Ready 4 Market (R4M) Fund
$250,000
Investment
Description:
Ready 4 Market (R4M) is Ontario’s leading pre-seed investment fund. Through the fund, OCI co-invests with angel and other investors in early-stage Ontario-based start-ups with competitive IP commercializing transformative technologies to support their growth into scalable businesses. R4M is a competitive co-investment fund, with hundreds of companies considered for funding closing around 20 investments each year.
Comments on Funding:
Investments are up to $250,000 and total round sizes range from $500,000 to $2 million.
Continuous Intake
Eligibility:
Applicants must:
1. be academic affiliated;
2. be Ontario companies;
3. be passionate entrepreneurs to further their early-stage commercialization and support their growth into a scalable business.
4. be companies that are headquartered and predominantly located within the Province of Ontario. Current company headcount must be >50% located in Ontario (not projected).
5. be early-stage technology companies that are close to commercialization;
6. be agnostic across sectors including (but not limited to) IT, Robotics, AI, Cleantech and Advanced Manufacturing with a minimum addressable market size of $100M (excludes human health and life sciences technologies;
7. meet the investment criteria:
a. have a minimum addressable market size of $100M, and private sector co-investment is required.
b. must undergo a rigorous due diligence and selection process;
c. have long-term competitiveness, strong IP, unique value proposition, and capacity to scale;
8. be best suited for startups that:
a. have Intellectual Property from an Ontario-based academic institution or part of a Campus Incubator/accelerator at Academic Institutes (Companies with their team /IP origins at a university (“university spin-out”), college or research hospital are also eligible, even if not campus affiliated.);
b. must be Incorporated for no more than five years (Ontario or Canadian for-profit incorporation) and have principal operations in Ontario;
c. must be companies that have raised less than $1 million in third-party capital are eligible for their first R4M investment;
d. must be early-stage companies that are raising pre-seed and seed investments (total round sizes range from $500,000 to $2 million).
Application Steps:
Applicants must complete the online interest form to indicate their company’s interest in Ready 4 Market.
Documentation Needed:
No specific documentation has been identified.
Other Things to Note:
About the author
Maurice
