SmartStart Seed Funding
- Company Eligibility: (for-profit)
- Ontario based, Inc <3yrs old, applicant in key position at company
- Applicant Two streams (Applicants 18-29 yrs old; and >30yrs old)
- Applicant CND citizen, or permanent resident,
- Endorsed by Campus Linked Accelerator (CLA) or Regional Innovation Centre (RIC)
- <$250k in revenue or “significant 3rd party investment”
- Full list here:
- Funding Projects Eligibility (Early-Stage Businesses)
- Launch and/or building startup business stages,
- Prototype development, 1st customer development
- Learning conferences, mentoring support, training workshops
- Professional advisor to assist entrepreneur in launching & building business
- Funding:
- 1 to 1 matching cash funding up to $30k – $60k (+ skills training funds)
- $7.5k for training advisory services and $2.5k for Founder Forum (mandatory)
- Funding source 3rd party investor or mix of customer revenues (see below)
- Eligible Funding list here
- Application Turnaround: Call for proposal timeline (see below)
Funded via support from FedDev Ontario and the Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE), this wonderful startup grant funding program specifically targets early youth-based ventures just getting set up and started. The trick is to certainly be engaged with your local Regional Innovation Centre (RIC) and have been advised for at least 4 months via this engagement, or to be actively involved in a University Campus Linked Accelerator to be eligible. Matching funding is also required to be proven at application submission time, so you will need copies of bank statements, investor letters, customer POs etc. to verify this 1:1 matching. The application should focus on traction to-date, highlighting the company’s near-term commercialization potential. Working with OCE’s Application Support Team is certainly a key advantage to pre-screening, coaching and getting familiar with the program eligibility and additional programs OCE offers. We like to highlight the word Traction, when it comes to OCE Smart Seed funding, meaning the better you can communicate your value message and show a desired need by a customer group the stronger your chances are for success. Naturally, the better you can articulate the economic output via jobs, revenue, IP creation, business mentoring and investor preparedness for follow up funding the better your application will be. For additional tips and tricks see our application template guide.
OCE SmartStart Seed Drafting Guide
Youth led investments:
| Funding | Eligibility |
| Up to $30,000 in Seed Funding per start-up | – Start-ups founded by young entrepreneurs from the age of 18 to 29
– Strong preference is given to applications that have shown early validation through arm’s-length third-party investment and/or customer sales |
| Up to $60,000 in Seed Funding per start-up | – Start-ups founded by young entrepreneurs from the age of 18 to 29
– A minimum of 50% of the matching contributions must come from arm’s-length third-party investment and/or customer sale – Strong preference is given to applications that have shown proof of market traction through higher arm’s-length third-party investment and/or customer sales |
Non-Youth led investments:
| Funding | Eligibility |
| Up to $30,000 in Seed Funding per start-up | – Start-ups founded by entrepreneurs from the age of 30+ who do not have at least one youth representative on the founders team
– 1:1 matching cash contributions must come from an arm’s-length third-party investment and/or customer sales |
Submission deadlines:
Application Submission Deadlines for all investment streams
| Application Initiation Deadline, 11:59 pm on: | Application Submission Deadline, 2 pm on: |
| March 16, 2016 | March 23, 2016 |
| July 6, 2016 | July 13, 2016 |
| October 5, 2016 | October 12, 2016 |
| January 4, 2017 | January 11, 2017 |
Note: GetGrants does not act as a liaison between your business and the funding agency. It is the company’s responsibility to contact the agency and its representatives directly and work towards determining application eligibility, requested documentation, and submission. GetGrants supports the internal drafting of key materials as professional and experienced writers for this program. No contingent fees apply, strictly fixed or hourly agreements.