territory is Nunavik.

The Entrepreneurship and Business Development (EBD) Program is one of two program contribution streams of the Northern Indigenous Economic Opportunities Program (NIEOP). EBD assists Indigenous entrepreneurs and Indigenous businesses through project-based support for activities that help facilitate the establishment or growth of Indigenous businesses.

Part 1 of the Nordic Incubator-Accelerator offers two tailor-made support courses, adapted to the stages of maturity of companies in order to provide them with the knowledge and tools to maximize their chances of success.

Mitacs Entrepreneur International offers a travel grant to Canadian start-ups that are housed in an incubator or accelerator linked to an academic institution to connect them with host incubators abroad and explore new business development opportunities in international markets.

Mitacs Accelerate Entrepreneur provides early-stage support to postdoctoral fellows (PDF) and graduate student entrepreneurs. Accelerate Entrepreneur funds student entrepreneurs to further develop the research or technology at the core of their business when hosted by an incubator facility. This helps student entrepreneurs to take real, meaningful advantage of the supports provided by the incubator, with the goal of commercializing the technology, product, or service rapidly. In a nutshell, they get paid to grow their company and get to market faster.

The London Innovation Challenge aims to accelerate and scale select London-developed solutions. Two winners throughout the challenge will receive a $40,000 investment each, customized business advisory services, and a suite of other benefits from TechAlliance.

We will invest up to $10,000 into your business as well as provide hands-on support, access to mentors, and potential access to investors. With help from us, you will have your new business launched or your current company vaulted into success.

The program teach youth the practical skills for starting up a successful business during the summer break. We then coach and fund them to run it.

The Starter Company Plus program offers free training and mentorship to support early-stage, non-tech, Ottawa-based businesses.

Invest Nova Scotia, the Nova Scotia Innovation Hub and Bioenterprise Canada Corporation have partnered to create GreenShoots, supporting early stage companies in the agriculture, agri-food, bioeconomy, clean technology, and related sectors. The goal of GreenShoots is to find and support high potential, early stage knowledge-based Nova Scotia companies, and encourage entrepreneurial activity in the province. The support is intended to help improve the export potential of companies, projected impacts on climate change, job creation, and generation of economic impact in rural areas.

Delivered virtually, Invest Nova Scotia Accelerate is a milestone-based program that helps Nova Scotia start-ups get investment-ready. We are focused on five sectors where we can leverage our deep in-house expertise and our network of experts and investors to deliver value to our clients:

1. Agriculture Tech: start-ups addressing the global food production challenges while reducing dependency on fossil fuels or petrochemicals.
2. Clean Tech: start-ups addressing climate change and clean air, water and soil.
3. Health Tech: start-ups developing new therapeutics, medical devices or digital health technologies solving large unmet healthcare needs.
4. Ocean Tech: start-ups developing solutions in ocean health, fisheries and aquaculture, offshore energy, shipborne technologies and marine bioresources.
5. Software: start-ups working on software solutions leveraging artificial intelligence, computer vision, blockchain, or data network effects to solve large unmet market needs.

The Investment – Launch Stream provides a conditional contribution of up to 50% of total eligible project costs to a maximum of $200,000 for businesses starting-up operations in Northern Ontario.

The Edmonton Arts Council’s (EAC) Individuals & Collectives grant has three distinct streams, each with its own evaluation criteria and assessment process. An individual or collective may only apply to one stream at each deadline and may only receive one grant from this program annually from January to December.

The Indigenous Economic Development Fund (IEDF) provides grants and financing to Indigenous entrepreneurs, businesses, communities and organizations. The fund helps promote economic development and improve employment opportunities for Indigenous people.

Funds are available under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership to support First Nations communities, indigenous individuals or organizations who are interested in participating the New Brunswick agricultural industry, including local foods. Funding also supports the development of new and existing markets by providing financial assistance to Indigenous applications with viable agriculture projects.

An original and advantageous formula, this program is a non-refundable financial contribution , offered to local businesses. The interest generated by investments from immigrant investors, managed by Investissement Québec, are allocated to businesses.

The Government of Alberta, in collaboration with the University of Alberta, University of Calgary, and University of Lethbridge, developed GreenSTEM to offer a new funding model for high- quality technical talent to pursue entrepreneurship, develop the required business skills and move a deep technology concept towards commercialization.

