Fonds Nouvel entrepreneur (New Entrepreneur Fund)

The candidate must:
1. be a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident with main residence in Québec;
2. be 18 years of age or older;
3. have experience and/or training in a field related to the project;
4. be incorporating a company for the first time;
5. hold at least 35% of company shares;
6. be committed to working full-time for the new business or be part of the Accélérateur de création d’entreprises technologiques (ACET) program or the Espace-inc acceleration program;
7. be free from any bankruptcy judgement;
8. be committed to reimbursing the financial contribution granted if the business place moves away from Sherbrooke before a minimal 5-year period from the date of the signature of the agreement with Sherbrooke Innopole.
The company must:
1. be located and operate in the City of Sherbrooke;
2. be a for-profit company;
3. be part of the key sectors prioritized by Sherbrooke Innopole:
a) Advanced Manufacturing;
b) Information Technologies;
c) Cleantech;
d) Life Sciences;
e) Micro-nanotechnologies.
4. create two full-time permanent jobs, including the entrepreneur(s), within the first two years of business;
5. be based on a business plan with realistic financial forecasts that demonstrate business viability and profitability;
6. have a level of capitalisation of at least 20% of total assets, including a maximum of 50% of the contribution granted (capitalization must include at least 10% personal cash investment / transfer of useful assets may be considered as capitalisation for up to 10%);
7. be in pre-commercialization or start-up phase (between 0 and 6 months of commercialization),
Businesses in the seed stage are not accepted;
8. must be funded through a source other than Sherbrooke Innopole.