The program supports a pan-Alberta cohort of technically-skilled GreenSTEM Fellows to transform their technical know-how into a business application and prioritize entrepreneurship over other conventional career paths.

Facilitate the implementation of food processing business development projects by supporting the provision of external expertise and the acquisition of skills within them.

Increase the production, profitability and biosecurity of commercial fisheries and aquaculture companies through the development of new products or the implementation of new company-specific processes.

Promote the establishment of a first commercial fishing business by fishermen, including the next generation.

The Financière Agricole du Québec’s Financial Support Program for Aspiring Farmers helps young producers establish themselves on an existing farm or start a new business. The program provides grants for young farmers to establish full-time or part-time establishments, pursue agricultural training, as well as funding for land improvement and equipment purchases. The Part-time grant offers financial support between $10,000 and $25,000. The Full-time grant offers financial support between $20,000 and $50,000.

The Equity & Access in the Arts program is one of the ways the Edmonton Arts Council pursues our commitments to increasing support for artists and arts professionals from Indigenous and equity-seeking communities. The purpose of the program is to invest in a thriving and diverse arts community in Edmonton by supporting Edmonton based artists and collectives from communities that face barriers to access.

This program supports the implementation of entrepreneurial support projects in order to stimulate the development and improve the performance of cultural enterprises, regardless of the stage of development of these enterprises: start-up, diversification, entrepreneurial succession, growth, technological shift, recovery, transfer.

Start-up funding is available through the Enhancement Fund for:

a) child care centres; and
b) family day homes.

The Economic Action Plan Grant supports expansion and growth projects of local businesses and business associations that contribute to the implementation of the Economic Action Plan. This will lead to a more resilient, diverse and equitable local economy.

The Corner Store grant program is targeted to Neighbourhood Commercial properties or properties that meet the commercial needs of local residents.

Initiatives that will improve the capacity, efficiency, productivity and/or competitiveness of the business.

The Summer Company program (opens in new window) supports eligible young student entrepreneurs, aged 15 to 29, looking to launch and operate a small business during the summer.

The Innovative Solutions Canada is a program for Canadian innovators who want to go into business, grow their companies and bring their innovations to market. It provides funding for research and development and allows prototypes to be tested in an operational setting.

Aspiring or emerging publishers and other creative entrepreneurs can apply for up to $5,000 in start-up funding to plan, launch or further develop a company that publishes a digital periodical.

The Business Immigrant Essentials program (BIE) is designed to give newcomers the confidence to navigate starting a business in Canada and provide the business skills needed to launch, grow, and accelerate the time to market, all while building their network and fostering connections with others with shared experiences.

In this program, participants share their journeys with each other and learn how to overcome challenges they may experience as they integrate into the business community through a series of expert-led workshops.

Beaver River assists small town and rural businesses in the Northwest of Saskatchewan start, expand and grow

The Beaver River Community Futures Corporation was established in 1988, and the Beaver River Business Development Corporation in 1989. In 1994, these two corporations merged into what is now the Beaver River Community Futures Development Corporation (BRCFDC). Today, we serve 46 communities in northwest Saskatchewan, in an area covering 120,000 square kilometres.

Our core funding, investment capital and special funds are provided by the Federal Government through Western Economic Diversification Canada. This support is part of the Government of Canada’s commitment to Community Futures Development Corporations in Saskatchewan.

The Alberta Petrochemicals Incentive Program (APIP) is a key part of Alberta’s Recovery Plan and the Natural Gas Vision and Strategy to turn the province into a top global producer of petrochemicals. It financial incentives in the form of grants to encourage private sector investment in new or expanded Alberta-based petrochemical manufacturing facilities, including those producing value-added, petrochemical, hydrogen, fertilizer, and fuel products.

The Project Script Development Grant supports Albertan writers, directors and producers by providing financial assistance towards the creation of quality, marketable and commercial production-ready projects and/or scripts.

The Agricultural Workforce Equity and Diversity Initiative (the Initiative) provides funding to organizations to support underrepresented groups in starting or growing their own business in the agri-food sector.

This program promotes entrepreneurship in Indigenous communities and seeks to increase the number of viable Indigenous-owned businesses. The program has 2 components: access to capital and business opportunities.
The Aboriginal Entrepreneurship Program: Access to Capital provides Indigenous businesses with access to non-repayable contributions of up to $99,999 for: supporting eligible business proposals and leveraging additional funds.